The Audit and Governance Committee of Tewkesbury Borough Council is scheduled to meet on Wednesday, 24 September 2025, to discuss a range of topics including the external auditor's findings, the approval of the Statement of Accounts 2024/25, and the internal audit monitoring report. Councillors will also consider the waivers and exemptions report, and the annual formal complaints and Freedom of Information requests report.

Statement of Accounts 2024/25

The committee will be asked to approve the Statement of Accounts 2024-25 Report along with the Financial Statements 2024-25. The report pack states that the finance team managed to publish the draft accounts before the statutory deadline, to allow the audit to begin in June. The report pack also notes that 2024/25 saw one of the biggest changes in accounting standards since 2010, with the implementation of IFRS 16 Leases¹.

The impact of this is to create a right of use asset and a lease liability on the balance sheet, instead of charging the lease payments to the comprehensive income and expenditure statement. Statement of Accounts 2024-25 Report

External Auditor's Audit Findings Report

The committee is scheduled to consider the TBC Audit Completion Report 2024-25 from Bishop Fleming Audit Limited, the council's external auditor. The report summarises the auditor's conclusions and highlights key findings from their work. According to the report pack, the audit is largely complete, but subject to the resolution of outstanding queries. Bishop Fleming anticipate issuing an unmodified audit report, subject to satisfactory finalisation. The report pack identifies the following specific significant risks:

• Management override of controls
• Valuation of land and buildings
• Valuation of investment properties
• Valuation of the pension fund net liability

The report pack also includes a draft Letter of Representation for approval.

Annual Governance Statement 2024/25

The committee will be asked to approve the Annual Governance Statement Report along with the AGS 2025. The Annual Governance Statement (AGS) is an accountability statement that provides an opinion on whether the governance of the authority was fit for purpose during the year it relates to, following a review of its effectiveness. The report pack states that the review is undertaken by the Corporate Governance Group, and takes into account sources of assurance and a high level assessment of the recently approved Local Code of Corporate Governance. The report pack identifies the following emerging issues:

• Financial sustainability/delivering priorities
• Local Government Reorganisation (LGR)
• Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• Quality and timeliness of committee report production

The report pack also states that progress in implementing the significant governance issues reported within the previous year's AGS will be considered.

Internal Audit Monitoring Report

The committee will consider the Internal Audit Monitoring Report, which provides an overview of the internal audit work completed during the period. The report includes the audit opinions given and a list of recommendations and their status. The audit opinions can be found in Appendix 1-Audit Opinions and the list of recommendations and their status can be found in Appendix 2- Follow up of IA recommendations. The report pack states that of the 14 recommendations followed up during the period, 5 have been implemented, 6 partially implemented and 3 remain outstanding.

Internal Audit Six Month Plan 2025/26

The committee will be asked to approve the Internal Audit Six Month Plan Report along with the Audit Plan October 25 -March 26. The plan summarises the proposed audit coverage that the internal audit team will deliver between October 2025 and March 2026. The report pack states that the plan takes into account key areas such as the corporate risk register, governance related activities, financial systems, and service area related activity.

Annual Formal Complaints and Freedom of Information Requests Report 2024/25

The committee will consider the Annual Complaints and FOI report, which provides a summary of formal complaints, Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, and Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) requests activity during 2024/25. Detailed annual reports can be found at Formal complaints annual report 2024-25 and FOI EIR Annual Report 2024-25. The report pack states that the formal complaints and FOI/EIR processes are managed using the council's digital platform, Liberty Create.

Waivers and Exemptions Report

The committee will consider the Waivers and Exemptions Report, which provides a yearly summary of waivers and exemptions approved for contracts awarded without a formal tendering process. The report pack states that all such approvals align with the Council's Contract Procedure Rules (CPRs), which ensure compliance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and the Procurement Act 2023.

Audit and Governance Committee Work Programme

The committee will consider the AG Committee Work Programme - 24 September 2025. The report pack details additions to the agenda for the meeting on 24 September 2025, which include the External Auditor's Annual Report and the Health and Safety Interim Report. The report pack also details deletions from the agenda for the meeting on 24 September 2025, which include the External Auditors Annual Report and the Health and Safety Interim Report.

Separate Business

The Chair, Councillor David Gray, is expected to move a resolution to exclude the public from the meeting for the following items, as they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

Separate Minutes

The committee will be asked to approve the separate Minutes of the meeting held on 25 June 2025.

Minutes

The committee will be asked to approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 24 September 2025. The AG Minutes 25 June 2025 FINAL from the previous meeting note that the committee:

• Noted the Audit and Governance Committee Work Programme.
• Added an interim Health and Safety Report to the Agenda for the meeting on 24 September 2025.
• Noted the external auditor's audit plan.
• Noted the Corporate Risk Register.
• Included an additional risk around failure to deliver the Council Plan priorities.
• Noted the annual safeguarding update and Section 11 assurance submission.
• Noted the Counter Fraud and Enforcement Unit update.
• Noted the annual report on the actions undertaken during the year and the action plan to support the Council's data protection arrangements.
• Noted the levels of aged debt held as at 31 March 2025.
• Noted the Internal Audit Monitoring Report.
• Noted the internal audit annual conclusion and assurance from work undertaken during the year.
• Approved the Audit and Governance Committee Annual Report 2024/25, subject to a correction.
• Recommended to Council that the Internal Audit Strategy 2025-28 be approved.
• Noted the Local Code of Corporate Governance.
• Approved the separate Minutes of the meeting held on 19 March 2025.