The council's audit service has continued to expand on its successful joint working arrangement with Sandwell MBC. Not only has it recently won the contract to provide the audit service for Wolverhampton Homes, it has also entered into a partnership with Centro (who are responsible for the delivery of public transport in the West Midlands) in order to provide a similar range of services.

The current client base across the 2 teams at Wolverhampton and Sandwell now includes:

  • Wolverhampton City Council
  • Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council
  • Wolverhampton Homes
  • West Midlands Pension Fund
  • West Midlands Fire Service
  • Centro
  • Sandwell Leisure Trust
  • Sandwell Inspired Partnerships
  • Various academies across the borough

A range of other related services are also included, at various points, within this arrangement including risk management, a fraud investigation service and insurance.

Councillor Craig Collingswood the new Chair of the Audit Committee said " I am pleased that our audit, risk, fraud and insurance service continues to grow as they fulfil an important role in ensuring that we have excellent governance, risk management and internal controls in place here at the council. They also work closely with our external auditors (PwC) in making sure our accounts are in order. This is certainly a model for the future in which we are bringing a much stronger commercial outlook to the way that we provide and deliver our services"

"By increasing their customer base, not only does this bring economies of scale to the council, it also allows the team to develop and widen their experience and skills."

"I see one of the key roles of the Audit Committee as being there to support the service and help raise the profile of internal control and risk management issues across the council. I look forward to reporting back to Full Council at its September meeting on the work the Committee has undertaken during the last 12 months."

  • released: Friday 31 July, 2015