The Audit and Standards Advisory Committee for Brent Council met on Wednesday 3 December 2025 to discuss a range of audit and standards related matters. These included updates on counter fraud measures, internal audit, treasury management, and the external audit findings for both the council and its pension fund. The committee was also scheduled to review the treasury management strategy for the upcoming year and the forward plan for the committee's work.

Standards Report

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on gifts and hospitality registered by councillors. The report also included an update on the government's response to consultations on strengthening standards and conduct frameworks for local authorities. According to the agenda, the most significant changes appeared to be the ability to suspend councillors found to have breached the code of conduct, the ability to withhold allowances from councillors who commit serious breaches, and the ability to disqualify a councillor who has been suspended twice. The report noted that until further detail and legislation are passed by the government, no further action was scheduled to be undertaken by the council.

Interim Counter Fraud Report

The Audit and Standards Advisory Committee was scheduled to receive the Interim Counter Fraud Report for 2025-26. The report summarised the activities of the Counter Fraud team, covering internal, housing, and external fraud, as well as proactive work. The report also fulfilled the requirements of the Local Government Transparency Code 2015, which requires councils to publish details of their counter fraud activity.

The report included the following information:

• Internal fraud, including whistleblowing referrals and cases of staff conduct, and financial and procedural irregularities.
• Tenancy and social housing fraud, with a focus on the recovery of social housing properties.
• External fraud, including cases involving blue badge misuse, direct payments, council tax, business rates, insurance, concessionary travel and grant applications.
• Proactive activity, including National Fraud Initiative (NFI) data matching reviews and fraud workshops.

Internal Audit Interim Report

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on the work undertaken by Internal Audit in delivering the 2025-26 Internal Audit Plan up to the end of October 2025. The plan was structured around core assurance, agile risk-based reviews, and follow-up activity.

Treasury Management

The committee was scheduled to receive two reports relating to treasury management:

Treasury Management Mid-Year Report 2025-26

The Treasury Management Mid-Year Report 2025-26 updated members on treasury activity for the first half of the financial year. The report noted that the council can only borrow for capital investment, and not to fund operational expenditure. The borrowing supports the council's capital investment programmes for both council housing, and the general fund.

Key areas covered in the report included:

• Compliance with Prudential Indicators¹
• Borrowing and investment activity
• Net interest costs
• Economic background

Treasury Management Strategy Report 2026-27

The Treasury Management Strategy Report 2026-27 presented the draft Treasury Management Strategy for the upcoming financial year. The strategy sets out the framework for treasury management activity and includes details on borrowing and investment strategies, treasury management indicators, and the economic and local context.

External Audit Findings Report and Statement of Accounts 2024-25

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on the progress in finalising the External Audit Findings Reports and Council's Statement of Accounts for 2024-25. The following reports were attached for consideration:

• External Audit Findings Report for the London Borough of Brent
• External Audit Findings Report for Brent Pension Fund
• Council & Pension Fund Statement of Accounts 2024-25

The External Audit Findings Report for the London Borough of Brent noted that the accounts audit commenced in July 2025 and remained ongoing, with completion planned for the end of December. The report stated that there were three adjustments to the financial statements, resulting in a £3.6m adjustment to the authority's Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement, decreasing the financial position, and that these adjustments did not affect the level of the authority's usable reserves. The report also stated that audit work was ongoing, and that the auditors were not aware of any matters requiring modification of their audit opinion, subject to outstanding items relating to plant, property and equipment, IFRS 16 / Leases, movement in reserves, cash and cash equivalents, financial instruments, completion of all remaining audit testing, other information, receipt of management representation, and review of the final set of financial statements.

The report also noted that Grant Thornton, the external auditors, had identified three significant weaknesses in the authority's arrangements for securing economy, efficiency and effectiveness in its use of resources, relating to financial sustainability and quality and safety standards in housing.

The External Audit Findings Report for Brent Pension Fund noted that the audit work was completed during July to September 2025, and that there was one disclosure adjustment to the notes to the financial statements, resulting in a £45 million adjustment to the Pension Fund's Capital Commitments Disclosure Note. The report also noted that there were £3.718 million of unadjusted differences in the valuation of the fund's investments, and an unadjusted classification error relating to transfers out.

The Statement of Accounts 24-25 included draft letters of representation for both Brent Council and the Brent Pension Fund.

Audit and Standards Advisory Committee Forward Plan & Work Programme 2025-26

The committee was scheduled to consider its forward plan and work programme for 2025-26.