Agenda item

This report presents the Council’s external auditor’s annual report on value for money as part of the 2021/22 audit of the year end accounts and sets out the key recommendations.

Ciaran McLaughlin, Key Audit Partner, Grant Thornton, introduced a report that presented the Council’s External Auditor’s Annual Report on Value for Money as part of the 2021/22 audit of the year end accounts and set out the key recommendations.

In considering the report the Committee noted:

·                 Work on the Council’s 2021/22 Value for Money Audit had been concluded with the final report due to be presented to Full Council on 23 February 2023. The Chair commended all those involved in completion of the audit with no significant issues having been identified.

·                 In support of the Council’s arrangements to secure continued economy, efficiency and effectiveness in use of its resources a number of improvement recommendations had been made which, whilst not highlighting any specific concerns or weaknesses, had been focussed around the governance of the Council’s subsidiary companies, enhancements to risk management processes and assumptions made about future yield from commercial properties.

The Committee was then invited to raise questions on the report, which are summarised below:

·                 The Committee queried how Recommendation 3 relating to inclusion of legal and regulatory impact assessments within the Corporate Risk Register matrix would be actioned. In response officers explained that the recommendation aimed to enhance the impact of the matrix to ensure that the full potential of the impacts of the risk were understood. It was anticipated that legal risks would be picked up under the risk management framework.

·                 The Committee questioned how Brent could move from a RAG rating of Amber to Green across the Value for Money Audit judgement areas. In response the Auditors advised that an Amber rating should be received positively as it indicated that there were no significant weaknesses identified, however improvement recommendations had been made. This was seen as a positive rating reflecting ongoing efforts to seek to improve governance arrangements and processes.

·                 The Committee recognised and accepted the need identified within Recommendation 4 “to ensure timely implementation of the CIPFA Financial Management code requirements as an action to take forward.

·                 In response to a query relating to the frequency of reviews on procurement and delivery of the capital programme, taking account of the need to maintain financial resilience in the context of the current difficult economic conditions, officers advised that due to the challenging nature of these conditions and market volatility, all schemes within the capital programme were being regularly reviewed in order to assess viability, which included (where necessary) options in relation to the current mix of tenures proposed under relevant housing schemes and with impact on the borrowing requirement reviewed as part of the twice yearly Treasury Management updates  .

·                 Following a Committee query in relation to whether Brent’s contract management was in line with other borough’s, Ciaran McLaughlin confirmed it was not significantly different to what they had seen across other boroughs.

·                 In relation to the closer review of subsidiary companies, the Committee queried if this was also a function in which the Council’s scrutiny function could be involved. In response Ciaran McLaughlin advised that no weaknesses had been identified in the current arrangements.

As no further comments were raised the Chair thanked Ciaran McLaughlin for the update provided and the Committee RESOLVED to note and endorse the contents of the report in advance of its referral to Full Council on 23 February 2023.