Annual report 2025 Court of Auditors

The Court of Audit Gemert-Bakel - Laarbeek had the following composition throughout 2025.

• Mr. Frits van Vugt (Chairman)
• Mr. Rob Malag (member)
• Mr. Laurens Elzinga (member)

The three of them were sworn in on March 2, 2023 (appointed for six years).
The court of auditors was supported administratively and advisory by Ms. Antje van den Berg, employee of the Gemert-Bakel registry.

The Court of Audit is an independent body whose duties and powers are described in the Municipalities Act and by the "Regulation Municipal Court of Audit (2023)" and "Covenant Joint Court of Audit Municipalities of Gemert-Bakel and Laarbeek (2023)". In addition, the court of auditors has rules of procedure and a research protocol.
The Court of Audit conducts research into the effects of the municipal policy and into the efficiency and effectiveness of the municipal policy, of the implementation (especially by the municipal organization), into the lawfulness of the municipal management, as well as into the efficiency and effectiveness of institutions whose activities are wholly or substantially funded by the municipality.

Direction group from both municipal councils

There is a direction group for the court of auditors. The composition was as follows:

• -on behalf of Laarbeek: Mr. Jos Gruijters (chairman) until May 22, from that date: Mr. Michiel Bergman; and Mr. Bas van Sinten;
• On behalf of Gemert-Bakel: Mr. Chris Remmers and Mr. Willie van den Heuvel (from Sept. 23 chairman)

The direction group was supported by Mr. René van Heijnsbergen, grif fier municipality of Gemert-Bakel.
The direction group is involved in the selection of new topics, discusses the progress of the studies, serves as a sounding board for the court of auditors and fulfills the role between the municipal councils and the court of auditors.

Meetings in 2025

Meetings of the Court of Audit took place both physically and digitally. In the reporting year, the court of auditors had 14 meetings, including two physical meetings (on March 4 and September 23) with the direction group. These related to the planning and progress of the investigations.
In the spring a discussion took place with the sounding board group of councillors from Laarbeek about the research 'Growing older in Laarbeek'. In addition, there were two separate meetings with council members from Laarbeek and Gemert-Bakel in the context of the two studies on Inhabitant Participation.
There were also individual contacts between the members individually and between the members and the clerks, civil servants and third parties.

Five investigations have been completed in recent months (with a run through to early 2026).
As the Court of Audit, we are pleased that we have been able to 'accelerate' the pace of investigations to be released.
And more will follow shortly.

a. Research 'Growing older in Laarbeek'.

The agency XpertiseZorg, selected in 2024, had already done the desk research that fall, prepared an analysis framework and conducted a large number of interviews.
In 2025, a large-scale questionnaire was distributed through the municipality's resident panel. In addition, 28 street interviews took place.
The preliminary findings of the study were discussed with the court of auditors on February 14, 2025, and feedback was given to the focus group on March 26.
The preliminary findings report led to the request of the court of auditors to give more substance and depth to the findings and to confront them with the policy or policy intentions of the municipality.
The resulting (voluminous) final report was presented to the council by the National Audit Office on September 19, 2015 - after official and managerial review.
On October 28, the report was presented by the court of auditors and the research office to the council's Social and General Affairs Committee.

b. Research participation of inhabitants of Gemert-Bakel

The research firm PBLQ, selected in December 2024, started the desk research in early 2025, and on February 6, 2025, the kick-off meeting with the civil service organization took place, in the presence of the Court of Audit.
Next, the civil service interviews (policy officers) took place on March 20, followed by interviews with the portfolio holder and town clerk on March 25. In early April, surveys were distributed to residents who participated in certain projects (the same applies to Laarbeek).
The remaining interviews with stakeholders (village councils, etc.) then took place in the spring.
Since the contact details of participants were not always available, the research was delayed, and in the end the response of all selected projects could not be measured.
A session of PBLQ, the court of auditors and council members was held on September 4.
In the fall, the draft findings report was submitted to the civil service for review. Based on this report, the court of auditors prepared the administrative memorandum. This was submitted on February 13, 2026 (together with the final findings report) for an administrative response - which was received on March 3. Including afterword by the court of auditors, the final report was presented to the council on March 5, 2026. The presentation to the city council by the court of auditors and PBLQ took place on March 11.

c. Research into resident participation Laarbeek

As in Gemert-Bakel, the kick-off meeting with the official organization of Laarbeek took place on February 6, 2025, i.a.a. of the Court of Audit.
Subsequently, the official interviews (policy staff) and the portfolio holder took place on March 12 and the interview with the municipal secretary on April 3.
Parallel to the activities in Gemert-Bakel, the other interviews took place in the spring and the survey among participants of participation processes in Laarbeek was issued.
As in Gemert- Bakel, the contact details of participants were not always available, which delayed the survey and resulted in relatively few responses. A session was held on May 10 between PBLQ, the court of auditors and council members. In the fall, the draft findings report was submitted to the official organization for rebuttal. Based on this report, the court of auditors drafted the administrative memorandum.
This was submitted on February 3, 2026 (together with the final findings report) for an administrative response - this was received on March 3, 2026. Including afterword by the court of auditors, the final report was presented to the council on March 4, 2026. The presentation to the city council by the court of auditors and PBLQ took place on March 12.

