The Appointment of a Body for the Procurement of Audit Services for Principal Local Public Bodies

In August 2010 the Government announced its intention to disband the Audit Commission and put in place a new localised audit framework. Under these new arrangements, local bodies would be able to appoint their own auditors from an open and competitive market. Initially there were two ways in which local bodies might do this. They could either:

• Set up an Auditor Panel to make recommendations; or • Set up an Auditor Panel together with other bodies, to make recommendations to constituent members with the aim of sharing the procurement burden

However, during the passage of the legislation through Parliament, and in response to representations from local bodies and the local government sector, the government made provision under Sections 5 and 17 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 to enable the establishment of a collective procurement body. Using these provisions, Government is able to designate or ‘Specify’ an appropriate organisation to act as a procurement and appointment body for audit services. Local bodies would then be able to choose whether they wish to ‘opt-in’ and have their auditor appointed by such a body. A decision to opt-in to the specified body would remove the need for any local body to set up an Auditor Panel.

This Market Enquiry seeks to establish the level of interest in the wider market place from organisations with demonstrable sector support to take on the role of a specified body under the Act in order to negotiate audit contracts and make audit appointments on behalf of Principal local bodies (excluding Health bodies).

The outcomes of this enquiry will inform the shape and nature of the assessment process we use to determine which organisation is recommended to Ministers for specification.

Further details about this Enquiry can be found in the attachment below

Additional information: The deadline for responses is 12 noon on 2 June 2016.

Thank you for taking the time to respond to this enquiry.