(i)

the audit was substantially completed although procedures were being finalised in the following areas –

(a)

audit of the Group accounts, to include reviewing the responses from the external auditors of group organisations, which have been requested to be received before 18 September 2009; 

(b)

 receipt and review of the letter of representations;

(c)

 review of the final version of the statement of accounts;

(d)

updating the post balance sheet events review to the date of signing the accounts;

(ii)

with regard to (i) a. above, the Group accounts included organisations that the Council had significant interest in which included the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferries, the Theatre Royal and Plymouth City Bus Ltd; the Group accounts were unable to be signed off until confirmation had been received that their accounts were fair and accurate;

(iii)

the external auditor for Plymouth City Bus Ltd, PricewaterhouseCooopers, had a number of concerns that had currently not been addressed and until such time as these were, Grant Thornton would be unable to provide an opinion on the Group accounts; this may result in the statutory deadline of 30 September 2009 for signing off the accounts being missed (the Audit Commission had been made aware of this position);

(iv)

officers had only been made aware of this position at a very late stage; in order to prevent this situation from arising in future years, work would be undertaken with the subsidiary organisations to ensure any delays were notified in a timely manner.

(a)

a risk review of senior officers’ expenses had been undertaken;

(b)

credit ratings of those companies the Council had investments in were monitored on a daily basis; the Treasury Management Board met on a weekly basis, in order to respond to changes more promptly; information on the credit ratings could be made available to Committee Members;

(c)

it was possible that the Council’s late submission of its accounts, due to the information awaited from Plymouth City Bus Ltd, may have an impact on its assessment scores;

(d)

there were no concerns relating to the accounts of Plymouth City Bus Ltd but the information awaited would demonstrate whether the organisation was a going concern;

(e)

although in previous years there had been problems with the provision of information from Plymouth City Bus Ltd, a meeting had been held in January 2009, where clear expectations had been set out;

(f)

although usage records of vans were kept, the Council was currently investigating the purchase of a tracker system;

(g)

an action plan on the Use of Resources would be submitted to a future Committee meeting.