Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillors Steve Ashton, Lee Baker, Mike Caswell, Gwil Wren (who attended online) and Co-opted Member, Lindy Jansen Van Vuuren The substitute for Councillor Mike Caswell was Councillor Barry Clarke.

To approve the minutes from the meetings held on 19 December 2024 and 30 January 2025.

The Committee was asked to consider the Minutes of the meetings held on 19 December 2024 and 30 January 2025. Both sets were duly proposed and seconded  that they be accepted as true and accurate records and both were approved.

To receive and note any declarations of interests in respect of any matters included on the agenda for consideration at this meeting.

(The other registrable interests of Councillors of Somerset Council, arising from membership of City, Town or Parish Councils and other Local Authorities will automatically be recorded in the minutes: City, Town & Parish Twin Hatters - Somerset Councillors 2023 )

There were none.

The Chair to advise the Committee of any items on which members of the public have requested to speak and advise those members of the public present of the details of the Council’s public participation scheme.

For those members of the public who have submitted any questions or statements, please note, a three minute time limit applies to each speaker and you will be asked to speak before Councillors debate the issue.

We are now live webcasting most of our committee meetings and you are welcome to view and listen to the discussion. The link to each webcast will be available on the meeting webpage, please see details under ‘click here to join online meeting’.

The public question submitted by Mr David Orr was withdrawn prior to the meeting.

To consider the report.

Somerset Council Statement of Accounts 2023/24 and External Audit Report including the Annual Governance Statement 2023/24

This report presented the final set of 2023/24 financial statements (accounts) for Somerset Council and the completion of the subsequent external audit work.

The Statement of Accounts (Appendix 2 of the report) and Letter of Management Representation (Appendix 4) required Audit Committee approval, to be finalised.  Alongside these, the audit findings report (Appendix 1) and the Auditors draft opinion (Appendix 3) were presented for noting.  The completion of the prior approved 2023/24 Somerset Pension Fund accounts also required the Letter of Management Representation to be signed.

This was the first year’s set of accounts for Somerset Unitary Council. The auditing process had been impacted by the Government’s national policy in tackling the Local Authority audit backlog. This was a first for the Council and its predecessor authority’s accounts, whereby very limited audit work had been able to be undertaken before the deadline for issuing audit opinions.  The resulting impact was a ‘disclaimer of opinion’ issued by the auditors.  This was not a reflection on the quality of the accounts but stating the accounts had not had a significant enough review to form an opinion.  The Council and its auditors were collaborating on an approach that brought the fastest recovery to enable an unqualified opinion.

It was critical that the process for the 2023/24 was drawn to conclusion as soon as practicably possible and by the backstop date of 28 February 2025.  Therefore, these accounts and all the necessary documentation were required to be approved.

Before handing over to the Officers, the Chair said some words commending the Audit Committee on how far they had come and the achievements made with all the hard work of the Finance team to audit 11 sets of outstanding accounts. He said that everything possible had been done but despite this, there had been a need for a disclaimed opinion on the opening set of Somerset Accounts. He added that whilst disappointing, he was aware that the work of the Committee was sometimes misrepresented online. However, Audit was a process and he was fully committed to moving forward and driving improved performance for the Council. The process was to check, to challenge and to change. Although the backlog had been cleared, this meant that the most recent set of accounts had suffered. He thanked the Finance team and the external auditors, Grant Thornton, for their ongoing commitment to complete the audits. Despite this, it was unfortunate that the Somerset Council accounts for 2023/24 were a disclaimed position, issued by Grant Thornton, the external Auditors.

The Interim Chief Finance Officer Maria Christofi introduced the report saying that these were the first combined statement of accounts for the Somerset Council Unitary and that due to the Government backstop dates, the Council was in the unfortunate position that the accounts are being disclaimed. However, this was the position nationally for many local authorities and was confident that going forward the 2024/25 accounts  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

To review the Workplan for the remainder of the financial year and suggested inclusions for the 2025/26 financial year.

Assistant Director SWAP Internal Audit Services. Alistair Woodland thanked Members who had responded to his request for items they wish to see in next year’s Audit plan. He said he would take the suggestions into consideration and that Members should see some of those in the plan when it is presented in the March 2025 Audit meeting. The Chair advised the date for the next meeting was 20 March.

RESOLVED

To note the Audit Committee Workplan 2024/25.