External auditors, Ernst and Young, has completed its annual review of the Isle of Wight Council’s statement of accounts, issuing an unqualified opinion on the council’s financial statements.
Ernst and Young also concluded that “in all significant respects, Isle of Wight Council put in place proper arrangements to secure economy, efficiency and effectiveness in its use of resources”. Going on to state: “We did not identify any significant weaknesses in the council’s arrangements.”
These statements assure the Council that, despite its continued and continuing financial pressures, it plans to and manages its finances well. The auditor’s report goes on to confirm that: “The council’s current financial position and future financial outlook remains highly challenging.”
Last year; auditors identified the significant risk that: “The council will not be able to plan its finances effectively to support the sustainable delivery of strategic priorities and maintain statutory functions.”
This year, they were required to consider whether the council had indeed put in place proper arrangements to secure economy, efficiency and effectiveness on its use of resources, known as the ‘value for money conclusion’.
One considerable benefit of the recent audit report demonstrates that while the council was deemed to “not [be] able to plan finances effectively to support the sustainable delivery of strategic priorities and maintain statutory functions,” during previous assessments, the auditors are now assured that the new financial strategy proposed by the authority, will yield results: “With a change in the council’s focus away from solely reducing cost and organisational capacity to thinking differently about how financial change might be achieved through regeneration and revenue growth, and how available capital funding can be used to better support this.”
Councillor Jonathan Bacon, leader of the Isle of Wight Council, said:
“The council has spent the past few months identifying innovative solutions to its financial pressures and challenges. The potential Solent Devolution deal and the financial injections that this could bring is certainly part of this renewed vigour, which will be built upon the pillars of regeneration, growth and productivity.
Article continues below this advertisement “Ambitious, bold and exciting regeneration opportunities will help us to move away from a story of cuts, cuts and more cuts, building a strong, stable and engaging economic model for the future. While austerity will continue to bite, and we will have to continue to consider new ways of working and delivering services more effectively; by bolstering the council’s income through an increased business and council tax base, through growth, meaning that the council, and the Island, becomes more prosperous and self-sustaining in the future.”
It is the council’s commitment to this medium term financial strategy of regeneration, growth and productivity that has led the auditors to look more favourably on the council’s future value for money rating: “It is now essential that this is done.”
