Oliver Simms News Today

ICAEW evidence to a parliamentary inquiry says local authority financial statements and audit are vital to delivering value for money, but that weaknesses hamper effective governance.

The Business Department is not expecting to recoup billions of taxpayers’ money lost to fraud and error in pandemic support.

The government should use lessons learned from the COVID-19 business grant schemes to improve contingency planning and build resilience for responding to future national emergencies, spending watchdog concludes.

Jonathan Djanogly MP quotes ICAEW evidence as he asks whether the business department needs to change its approach to recovering fraud losses from COVID-19 support schemes.

Agency responsible for Test and Trace criticised by NAO for “lack of adequate governance, oversight and control” exposing it to a “high level of risk”.

Little progress has been made to address delays in local government audits, according to the National Audit Office (NAO). The public spending watchdog

NAO warns that English local authority audit delays have “potential implications for governance and accountability” as it publishes a “progress update” on the timeliness of English local auditor reporting.

The Energy Bills Discount Scheme (EBDS) will continue energy bill support for businesses until 31 March 2024, but at a reduced rate.

A major report by the Public and Constitutional Affairs Committee describes governance and funding arrangements for local government in England “ineffective”.

The National Audit Office says assurance delays in COVID-19 grants have led to only 0.4% of estimated fraudulent or erroneous payments being recovered.