PUBLIC SECTOR

Fylde Borough Council

Annual Audit Letter 2009/10
7 December 2010
AUDIT
Introduction
The contacts at Background
KPMG in
This Annual Audit Letter summarises the key issues arising from our 2009/10 audit of Fylde Borough Council (the Council). Although
connection with
this report are: this letter is addressed to the Members of the Council, it is also intended to communicate these issues to key external stakeholders,
including members of the public. The letter will also be published on the Audit Commission website at oneplace.audit-
Trevor Rees commission.gov.uk. It is the responsibility of the Council to publish the letter on the Council’s website. In the letter we highlight
Partner areas of good performance and also provide recommendations to help you improve performance. We have reported all the issues
KPMG LLP (UK)
Tel: 0161 246 4063 in this letter to you throughout the year and a list of all reports we have issued is provided in Appendix A.
Fax: 0161 838 4040 Scope of our audit
trevor.rees@kpmg.co.uk

The statutory responsibilities and powers of appointed auditors are set out in the Audit Commission Act 1998. Our main
Jillian Burrows
Senior Manager responsibility is to carry out an audit that meets the requirements of the Audit Commission's Code of Audit Practice (the code)
KPMG LLP (UK) which requires us to report on:
Tel: 0161 246 6544
Fax: 0161 838 4040 We conclude on the arrangements in place for securing economy, efficiency and effectiveness (‘value
jillian.burrows@kpmg.co.uk Use of Resources (UoR)
for money’) in your use of resources.
Iain Leviston
Manager Financial Statements We provide an opinion on your accounts.
KPMG LLP (UK)
Tel: 0161 246 4403
Fax: 0161 838 4040 Fees
iain.leviston@kpmg.co.uk
Our fee for 2009/10 was £116,900 excluding VAT (2008/09: £125,000). This includes £70,000 for the audit of the financial
Shan Prior statements and £46,900 for the use of resources. Our fee for the certification of grants and returns are expected to be in the region
Audit In-Charge of £20,000 excluding VAT (2008/09: £20,010) once the work has been completed. Because the Council fell outside the scope of
KPMG LLP (UK)
Tel: 0161 246 4501 having its Whole of Government Accounts audited, the fee for this work of £3,100 excluding VAT will be refunded.
Fax: 0161 838 4040
shan.prior@kpmg.co.uk
This report is addressed to the Authority and has been prepared for the sole use of the Authority. We take no responsibility to any member of staff acting in their individual
capacities, or to third parties. The Audit Commission has issued a document entitled Statement of Responsibilities of Auditors and Audited Bodies. This summarises where the
responsibilities of auditors begin and end and what is expected from the audited body. We draw your attention to this document.
External auditors do not act as a substitute for the audited body’s own responsibility for putting in place proper arrangements to ensure that public business is conducted in
accordance with the law and proper standards, and that public money is safeguarded and properly accounted for, and used economically, efficiently and effectively.
If you have any concerns or are dissatisfied with any part of KPMG’s work, in the first instance you should contact Trevor Rees, who is the engagement partner to the Authority,
telephone 0161 246 4063, email trevor.rees@kpmg.co.uk who will try to resolve your complaint. Trevor is also the national contact partner for all of KPMG’s work with the Audit
Commission. After this, if you are still dissatisfied with how your complaint has been handled you can access the Audit Commission’s complaints procedure. Put your complaint in
writing to the Complaints Investigation Officer, Westward House, Lime Kiln Close, Stoke Gifford, Bristol, BS34 8SR or by email to complaints@audit-commission.gov.uk. Their
telephone number is 0844 798 3131, textphone (minicom) 020 7630 0421.

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Headlines

Use of Resources Use of Resources  In May 2010 the government announced that the Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) would be
assessment abolished. The Audit Commission subsequently confirmed that work related to CAA should cease
with immediate effect. This included work for UoR scored assessments at local authorities. However,
there is no change to the requirement in the statutory Code of Audit Practice for auditors to issue a
VFM conclusion.
 At the time of the announcement, the vast majority of UoR work for 2010 had already been completed
and this therefore informed our 2009/10 VFM conclusion.
 During 2008/09 there were three KLoE that were graded a level one, and as such led to a qualified
Value for Money conclusion being issued. From the work performed during 2009/10 we were
satisfied that all three of these KLOE’s would have been scored at level two or higher.
 There was one new KLoE to assess in 2009/10, KLoE 3.1 relating to the use of natural resources.
Whilst the Authority is taking operational measures to address some of the requirements of the KLoE,
there was a lack of evidence to demonstrate that these decisions are being made within a clear
strategic framework.

Our conclusion  We issued an unqualified value for money conclusion for 2009/10 except for arrangements to make
effective use of natural resources. This means that we are satisfied that you have put into place
proper arrangements for securing economy, efficiency and effectiveness in your use of resources.

© 2010 KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership, is a subsidiary of KPMG Europe LLP and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative, a
Swiss entity. All rights reserved. This document is confidential and its circulation and use are restricted. KPMG and the KPMG logo are registered trademarks of KPMG International Cooperative, a Swiss entity. 2
Headlines

Financial Annual accounts  We are pleased to report that there were no significant adjustments required to the financial
Statements statements arising from our audit work.
 There were no significant matters which we were required to report to ‘those charged with
governance’.

Annual  No significant adjustments were required to the AGS.

Governance
Statement

Our conclusion  We issued an unqualified opinion on your accounts on 29 September 2010. This means that we
believe the accounts give a true and fair view of the financial affairs of the Council and of the income
and expenditure recorded during the year.

Recommendations Audit  We are pleased to report that there are no new recommendations arising from our 2009/10 audit
recommendations work.
 We have also identified that both prior year recommendations had been dealt with in a satisfactory
manner by management.

