The Audit and Governance Committee of West Northamptonshire Council was scheduled to meet on Thursday 23 July 2026 to review a range of financial and governance reports. Key discussions were planned to cover the council's external audit strategy, annual governance statement, and internal audit reports for the 2025-26 financial year.

External Audit - Regaining Assurance Strategy

A significant item on the agenda was the Regaining Assurance Strategy for West Northamptonshire Council ¹. This report, prepared by Grant Thornton UK LLP, was to outline the plan to rebuild audit assurance following several years of disclaimed audit reports. The strategy was expected to detail a three-year plan, aiming for an unmodified audit opinion by 2027/28. It assessed the council as Category B under the MHCLG capacity assessment framework, indicating that an ISA-compliant approach is achievable but with significant operational difficulties. The report was to highlight technical challenges, including issues with the valuation of Property, Plant and Equipment (PPE) and the inability to confirm the existence of material legacy debtors and creditors. The strategy was also to note that the council's capacity to support the build-back process was considered good, with improved audit trails and evidence in 2024/25. The expected audit report trajectory anticipated a disclaimed opinion for 2025/26, transitioning to a qualified opinion in 2026/27, and an unqualified opinion in 2027/28. The build-back work programme was to detail plans for staged testing of statutory reserves, property assets, and other financial areas over the coming years.

Annual Governance Statement 2025-26

The committee was scheduled to consider the Annual Governance Statement 2025-26 ². This statutory document provides a review of the council's activities to ensure it is carrying out its functions effectively, with a strong link between good governance and effective service delivery. The statement was presented as a balanced reflection of the governance environment for 2025-26, noting the ongoing journey of improvement as a new Unitary Council. It was to outline the council's governance framework, which is underpinned by the CIPFA/SOLACE 'Delivering Good Governance in Local Government' framework and comprises policies, procedures, behaviours, and values. The statement was to detail the council's seven key principles of good governance, including behaving with integrity, ensuring openness, defining outcomes in terms of sustainable benefits, determining necessary interventions, developing capacity, managing performance through robust internal controls, and implementing good practices in transparency, reporting, and audit. The report was to include an assessment of effectiveness against these principles, highlighting arrangements in place and evidence of their implementation. Areas for improvement were identified, such as the need for a central record of staff performance monitoring and a review of the Employee Code of Conduct.

Annual Internal Audit Report and Opinion 2025-26

The Annual Internal Audit Report & Opinion 2025-26 ³ was to be presented to provide an overall opinion on the council's framework of governance, risk management, and internal control for the financial year. Based on the planned internal audit work and other sources of assurance, the Head of Audit & Risk Management was scheduled to give a REASONABLE assurance opinion. This would indicate that a generally sound system was in place, although some issues, non-compliance, or scope for improvement were identified that might put the achievement of objectives at risk. The report was to note that the internal audit service had undergone an external quality assessment which concluded it generally conforms with Global Internal Audit Standards. The opinion was to be based on planned internal audit reviews, follow-up of actions, and other sources of assurance, including lead authority audits and counter-fraud work. The report was to state there were no specific issues arising from internal audit work considered significant enough to be relevant to the Annual Governance Statement.

Audit and Governance Committee Annual Report 2025-26

The committee was scheduled to consider its own Audit and Governance Committee Annual Report 2025-26 ⁴. This report, produced in accordance with best practice, was to summarise the committee's work during the financial year, demonstrating its contribution to the council's governance and control environments. It was to cover the committee's responsibilities regarding internal control, risk management, internal audit, anti-fraud, external audit, and financial reporting. The report was to detail the key activities undertaken, including consideration of internal audit progress reports, strategic risk register updates, external audit progress, and governance updates. It was also to highlight training and development activities undertaken to support the committee members and outline future developments planned for 2026/27, focusing on driving up standards of corporate governance, equipping members with necessary training, promoting the work of audit functions, and supporting the production of compliant statutory accounts.

Internal Audit Progress Report

An update on Internal Audit Progress ⁵ was scheduled, detailing work delivered by the Audit & Risk Management Service, including progress against the Internal Audit Plan for 2026/27 and any outstanding audits from 2025/26. The report was expected to include summaries of final audit reports, including Limited Assurance Reports for The Bliss Charity Primary School and Adult Social Care - Commissioning and Monitoring of Providers , and Building Control . The Bliss Charity Primary School audit was to identify significant weaknesses in governance, policy management, financial documentation, and oversight arrangements, with recommendations focusing on formal approval of financial plans and budgets by the Governing Body. The Building Control audit was to highlight control gaps across application, inspection, certification, and debt management processes, recommending improvements to KPIs, completion statement verification, and backlog management. The report was also to provide a summary of the implementation status of all outstanding audit recommendations, categorised by essential, important, and standard, and detail the work of the Counter Fraud team.

Strategic Risk Register

The committee was scheduled to review an update to the Strategic Risk Register – Red Risks May 2026 ⁶. This report was to provide an update on the council's significant risks and threats, with a focus on those flagged as red (high risk). The register was to include 13 high-level significant risks that could impact the council's ability to achieve its key corporate objectives. The report was to indicate that as at 31 May 2026, there had been no changes in the residual scoring of these red risks since the last update. The risks were to cover areas such as data management and cyber security, council housing stock condition, financial sustainability, and non-delivery of statutory duties for adult social care.

Governance and Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) Update

An update on the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) ⁷ was to be provided. The report was to state that there had been no applications for the use of the council's covert surveillance powers since the previous committee meeting. It was also to mention that a training session for the Executive Leadership Team on their responsibilities as RIPA Authorising Officers was planned for the autumn.

Work Programme

Finally, the committee was to consider its Work Programme ⁸, which was to outline the planned agenda items for future meetings. This was to include items such as the Internal Audit Plan for 2027/28, updates on the implementation of internal audit recommendations, recovery of debts, external audit progress, and reviews of the strategic risk register. The committee was to be invited to highlight any other areas where they wished to receive further reports.