(a)

there were two outstanding issues from the 19/20 accounts; one was a national issue of infrastructure assets and how they were accounted. This was expected to be resolved in 2022 via a statutory override. The second issue was regarding the pension transaction as set out in the External Auditor’s September report;

(b)

the report set out the value for money (VFM) report for two financial years (20/21 and 21/22) and could only be finalised once the accounts were finalised therefore the report remained interim. The National Audit Office changed the approach to VFM beginning 1 April 2020 and brought in the requirement for a detailed report which required auditors to give a commentary on three areas: financial sustainability, governance and economy, efficiency and effectiveness;

(c)

the report focused upon financial sustainability and the risks facing the council surrounding this, specifically regarding demand led pressures and inflation.  Croydon Council’s section 114 report was referenced as well as Hampshire County Council and Kent County Council and the struggles they were facing;

(d)

page 15 of the pack set out a summary table with the external auditor’s conclusions in all three areas; there were three key recommendations which had to be addressed, as well as improvement recommendations which were good practice to be addressed. The three key recommendations focused upon council tax levels; the medium term financial plan and staffing arrangements in the finance department.

(e)

a statutory override was being laid by the Department for Levelling Up and Communities and Housing within the next few weeks; this was not a matter for people to vote for or against and was instead a formality which had to go through the parliamentary process. This would come into force around Christmas and as a result of this override there was expected to be a major increase in accounts being signed off; for Plymouth this was one issue that would be dealt with, leaving the outstanding pension issue remaining;

(f)

in terms of value for money, the external auditor was required to carry out an assessment of the arrangements the Council had in place to achieve VFM. In terms of childrens/ adult services, the opinion of regulators of the services was taken into account. If the CQC or Ofsted deemed the Council’s arrangements to be inadequate that would have an impact upon the external auditor’s assessment;

(g)

the Council had a duty to achieve a balanced budget position by law therefore the external auditor considered that putting the council tax up to the referendum limit of 5% would give the Council an opportunity to make more savings;

(h)

by increasing the council tax it gave the Council the opportunity to increase its funding base going forward. This may put pressure on families however there were schemes such as the Council Tax  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38