The experiences of the devolved nations strengthens the case for the proposed Office of Local Audit Regulation, writes the chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy.
It’s been six months since the Redmond Review issued its recommendations and two months since the government published its response. In that time, the sector has been abuzz with various parties sharing their thoughts on the proposal for an independent body to manage, oversee and regulate local audit in the form of the Office of Local Audit Regulation (OLAR).
The LGC reported on a Local Government Association meeting in September in which OLAR was branded by certain political actors as “arse covering from finance directors.” The same meeting highlighted that such a body would be incompatible with good governance and competition regulations, replacing a sector-led body with a centralised one.
The government will not immediately back a key recommendation of the Redmond review that a single body should be created to manage and regulate local authority audit, it announced this afternoon.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government said the recommendation of Sir Tony Redmond in his review of council audit clashed with its intention not to create new arms-length bodies and that it did not with to “recreate” the Audit Commission. It will examine whether an existing body working in the field can take on a system leadership role.
However extra money to support local authority audit was announced in communities secretary Robert Jenrick s government’s response to Sir Tony’s review of the effectiveness of local authority audit published in September.