d. Two benchmark studies on facility levels, for Laarbeek and Gemert-Bakel

These investigations were planned for earlier than 2025, but went through a "spring procession of Echternach," which led to delays:

• Determining what was to be understood by "level of facilities" took a long time, and required a few discussions within the sounding board group (and eventually the direction group);
• Not all indicators for determining the level of facilities turned out to be measurable - at least not in a way that could be benchmarked, without falling into "comparing apples and oranges.
• It was unclear until the very end of the study whether some indicators were available for all reference municipalities.

This led to further reflection by the Court of Audit, which conducted this study itself.
In the end, it was decided by the court of auditors (after consultation on January 16, 2026 with the direction group) - based on the data that were available - to make a "version 1.0" of both reports, with the initial findings and conclusions, which, with some additions and updates, will be developed into a "version 2.0" in a few months.

Both separate reports were subsequently finalized in February/March 2026 and sent to both municipal councils on March 11, 2026.
Commentary on both reports took place on March 11 (Gemert-Bakel) and March 12 (Laarbeek).

a. Research Policy and Vision (Gemert-Bakel).

By letter of October 10, 2024, we asked the Presidium of Gemert-Bakel to have a further consultation to determine the exact question and scope of the desired research. It did not subsequently come to an agreement. Following the presidium meeting of February 20, 2025, the court of auditors was asked to develop its own ideas and options in consultation with the direction group. Since the direction group was not aware of this, we finally decided to further shape this research after the new presidium in Gemert-Bakel takes office in the new council period.

b. Research subsidy policy (Gemert-Bakel)

For the municipality of Gemert-Bakel, the Court of Audit intended to investigate the topic of subsidy provision (with regard to professional organizations) - in parallel with the revision of the subsidy policy by the municipality. The court of auditors decided - during the research process - to move the subject to a later date (and reported to the council via earlier annual reports). In fact, it turned out that the municipality had suspended the review of the subsidy policy. As a result, continuing the research was not convenient at that time.
The results of the (committed) preliminary investigation can be included in the final investigation, which can be resumed when the municipality picks up the revision of the subsidy policy again. If possible, the court of auditors will pick this up again in Q2 2026.

c. Further development SMART budget (Gemert-Bakel and possibly Laarbeek)

In 2022, the court of auditors examined the programmatic part (the programs) of the 2023 budget, of both municipalities, more specifically, the extent to which the three key w questions were developed therein:

1. what does the municipality want to achieve?
2. What is she going to do for that?
3. what will that cost?

It was about assessing how SMART this was done. Based on this study, the college of Gemert-Bakel decided to start a process to make the 2024 budget much more SMART. A sample format of a policy budget was used in this process.
The court of auditors followed this process from 2023 and performed a sort of second opinion on the 2024 budget to what extent this further development was sufficient. When, in mid-2024, the report was ready for rebuttal, it turned out that the draft 2025 program budget had changed remarkably compared to that of a year earlier. This prompted the court to start updating its report.
This will be completed in Q2 of 2026 (including budget 2026) and presented to the Gemert-Bakel council and executive board. It is yet to be seen whether this will also be done for Laarbeek.

d. Follow-up studies; both municipalities

The investigations started in 2024 into the question to what extent the recommendations of previous Court of Audit investigations have been implemented in each of the two municipalities has been delayed for various reasons.
This had to do both with various elaborations of recommendations of auditors' reports that had not yet been implemented and with the need to update other research data, which had therefore become somewhat dated.
In the end, the Court decided to completely revise the draft report for Gemert-Bakel, which was submitted for official review at the end of 2024, and to let it run in parallel with the production of the report for Laarbeek (which was also ready in draft form at that time). And thus to wait for ongoing policy updates in both municipalities, which still had to be implemented. Both reports are expected to be ready in Q2 or Q3 of 2026.

e. Investigations into complaint handling, both in Laarbeek and Gemert-Bakel

This study was picked up by the court of auditors in the fall of 2025, after consultation with the direction group. The reason was that some other studies could not (yet) be completed (see above), and this was also a theme that had emerged earlier in the survey of the council groups. In addition, it was possible to benefit from the (annual) DoeMee-research that was set up earlier by the Dutch Association of Courts of Audit. This made a benchmark possible with dozens of other municipalities.
By letter dated December 19, 2025, both city councils were informed about these two studies.
Immediately in 2026, both investigations began with a kick-off meeting between the civil service organization, the research firm TwijnstraGudde and the chamber of auditors. Completion is expected in mid-April/early May 2026, after which administrative feedback will still take place.