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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
RESOLVED – That the report be noted.
RESOLVED – That: (1) the report be noted; (2) Committee to receive a briefing on how complaint information and feedback will be used for system and service development in the future.
RESOLVED – That the report be noted.
RESOLVED – That the report be noted.
RESOLVED – That the report be noted.
RESOLVED – That the report be noted.
RESOLVED – That the report be noted.
RESOLVED – That the report be noted.
RESOLVED – That (1) the report be noted; (2) a target timeline is to be added to the outstanding actions.
RESOLVED – That the report be noted.
RESOLVED – That (1) the report be noted; (2) the Chairperson and Audit Manager to consider the timings of senior officer attendance at Committee meetings.
Apologies were received from Councillor McGarry.
No declarations of interest.
The minutes of the meeting held on 9 July 2024 were approved by the Committee as a correct record and were signed by the Chairperson.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED – That the report be noted.
The Committee received a report on the Council’s Draft Self-Assessment Report 2023/24 and the Chief Executive’s view of the Council’s control environment. Members were advised that the Committee receives an annual report on the Council’s Control environment for its consideration and assurance. It also receives the draft annual Self-Assessment (Well-being) Report to review and make any relevant recommendations in accordance with its role brought into force through the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021. The Governance and Audit Committee receives an overview of the non-statutory half-year self-assessment process and outcomes from the Head of Performance and Partnerships at its Committee meeting each year in January. Furthermore, to support the Committee’s understanding of the Council’s Planning and Performance Framework, a briefing session was held in June 2023 ensuring a sound base-level understanding of the arrangements in place underpinning the report. The report provided a detailed overview of the Planning and Performance Framework, Senior Management Assurance arrangements, Risk Management process, self-assessment process and a summary of the Council’s strategic priorities. The Chairperson welcomed Paul Orders, Chief Executive, Dylan Owen, Head of Cabinet Office and Gareth Newell, Head of Performance and Partnerships to the meeting. Officers were invited to deliver a brief presentation. The Chairperson then opened the debate on this item. Those discussions are summarised as follows: · Members welcomed the authority’s intention to complete the Independent Performance Panel Assessment and the management response to the panel assessment report ahead of the defined 2027 deadline. · A Member raised a question regarding staff productivity and the systems and processes in place that give the Council proper assurance that productivity levels are satisfactory and improving. The Member considered that the question of productivity becomes more relevant when there are increased pressures on resources. The potential for increased efficiencies through the delivery services to residents digitally and the potential for harnessing ‘AI’ technology were also factors. The Member considered there was a need to understand what the productivity gains and the consequences for staff were, perhaps on a service by service basis. It was suggested that a strategic view was necessary. The Chief Executive felt that this was an important issue and is one that is being grappled with by public sector organisations. The Council has been delivering services under significant constraints on budgets and reductions in numbers of staff. There has been a major change in the deployment of staff through hybrid-working. It was also fair to say that the Council is multi-disciplinary in nature and there is a diversity range of systems relating to productivity. For example, C2C – the Council’s Contact Centre – have precise metrics in terms of the measurement of productivity. There has been an increased focus on outcomes. The point regarding the rapid changes in technology and the extent to which productivity was increasingly significant was accepted. · A Member noted the service reviews being commissioned in School Catering Services and Additional Learning Needs (ALN) provisions set out in the Wellbeing Report. The Member requested further details on the aims of the reviews. The Chief Executive stated that ALN provision was recognised as a pressure point in terms of the Education Directorate budget but was also impacting on other service areas. The magnitude of the issue requires a robust understanding of current data and a strategic view on how to best deliver improved, budget-based, sustainable services. The Cabinet has taken some key decisions on its investment programme recently relating to ALN in relation to the next tranche of funding from Welsh Government. It was important, therefore, that as part of the budget setting process the authority has a greater understanding of the finances in ALN and what any interventions might be. In terms of School Catering, some management changes have been implemented and it was recognised that some improvements were needed in terms of management controls. However, these issues were not on the same scale as the ALN issue. · A Member observed that, despite the complexity and the scale of the challenges faced by the authority, there were