Agenda item

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee received a Report of the Chamberlain outlining the workplan for the next six months.

In response to a query, the Chamberlain confirmed that the statutory deadline for the certification of City Fund’s external audit was 30^th September. Given that the City (in addition to many other London Boroughs) will not meet this deadline, discussions had been held with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to see if this deadline could be extended to the end of November. MHCLG have, thus far, rejected this request.

The City will alert all stakeholders to the delay on the Corporation’s website. It should be emphasised that the City met its statutory obligations in submitting the draft statements at the end of June and the delay to certification rests with the external auditors. The key risk now was reputational, and the Chamberlain would be working on ensuring that our relationship with the City’s investors remained undamaged.

The Chamberlain confirmed that there was no statutory deadline for certification of City’s Cash statements but has signalled to investors that certification will be completed by Christmas. The Bridge House Estates statements needed to be completed by the end of January, but officers were working on ensuring that this was in place earlier.

The Chairman confirmed that he, the Chairman of the Bridge House Estates Board, and the Chairman of the Audit & Risk Management Committee had been kept fully updated on this matter and had collectively aired their frustrations, on behalf of the City, with representatives of the external auditors.

RESOLVED – that the Committee noted the Report.