Agenda item

Beth Bowers and David Johnson (Grant Thornton External Auditors) presented the report.  The Chair had met with them recently, along with the Vice Chair and thanked them for a useful meeting.  It was explained that there was the audit for the Council and for the Avon Pension Fund, along with the audit opinion and annual report.  The high level summary was an unqualified opinion.  It was not possible to give certification as there had been an objection, although this would not have any material impact on the accounts.  The National Audit Office would hold certification pending their completion of work on the Whole of Government Accounts.  The Value for Money in the audit findings had been reported to the September Committee meeting.  There was no change to materiality thresholds or any deviation from the planned risk profile.  There were a small number of recommendations and adjustments.

Grant Thornton thanked the BANES officers and her team for their work in concluding the audit process.

During questions the following points were clarified/raised:

·  In the national context with borrowing there was currently no significant concern as regards BANES standing (Councillor Malcolm Treby)

·  In relation to recommendations on page 36, management stated that BANES relied on managers to check the existence of assets, which were of low value eg laptops (Councillor Malcolm Treby).  There would be further conversations with the external Auditor and BANES would take on their guidance

(Councillor Malcolm Treby to email Councillor David Biddleston (Chair) who would follow up on this issue)

·  Risk was differentiated by high/medium/low (Councillor David Biddleston)

·  How the Council disposes of low-level assets (John Barker) was confirmed by the Section 151 Officer who stated there were legal requirements on disposals.  It was rated as low risk in the previous years external audit report

·  BANES contribution to the stability of WECA governance (Councillor David Biddleston) was in the annual report and was a key partnership working to deliver best possible value.

It was moved by Councillor Toby Simon and seconded by Councillor Malcolm Treby and

RESOLVED

1)  To note the issues contained within the Audit Findings Reports and addendum to the Auditor’s Annual Report for the Council; and

2)  To approve the audited Statement of Accounts, including the Letters of Representation for both Bath & North East Somerset Council and the Avon Pension Fund (including revised opinion) for 2023/24.