The Audit and Standards Advisory Committee of Brent Council was scheduled to discuss the council's emergency preparedness and resilience arrangements, alongside an update on the progress of the external audit of the 2025-26 statement of accounts. The committee was also set to review the council's treasury management outturn for the past financial year and consider its forward plan and work programme for the upcoming municipal year.

Emergency Preparedness Report

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on the council's emergency planning, resilience, and business continuity arrangements. The report detailed efforts to strengthen preparedness and response capabilities through increased training and exercising, enhancements to business continuity planning, and improvements to emergency response arrangements. It also highlighted active engagement with borough, London-wide, and community resilience partners. The report noted that while overall assurance remained positive, further work was required to increase resilience in some emergency response roles, complete outstanding business continuity plans, and prepare for emerging risks such as cyber disruption and extreme heat, as well as to implement the requirements of Martyn's Law¹.

The report indicated that the council, as a Category 1 Responder under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004², has statutory duties to assess local risks, maintain emergency plans, and establish business continuity arrangements. It detailed efforts to strengthen on-call arrangements, with a focus on increasing the number of trained officers for key roles such as Local Authority Liaison Officer (LALO) and Emergency Centre Manager (ECM). The report also outlined progress in enhancing business continuity planning, including the development of new plan templates and a review exercise to assess submitted plans.

Discussions were also scheduled regarding the Borough Resilience Forum (BRF), with a focus on strengthening its effectiveness and impact. The report mentioned a recent multi-agency exercise based on a power outage scenario and a community resilience event that brought together various organisations to discuss collaboration. Furthermore, the report addressed member training on emergency planning and resilience, noting a desire for improved communication with elected members during incidents. Counter-terrorism preparedness was also on the agenda, with a focus on the implementation of Martyn's Law and the ongoing rollout of the Action Counters Terrorism (ACT) for Local Authorities programme.

The report included a comprehensive appendix detailing delivered and planned training and exercising activities for 2025-26 and 2026-27, covering a wide range of emergency response roles and scenarios. It also provided an overview of significant incidents responded to during the reporting period, including fires, utility disruptions, and evacuations, along with key learning identified from these events.

Update on Statement of Accounts and External Audit Progress Report

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on the progress of the external audit of the council's Statement of Accounts for 2025-26. The report indicated that the council had met its statutory duty to publish the draft Statement of Accounts by 30 June 2026, demonstrating a commitment to sound financial governance, transparency, and accountability. The external audit had completed its sample testing and was progressing through the review of evidence returned by the council, with no significant issues identified at that stage. The report noted that while the audit was on track for completion, there remained a risk of delays, which was being actively managed through regular progress meetings between council officers and the external audit team. A verbal update from the external auditors, Grant Thornton, was expected at the meeting, with a more detailed Audit Findings Report to be presented in September 2026.

Treasury Management Outturn Report 2025-26

This report was scheduled to set out the outturn for the council's Treasury Management Activities for the financial year 2025-26. It was intended to update members on both borrowing and investment decisions, considered within the context of prevailing economic conditions and the council's Treasury Management performance.

Audit & Standards Advisory Committee Forward Plan & Work Programme 2026-27

The committee was due to consider its work programme for the 2026-27 Municipal Year. This included noting the dates for future meetings and seeking members' views on any areas of training they would like to be provided during the allocated sessions for the year.

Standards Update Report (including gifts & hospitality)

This report was intended to provide the committee with an update on gifts and hospitality registered by Members during the first quarter of 2026-27, as well as information on member training.