Decisions for issue External Audit - Verbal Update on Progress

51.1         The External Auditors, Helen Thompson and Simon Mathers, provided a verbal update and highlighted they now had now transferred to Ernst & Young who would now provide the external auditing service to the Council. It was noted that they had been in post since 1 November 2012 and were pleased to report that the broad scope of their work would largely remain the same. They noted that the planning of audit risk would continue to focus on the financial resilience and finance planning of the authority. It was also noted that there would be no break in service, and some of the potential data sampling and fraud protection tools were highlighted. Members were reassured that such functionalities would form part of the agreed service.