Public Interest Elector complaint  We received a complaint from an elector in September 2010. The matter is currently being dealt
Reporting with, and the Chief Executive is being kept up-to-date on progress.

© 2010 KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership, is a subsidiary of KPMG Europe LLP and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative, a
Swiss entity. All rights reserved. This document is confidential and its circulation and use are restricted. KPMG and the KPMG logo are registered trademarks of KPMG International Cooperative, a Swiss entity. 3
Headlines
High profile issues Economic  Following the Comprehensive Spending Review announcement in October 2010, there is now greater
Downturn and clarity on the spending cuts that will affect local government. Local authorities will face 7.25% annual
pressure on the cuts representing 26% reductions over the next four years. Although this is less than many
public sector commentators had predicted, this still represents one of the biggest cuts for any part of the public
sector. Detailed analysis will be required as further details of these funding cuts are clarified – the real
impact will not be known until the government departments produce their business plans in mid-
December and organisations have a chance to digest the Chancellor’s messages.
 The Council undertook a Financial Forecast Update in early November 2010 taking into account the
Comprehensive Spending a Review and a range of other significant risks facing the financial health of
the Council. These include:
– Concessionary travel
– The review of public sector pensions and the Lancashire LGPS triennial revaluation
– The waste management contract with Wyre BC
– Other income streams such as Planning Application and Building Control fees
– Changes in the regulations relating to Council Tax capping.
 The forecasts predict the following financial outturn and the resulting impact on the reserves position:

2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15

£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Call on Reserves 441 1,567 1,813 1,893 2,131
Forecast reserves at 1,132 12 (1,801) (3,694) (5,825)
year end

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Headlines
High profile issues Economic  The Council has a legal duty to set a balanced budget on an annual basis. This requires the Council,
Downturn and based on the financial forecast presented to members in November, to identify £740k of cost savings
pressure on the or additional income for the 2011/12 financial year, rising to £2.1m in 2014/15. Efficiency savings
public sector alone will not be enough to save this amount of expenditure. Members and senior management
(continued) must instead work together to identify radical ways of reducing the Council’s spend. A number of
authorities have already undertake similar reviews, and developed solutions including:
– Outsourcing or shared services arrangements of substantial elements of the Council’s core
activities;
– Increasing the level of income earned from the Council’s activities either by imposing fees for
the first time, or increasing fees already charged; and
– Reviewing the Council’s activities, and discontinuing completely services that are not legal
requirements or priority activities for the residents of Fylde.

© 2010 KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership, is a subsidiary of KPMG Europe LLP and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative, a
Swiss entity. All rights reserved. This document is confidential and its circulation and use are restricted. KPMG and the KPMG logo are registered trademarks of KPMG International Cooperative, a Swiss entity. 5
Future audit work
Changes to next year’s value for work programme
 Given the scale of the pressures facing public bodies in the current economic climate, the Audit Commission has reviewed its work programme for
2010/11 onwards. As part of this exercise, the Commission has been discussing possible options for a new approach to local value for money (VFM)
audit work with key national stakeholders. From 2010/11 we will therefore apply a new, more targeted and better value approach to our local VFM
audit work. This will be based on a reduced number of reporting criteria specified by the Commission, concentrating on:
­ securing financial resilience; and

­ prioritising resources within tighter budgets.

 We will determine a local programme of VFM audit work based on our audit risk assessment, informed by these criteria and our statutory
responsibilities. We will no longer make annual scored judgements relating to our local VFM audit work. Instead we will report the results of all the
local VFM audit work and the key messages for the audited body in our annual report to those charged with governance and in a clear and accessible
annual audit letter.
Future audit arrangements
 In August 2010 the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government announced proposals to abolish the Audit Commission. The proposed
abolition will be from 2012 and the government will seek legislation in this session of Parliament.
 There is no immediate change to the current audit arrangements. We will keep you informed about the future audit programme and any changes to
audit arrangements.

© 2010 KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership, is a subsidiary of KPMG Europe LLP and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative, a
Swiss entity. All rights reserved. This document is confidential and its circulation and use are restricted. KPMG and the KPMG logo are registered trademarks of KPMG International Cooperative, a Swiss entity. 6
Appendices
Appendix A: Summary of Reports issued
This appendix 2010
summarises the
reports we issued January
since our last
Annual Audit
Letter.
Financial The Audit Plan set out our February Certification of This report summarised the
Statements approach to the audit of the
Grants & Returns outcome form our certification
Audit Plan Council’s Use of Resources and
Issued: February work on the Council’s 2008/09
Issued: Financial Statements . March
2010 grants and returns.
February2010
Presented to AC:
Presented to AC: April 30 March 2010
30 March 2010

May

June

July

Audit Opinions The Audit Report included our

August
Issued: September audit opinion for the year, the
Report to those The Report to Those Charged with 2010 Value for Money conclusion
charged with Governance summarised the and our Audit Certificate.
September Presented to AC:
governance results of our audit for 2009/10
including key issues and 23 September 2010
Issued:
September 2010 recommendations raised as a
October
result of our observations.
Presented to AC: Annual Audit This Annual Audit Letter
23 September We also provided the mandatory
declarations required under Letter provides a summary of the
2010 November
auditing standards as part of this Issued: December results of our audit for 2009/10.
report. 2010
December Presented to AC:
27 January 2011

© 2010 KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership, is a subsidiary of KPMG Europe LLP and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative, a
Swiss entity. All rights reserved. This document is confidential and its circulation and use are restricted. KPMG and the KPMG logo are registered trademarks of KPMG International Cooperative, a Swiss entity. 7