Leaders set to discuss auditors' critical letter

LOCAL leaders will meet this week to consider a critical letter sent from the authority's auditors to the Tees Valley Combined Authority Cabinet.

- By DANIEL HODGSON

TVCA Cabinet, chaired by Conservative Mayor Ben Houchen, will meet on Wednesday to discuss recommendations put forward by Ernst and Young (EY).

The Cabinet is expected to note the letter and accept the three statutory recommendations made by the auditors as well as approving action to be taken to address such recommendations.

In addition to being sent to the combined authority, a copy of the letter was sent to Angela Rayner, Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

The three recommendations set out that TVCA should review the capacity within the finance team.

The combined authority is also told to make sure it understands the statutory requirements of the inspection period.

The final recommendation is for TVCA to set out “a clear timetable for production of its 2024/25 Statement of Accounts, including the Annual Governance Statement”.

The Cabinet agenda sets out how it will respond, saying: “The management of the delivery of the response to the external audit statutory recommendations will be through a master action plan that incorporates; key milestones of delivery, clear ownership of these milestone actions, transparent change control process and regular quality assurance meetings.”

One of the action points says that the finance team has four new starters in place and continues to recruit further interim support resources.

Progress against the actions is due to be reported at TVCA Cabinet, local authorities, TVCA audit and governance committee as well as a new Best Value Notice Independent Improvement Board.