effective systems of management and governance in place. · A Member raised concerns around the scale of the future challenge in terms of the predicted budget shortfall. The Member asked the Chief Executive whether he considered that the authority was in a position to meet the scale of the challenge, whether the digitisation of services was sufficient to deliver the savings needed or whether a much more fundamental change to service delivery was necessary. The Chief Executive stated that the Wellbeing Self-Assessment report is tied to Corporate Plan objectives that were set some time ago. Looking ahead, a service review exercise has been initiated. The Council faces an extraordinary set of financial challenges and demand pressures. It was necessary to assemble a change programme to consider how the Council might implement significant changes to service delivery. The Chief Executive also commented on sickness absence, in particular long-term sickness absence, across the authority; and the recruitment and retention of staff within some service areas. The Council’s capacity in terms of change management was limited with the ability to concentrate resources on a relatively small number of change projects. There was need to push down the responsibility for directorate level change projects to directorates themselves. The developing Corporate Plan 2025/26 will seek to address this issue. · A Member noted the positive overall conclusions set out in the report. The Member questioned whether Wellbeing Objective 7 – Modernising Public Services – was as positive a conclusion as some of the others and whether the change programme referred to previously was sufficiently represented in the overall assessment of Objective 7 overall. The Chief Executive considered that the change programme would need to feature more prominently in the new Corporate Plan. The Head of Performance and Partnerships stated that the change programme does feature in the Financial Resilience section of the Wellbeing Assessment report but it could be highlighted better in the overall conclusions in terms of the next steps. · A Member noted the efforts made by the authority to improve participation and ensure the authority reflects on the experiences of the people living in the city. The Member asked whether the self-assessment process allowed for those views to be taken into account and whether there were any changes necessary to allow for that to be done more easily. The Chief Executive stated that over the past 12 months Audit Wales have been studying how the inputs of service users can shape policy development and service delivery. This is a key issue for the authority. For example, in Adult Services work is being undertaken to strengthen how data relating to service user involvement is used to demonstrate the progress of the service. The Self-Evaluation exercise is informed by complaints data. An enhanced approach to dealing with complaints including corporate oversight and how to draw out lessons learned from complaints has been adopted to improve practice. The Head of Performance and Partnerships stated that in terms of having good customer satisfaction information the Council is performing well. Audit Wales have identified weaknesses in linking that data to the performance planning framework. The developing Corporate Plan will ensure that each wellbeing objective has citizen satisfaction performance indicators linked. The Directorate Delivery Plan will also include a section on citizen satisfaction KPIs also. · A Member noted that the Council is currently achieving a recycling rate of approximately 60% which is lower than the Welsh Government’s target rate of 64%. The focus has been on moving towards more segregated recycling which has not necessarily improved the recycling rates, although there is an improvement in the quality of the recyclables the Council is then able to offer to the market. The Member questioned whether the authority is focussing its efforts in the right direction given that it may be liable for significant financial penalties if it continues to miss the Welsh Government target. The Chief Executive considered that the authority is moving in the right direction. Officers work closely with colleagues in Welsh Government and the implementation of the Welsh Government ‘blueprint’ for segregated recycling collections. The roll out of segregated collections is continuing and the authority will need to understand and take stock of recycling rates. It was recognised that Cardiff specifically has some challenges in terms of is recycling rates relating to the composition of the housing stock and the inclusion of trade waste in recycling figures. However, progress is being made. · Responding to a question from the Committee, the Chief Executive considered that given the significance of the issue there was merit in including some commentary on the recycling rate in the overall conclusions of the report. The Chairperson considered that the Committee’s previous observations on the Wellbeing Self-Assessment report had reflected in this year’s report. The Committee did not make any specific recommendations on the report. Members were supportive of the performance framework. Officers were thanked for a clear, professionally presented, report. RESOLVED – That the report be noted.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED – That: (1) the report be noted; (2) Committee to receive a briefing on how complaint information and feedback will be used for system and service development in the future.
