Issue - meetings

To consider the report of the Director of Resources, (copy enclosed).

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Resources that informed the Committee of the audit fee for Deloitte LLP, the Council’s External Auditor for the audit of the 2019/20 financial year.

The chairman introduced the report and deferred to the External Audit Partner to present.  He informed the Committee that there was nothing specific to report given that the Director of Resources and Section 151 Officer’s input to the report incorporated the content of all discussions held with External Audit.

The Chairman acknowledged this and informed the Committee that both she and Councillor Jarvis, the Vice-Chairman, had discussions with the External Auditor prior to production of the report and negotiated a considerably reduced fee.

In response to a query on benchmarking the Director of Resources and Section 151 Officer advised that benchmarking on fee levels had been undertaken across Essex with like organisations.  Similarly, benchmarking with other Audit firms working with those organisations and acting on advice from the Public Sector Audit Appointments Ltd (PSAA) who had the ultimate say on fee levels.  The end result was a sample showing similar fee levels across the county, varying slightly for different reasons.

The Chairman moved the recommendation that the report be noted, and this was seconded by Councillor Nunn. She then put the recommendation to the Committee and it was agreed by assent.

RESOLVED that the content of this report be noted.