In a second hearing before the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee (LUHC), the comptroller and auditor general at the NAO, Gareth Davies, told the committee that the effects of delayed audits are already being felt beyond the sector.

‘Delays in the local government sector are directly leading to delays in the audit of entire central government departments. This is a big enough problem for local government and direct accountability at a local level.

‘Timeliness is a crucial component in audit quality, and there remains an urgent crisis for local government and its auditors to fix the current backlog. An audit is of no use if it’s technically perfect but made three years late. Both timeliness and quality are crucial.’

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