The Committee received a report enabling Members to assess the authority’s complaints handing arrangements and the Annual Complaints and Compliments Report 2023/24. The Chairperson invited Isabelle Bignall, Chief Digital Officer to present the report. Members were advised that the Authority has introduced a single, system for Complaints, Cabinet Member Enquiries and Member Enquiries (Halo). The aim of the system was to improve the complaint/enquiry handling process, increase efficiency and provide corporate oversight of the complaints and Member/Cabinet enquiries across the organisation. The complaints part of the system went ‘live’ on 25 March 2024. The Annual Complaints Report 2023-24 was included at Appendix A. Members were asked to note that 3,724 complaints were recorded during the financial year representing a 21.3% increase from 2022-23. Though the number of complaints has increased responses are being made in a timelier manner. During 2023-24, 74.4% of complaints received a full response within our corporate timescales (20 working days), an increase from 2022-23 when 56% received a response within 20 working days. It was envisaged that future Complaints and Compliments Reports will focus on what the authority is learning from complaints, to support improvement in complaint handling and in service delivery. This information will be regularly collated and analysed so that decision makers can review the information gathered from complaints when planning service delivery. Members were also reminded that there are separate processes for dealing with complaints about Social Services and that Social Services have their own procedure and teams for managing complaints. The Chairperson invited questions and comments on the report. Those discussions are summarised as follows: · A Member raised concerns on the upward trajectory of the number of complaint received over a 5-year period. Officers were asked to comment and identity any underlying concerns. The Member also observed that in previous years Councillors had a dedicated email address via which missed waste collections could be reported. However, emails sent to that address were no longer being responded to and missed collections were now being collected on the next scheduled collection date. The Member questioned whether the service is being overwhelmed with waste complaints, without having sufficient resources to address reported problems. The Chief Digital Officer accepted that there were systematic problems with assisted lift collections that was subject to an Ombudsman’s investigation. That resulted in changes to the service that are currently operating well and there has been a significant reduction in the number of complaints being received. In terms of the increasing number of complaints being received over the five-year period, the Chief Digital Officer stated that the number of complaints per head of population was around average when compared to other Welsh local authorities. Complaints are used to identify where problems are and to learn from the experiences of residents in order to improve services. · The Chief Digital Officer considered that complaints are being captured more effectively. The definition of what constitutes a complaint has been clarified and the complaints management system makes it easier to identify trends. An increase in complaints from the Street Scene service area had been anticipated as a result of industrial action and the roll out of segregated waste collections. · Responding to a question from the Committee, the Chief Digital Officer stated that the complaints management system is fully operational. However, some delays in responding to complaints have been identified. Responses are being drafted by responsible officers but are delayed because they need authorisation from a manager before being sent. SMT have been briefed regarding this and Operational Managers will be reminded that they have a responsibility to authorise these responses within the appropriate timescale. · A Member considered that the number of complaints provide information that can be used to drive service improvement. The Member asked how lessons learned are being integrated across service areas and whether there were any plans to digitise the complaints form. Officer confirmed that the complaints form is currently available digitally. The Member considered that some residents still have difficulties accessing the complaints system and also questioned how stakeholder voices, such as staff in the hubs, Councillors and complainants, are being used to further develop the complaints system going forward. The Chief Digital Officer considered that stakeholder voices were critical to the development of the system and agreed to brief Members further regarding this point. The Complaints Team are also developing a form that will provide service user feedback regarding how their complaints were responded to and dealt with. Members requested that Committee the receive a briefing at a future meeting on how complaint information and feedback will be used for system and service development in the future. · A Member stated that in his experience elected Members were able to resolve waste collection problems on behalf of residents. However, they were often asked to intervene after residents had been unable to resolve issues themselves. The Chief Digital Officer agreed that Waste Collections would be responsible for most complaints. During the previous year the impact of industrial action meant that missed collections were not being recollected and this resulted in a significant increase in complaints. RESOLVED – That: (1) the report be noted; (2) Committee to receive a briefing on how complaint information and feedback will be used for system and service development in the future.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED – That the report be noted.
The Corporate Director Resources and Section 151 Officer, Chris Lee, presented a financial update including resilience issues on the 2024/25 Budget; the Medium Term Financial Position (MTFP) challenge, the Corporate approach being adopted and working on going to address the challenges. A Member asked for further details of the process used to assess options cost savings and whether there was a set of objective criteria applied. The Section 151 Officer stated that service areas are set savings targets and those opportunities for savings at categorised in two ways. Firstly, savings that deliver efficiency savings – these should have little or minimum impact on service delivery. Secondly, opportunities for service change – these require business cases, analysis and early engagement. The Member questioned how, if those proposals do not realise the level of savings required, further savings directed from outside the service area, are applied. The Section 151 Officer stated that the Cabinet will set its priorities and give directions where reductions are to be applied. RESOLVED – That the report be noted.
Part of an issue followed across 7 meetings
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED – That the report be noted.
