Apologies were received from Councillor Kate Halliday and Jim Arnold (Independent Member).  Councillor Rosemary Dartnall substituted for Councillor Halliday.

Members are reminded that they must declare their disclosable pecuniary interests and other registrable or non-registrable interests in any matter being considered at the meeting as set out in Appendix B of the Members’ Code of Conduct and consider if they should leave the room prior to the item being considered. Further advice can be sought from the Monitoring Officer in advance of the meeting.

Members were reminded that they must not participate in the discussion or voting on any matter in which they have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest and should leave the room prior to the commencement of the debate.

The Minutes of the meeting held on the 28 November 2024 are attached for confirmation. 

Contact Michelle Dulson (01743) 257719

RESOLVED:

That the Minutes of the meeting of the Audit Committee held on the 28 November 2024 be approved as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any questions from the public, notice of which has been given in accordance with Procedure Rule 14.  The deadline for this meeting is 12noon on Monday 16 December 2024.

There were no public questions.

To receive any questions from Members, notice of which has been given in accordance with Procedure Rule 14.  The deadline for this meeting is 12noon on Monday 16 December 2024.

There were no questions from Members.

It was agreed to take Agenda Item 7 (Final Approval Statement of Accounts 2023/24) next.

The report of the Executive Director of Resources (Section 151 Officer) is attached.

Contact: James Walton (01743) 258915

The Committee received the report of the Executive Director of Resources (Section 151 Officer) which provided for the approval of the 2023/24 Statement of Accounts, following completion of the audit of the accounts. 

The Executive Director of Resources (Section 151 Officer) introduced the report and gave the background.  He explained that it had been hoped to be in a finalised position by the 28 November Audit Committee, however the work had still been ongoing and there were still some outstanding items particularly in relation to Property, Plant and Equipment calculations  He drew attention to table 1 in Paragraph 7.4 which detailed the various amendments that had been made to the accounts as a result of the work that had been completed to date.  It was hoped that the accounts would not be materially changed by those final pieces of work but, if necessary, they would have to be amended.

The Chair sought clarification on whether the Committee could agree the accounts at that meeting.  In response, the Executive Director of Resources (Section 151 Officer) explained that as there was some work that was outstanding it was not possible for the External Auditors to say that any changes would not be material and there was a risk that if an adjustment took them over the materiality threshold a decision would have to be made as to whether to restate it in the accounts.  Work would continue up until Christmas and then into the new year to finalise these outstanding items.

The Engagement Lead explained that the legal requirement was to publish the accounts by the 28 February 2025 and that the Council had already met the legal requirement to publish a set of unaudited accounts by the end of May.  He explained that there had been a considerable amount of work undertaken since the 28 November meeting, however there were still some specific queries outstanding that needed to be addressed before they had the assurance that the accounts were not materially misstated.  It was hoped by early to mid-January time to have an agreed set of final accounts but he reiterated what the Executive Director of Resources (Section 151 Officer) had said about not being able to guarantee that there would not be any material misstatements or amendments to the accounts.

A brief discussion ensued about what the meeting could achieve as when this additional meeting had been agreed, it was in the expectation that they would have a complete set of accounts. It was suggested that the meeting be adjourned until mid-January or that the item go to the February meeting.  Councillor Evans was unhappy to approve the accounts and delegation to the Executive Director of Resources (Section 151 Officer) and felt the Committee needed to see the final report from the External Auditors.  In response, the Executive Director of Resources (Section 151 Officer) explained that the accounts were almost there and that by reviewing and effectively signing off today, there was the potential that there were no further material  ...  view the full minutes text for item 79.

The report of the Engagement Lead is to follow.

Contact: Avtar S Sohal (0121) 232 6420

The Committee received the report of the Engagement Lead which set out the Audit Findings for Shropshire Council for the year ended 31 March 2024.

The Engagement Lead informed the Committee that there was still work to do before the audit could be drawn to a conclusion.  He referred to page 8 of the report which set out the outstanding items with the key area being Property, Plant and Equipment for which assurances were awaited before the opinion could be signed off in case it led to a material misstatement. He confirmed that the financial statements audit was approximately 90% complete and he thanked the finance officers for their support in driving the audit to near completion.

He then handed over to the Senior Manager who went through more of the detail of the report and provided a high-level update on the outstanding areas.  She explained that some of the outstanding information did impact on the significant risk areas of the Council set out on pages 11 to 15 of the report.  Work in those areas had progressed, but they were unable to complete three of those significant risk areas (presumed risk affording revenue recognition, the risk regarding expenditure, and the valuation of land and buildings and investment property).

The Senior Manager drew attention to their work around Going Concern (detailed on page 25 of the report) and Value for Money (detailed on page 27 of the report).  She then referred to the audit adjustments that had been identified (set out on page 42 of the report) including two monetary adjustments and some disclosure adjustments (referred to on pages 43 and 44 of the report).  Finally, she touched on an unadjusted misstatement related to a pensions estimation which was consistent with previous reporting and as it was an estimation, they would not expect it to be adjusted however assurances on that were required, specifically for the letter of representation.

She confirmed that any follow up work on their recommendations would be undertaken as part of their planning for 2024/25 and progress would be reported against those recommendations set out in Appendix A and Appendix B of the report as part of their audit plan and audit findings for 2024/25.

In response to a query, the Engagement Lead provided an update in relation to the outstanding audit objection and how it would likely be concluded.  He also drew Members’ attention to a further objection that had been raised on a number of Authorities’ and Pension Fund accounts for which a national approach was being worked upon.

A query was raised about the minimum revenue position and the fact that the way in which this was handled by the Council in 2023/24 would not have complied with the regulations which come into force in April 2025 and the impact, if any, on the accounts or how the Council operated.  It was confirmed that the Council had applied that policy in that way for a number of years as it was felt to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 80.

The next meeting of the Audit Committee will be held on the 6 February 2025 at 10.00 am.

The next meeting of the Audit Committee would be held on the 6 February 2025 at 10.00am.

To RESOLVE that in accordance with the provision of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, Section 5 of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements)(Meetings and Access to Information)(England) Regulations and Paragraphs 2, 3 and 7 of the Council’s Access to Information Rules, the public and press be excluded during consideration of the following items.

RESOLVED:

That in accordance with the provision of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, Section 5 of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements)(Meetings and Access to Information)(England) Regulations and Paragraphs 2, 3 and 7 of the Council’s Access to Information Rules, the public and press be excluded during consideration of the following items.

The report of the Head of Automation and Technology is attached.

Contact: David Baker (01743) 254118

The Committee received the exempt report of the Head of Automation and Technology.

RESOLVED:

To note the contents of the exempt report.