Barnet Council's Governance, Audit, Risk Management and Standards Committee (GARMS) has been informed that a significant number of audit recommendations remain unimplemented, posing risks to the council's control environment.
During the committee's meeting on Thursday, 17 September 2026, Adam Calmonson, Head of Internal Audit, reported that only 55% of high-priority audit actions had been confirmed as implemented by the council in Q1 2026/27. This falls considerably short of the 90% target, a trend that has persisted over multiple reporting periods. For the 2025/26 full year, the implementation rate was 74%, an improvement from the previous year's 64%, but still below the target. The current rate of 55% represents a deterioration in the council's control environment resulting in increased financial losses, non-compliance with regulations and heightened risk of errors or fraud
.
This persistent issue has led to the risk rating for ASS018, concerning Audit advice and/or agreed actions not being implemented,
remaining at 16. While specific reasons for the delay of individual recommendations were not detailed, the report mentions that persistent delays in addressing agreed audit actions have implications for the Council's control environment
.
To address this, Directorate-level audit action trackers and link officer arrangements were introduced
during Q1 2026/27 to strengthen oversight and accountability for outstanding actions. These arrangements are at an early stage and are being embedded
, but have not yet translated into the level of improvement required
. The Head of Internal Audit continues to raise this issue through Corporate Management Team and senior management forums.
Councillor Danny Rich raised concerns about the committee's role, questioning what more could be done beyond simply noting the ongoing slippage. He asked, what can this committee do about this other than note it every time? I mean, what can we actively do to assist or carry out our task to ensure that somehow we move this along?
Calmonson responded that the committee's oversight is crucial, stating, I wouldn't expect the committee to manage audit actions on management's behalf. That's clearly not your role. However, the committee can play an important role by continuing to ask the questions you're asking. Visibility, challenge, and accountability, of course, matter.
He added that if directors know that implementation performance is being discussed in management forums and through audit reporting, it helps just to reinforce the importance of delivering the actions.
The committee's scrutiny, he concluded, can help maintain focus and momentum.
The full public reports pack for the meeting can be found at Public reports pack 17th Sep 2026.