Chris Pyke, Audit Manager, presented the Counter-Fraud Annual Report 2023/24. The Counter-Fraud Annual Report 2023/24 set out the counter-fraud development, campaigns, resources, work and collaboration over the financial year 2023/24. Members were advised that in December 2023, Cabinet approved an updated Council Strategy on Counter-Fraud, and an updated suite of operational counter-fraud documents (policies, procedures and plans). The Strategy introduced: · A Counter-fraud Oversight Group, comprising members of the Council’s Senior Management Team to provide strategic management direction, oversight and review of the counter-fraud arrangements, approach and governance. · Refreshed Mandatory Fraud Awareness Training, delivered to staff through a combination of face-to-face and eLearning sessions. Section 2 of the report provided details of a number of developments and awareness campaigns that had taken place during the year, and the approach taken with the Senior Management Team for measurement and assurance on fraud and corruption. Section 3 of the report provided details of the resources available for counter-fraud purposes within the Corporate Investigation Team supplemented by a wider resource. The report also provided details of the impact of the counter-fraud work and a comparison of activity and outcomes against prior years. RESOLVED – That the report be noted.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED – That the report be noted.
The Chairperson invited Phillipa Dixon of Audit Wales to introduce the Audit Wales report on Financial Sustainability and Chris Lee, Corporate Director Resources, to present the Council’s response to the review. Members were advised that Audit Wales undertook a review of all twenty-two Local Authorities in Wales to assess whether Councils have proper arrangements in place to support financial sustainability and to explain what the key budget pressures and risks that impact on their sustainability are. The review will culminate in a National Report published later this year. Overall the Audit Wales report found that in Cardiff ‘the Council has reasonable arrangements to support its financial sustainability with a clear understanding of its financial position and regular reporting to Members but is in the early stages of developing its change programme to help it meet its significant funding gap.’ The assessment was based on the following key findings: · The Council is in the early stages of reviewing its service delivery and operating model, developing a change programme to improve its long-term financial sustainability. · The Council has a clear understanding of its financial position and the scale of its future financial challenges, which it will use to underpin its change programme to meet these challenges. · The Council has effective reporting arrangements to enable members to have oversight of the Council’s financial position, but the Council does not always report clearly on the impacts of its financial decision-making. · Appendix B to the report set out the Council’s response. Members were advised that the Council accepts the recommendation. The Corporate Director Resources indicated that the authority will continue to develop the change programme within key areas during the 2025/26 budget setting process and into the medium term. Responding to a question from the Committee, Phillipa Dixon confirmed that the National Report will address common themes and highlight good practice across all 22 Welsh Local Authorities. The report is expected to be published in Autumn 2024. RESOLVED – That the report be noted.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED – That the report be noted.
The Corporate Director Resources presented a report on the Post Trial Review undertaken in the Waste Management Service area following the criminal conviction and sentencing of five individuals of Bribery Act offences in November 2023. The Committee requested in January 2024 that a post-trial review be undertaken. The purpose of this review was to seek assurance on the effectiveness of systems in place to mitigate the risk of fraud, bribery and corruption within the Waste Management service. The report provided a summary of the objectives of the review, the approach taken by the Corporate Director for Resources and the review findings. The review found there has been a significant improvement in the management of the service, the controls in place within the service and the data collected by the Recycling and Neighbourhood Services Business Support Team. Strong opinions were also expressed around the improvement in the culture within the Service and the positive work done with the workforce. The review made recommendations in relation to the following: · Failure of weighbridge system specifications · Password use with Weighsoft system · Further review of data collection · Proactive Monitoring of Fraud Risk · Consideration of a further review of suspension arrangements at HWRC · Maintaining professional curiosity across the authority The Management Response to the recommendations was appended to the report. The Chairperson invited Neil Hanratty, Director of Economic Development and Matt Wakelam, Assistant Director Street Scene to address the Committee. Members were advised that the service area accepted all of the recommendations. The Service Area will continue to work with colleagues in Internal Audit. Following the fraudulent activity an action plan was put in place, including a number of audits on the software system. Members were advised of the changes introduced within the service area that will prevent such fraudulent activity taking place in the future. The Director of Economic Development considered that considerable control environment improvements have been achieved within the service area and because of this Members can have a good degree of assurance that such large scale fraud will not be repeated. He commented that ongoing data monitoring across the service has enabled anomalies to be reviewed and investigated promptly to support ongoing improvements. A Member asked whether the lessons learned from the review were shared with other local authorities. The Audit Manager confirmed that the circumstances that led to the fraud occurring have been shared within counter-fraud practitioner groups and at Chief Auditor level both within the Core UK Cities group and with other Welsh local authorities. Consideration will be given to sharing recommendations from the post-trial review report also. A Member welcomed the report in particular the reference to professional curiosity and the assurance given around vulnerable systems. The Member asked what assurance can be given to supporting whistleblowers or anyone else impacted. The Corporate Director Resources stated that issue of corporate support to individuals, particularly in relation to whistleblowing, is given high priority. The authority is currently undertaking a review of the Whistleblowing Policy, which will include support provided to any individual raising concerns. Whistleblowers are encouraged to identity themselves, but the opportunities for support would also apply to anonymous whistleblowers. The Corporate Director Resources considered that whistleblowers play an important role in identifying where problems lie and they need to be encouraged to do so. RESOLVED – That the report be noted.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED – That the report be noted.
