Recommendation 19

The establishment of the local audit system leader will require primary legislation. The legislation required to establish ARGA has been significantly delayed and there appears to be little or no forward momentum or urgency in the Government to introduce it. Moreover, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, which will be responsible for the local audit system leader, informed us that only the Department for Business and Trade, as ARGA’s sponsor department, can move forward with this legislation. It is fundamentally unclear how the Government’s Financial Reporting and Audit in Local Authorities 37 departments are being coordinated to establish ARGA in a timely fashion. The Government must make it a priority to establish the local audit system leader, in a different form if necessary.