The s151 Officer will introduce this item.

The attached document details proposals for the provision of external audit services to Oxford City Housing Limited.

Recommendation:

That the Housing Companies Shareholder Group resolves to approve the appointment of Kingston Smith LLP as external auditors to Oxford City Housing Limited for the 2016-17 accounts.

The Shareholder Group considered a proposal for the provision of external audit services to Oxford City Housing Limited.

The Council’s s151 Officer introduced the item and explained that he had hoped to appoint a single company to audit all of the Council’s subsidiary companies but that such a brief had met little response in the market.  Consequently it was necessary to allocate separate work packages to smaller but well established accountancy firms in order to meet regulatory deadlines.  He intended to return to market with a group specification for audit services in future years.  The company accounts would form part of the Council’s consolidated accounts and as such would be subject to review by the Scrutiny Finance Panel and the Audit & Governance Committee.

The Shareholder Group resolved to approve the appointment of Kingston Smith LLP as external auditors to Oxford City Housing Limited for the 2016-17 accounts.