The Head of Finance was invited to present the Senior Management Assurance Statement 2023/24. Members were asked to note that the Senior Management Team has, in its considerations of the year 2023/24, determined that one of the two recommendations would be taken forward to the year 2024/25. The other recommendation was considered complete. The progress on the actions and the rationale for either closing the action or taking it forward into 2024/25 is as follows: · Extend the assurance on the quality of performance reviews through evidence gathering at Directorate level – Taking forward to 2024/25 - SMT have regularly received reports on compliance on Performance Reviews. The Directorate delivery plans continue to be the source of personal and team objectives although it continues to be acknowledged that this is not the case at all levels due to the scope and scale of some Directorates. The quality of Performance Reviews continues to remain an area where further improvements are required to ensure that this is fully embedded throughout individual Directorates. · Embed into the self- assessment on Assurance the Five ways of Working in respect to the Future Generations Act – CLOSED - The Self–Assessment on assurance was amended to include a specific set of questions which covered the Five Ways of Working in respect to the Well-being of Future Generations Act. The Directorates continued to assess themselves against those objectives for the period of 2023/24 and with a particular focus on working together. Furthermore, the proposed Annual Governance Statement Action Plan included four new actions: · Extend the assurance on the quality of performance reviews through evidence gathering at Directorate level · Strengthen arrangements to ensure the systematic completion of high quality Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) and ensuring due regard for EIAs within the decision making process. · Enhance arrangements to ensure that consultation and engagement is undertaken with relevant stakeholders at the appropriate time, where this is identified through the Equality Impact assessment. · Ensure that all affected directorates undertaken the subsidiary questionnaire and having reflected on the findings update their annual assessment. A Member asked whether officers would consider reference to the Directorate Risk Registers, the process by which risks can be escalated and de-escalated and the generally positive management of Directorate risks overall in the Annual Governance Statement. RESOLVED – That the report be noted.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED – That the report be noted.
The Committee received the Treasury Management Annual Report 2023/24. Anil Hirani, Operational Manager, Capital, Corporate and Treasury was invited to present the report. The report summarised the main highlights of the Annual Report for 2023/24 the Treasury Management activities during that period. Members were advised that at 31 March 2024, investments stood at £119.3 million. The annual report includes charts indicating who the investments are placed with and for how long. All investments are deemed recoverable and so no losses are required to be recognised in the Council’s Statement of Accounts for activities during 2023/24. Interest receivable for the general fund from treasury investments totalled £4 million during the year. At 31 March 2024, the Council had £893.8 million of external borrowing, with £43.1 million of new borrowing and £4.4 million of scheduled repayments during 2023/24. Interest payable during the year from its revenue budget on this debt was £33.9 million of which £14.1 million was paid for by the Housing Revenue Account. At the start of the financial year, the Council is required to set a number of prudential indicators for capital expenditure and its treasury management activities. During 2023/24, there was no breach of indicators requiring a separate report to Council. A Member noted that, of eight of the investment funds listed, six are at their upper limit. The Member asked whether it was necessary to review the upper limit or consider other financial institutions. The Operational Manager, Capital, Corporate and Treasury advised that the eight investment funds listed form part of a larger list of institutions that the authority can invest with. The Operational Manager, Capital, Corporate and Treasury considered that, as authority’s overall strategy is to reduce cash balances, there is sufficient capacity within the approved list of institutions. It was noted that the Council remained within the prudential indicators set for the year. RESOLVED – That the report be noted.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED – That (1) the report be noted; (2) a target timeline is to be added to the outstanding actions.
RESOLVED – That (1) the report be noted; (2) a target timeline is to be added to the outstanding actions.
Part of an issue followed across 8 meetings
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED – That the report be noted.
RESOLVED – That the report be noted.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED – That (1) the report be noted; (2) the Chairperson and Audit Manager to consider the timings of senior officer attendance at Committee meetings.
RESOLVED – That (1) the report be noted; (2) the Chairperson and Audit Manager to consider the timings of senior officer attendance at Committee meetings.
No urgent items.
The next meeting of the Committee is scheduled to take place on 26 November 2024.
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