Wrthi'n llwytho
Y penderfyniadau fel y mae cofnodion y cyngor yn eu cofnodi. Bydd crynodeb mewn iaith glir yn dilyn pan fydd wedi'i ysgrifennu.
Resolved that: Colin Prosser be appointed as Vice Chair of the Governance and Audit Committee.
It was resolved that the committee approve the report.
Resolved that: Martin Veale be appointed as Chair of the Governance and Audit Committee.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
Resolved that: Colin Prosser be appointed as Vice Chair of the Governance and Audit Committee.
Resolved that: Colin Prosser be appointed as Vice Chair of the Governance and Audit Committee.
Apologies for absence were received from Councillors: B Carter, C Jones, and J Scriven. Apologies for absence were also received for Co-Opted member S Eriksen.
No Declarations of Interest were received.
Resolved that: The Minutes of the Governance and Audit Committee held 24 April 2023 be accepted as a correct record.
The Chair introduced the item and the following questions were raised on the Action Log and were responded to by the officers: · Risk Workshops / Informal training for members · Corporate Risk Register – The Chair requested that this be completed in time for the next meeting in September A Wathan (Head of Regional Internal Audit Service) provided an update on Item 9 of the Action Log (presentation of the Audit Charter at other regional Governance Audit Committee meetings)
S Stephens introduced the report and highlighted the salient points. A Owen addressed the pressures that the Housing Solutions team have been under since the pandemic. The following questions were raised by the committee and were responded to in detail by the following officers: S Stephens, S Lewis-Abbot and A Owen. · What is the current scale of need and demand for housing units compared to our currently availability · Could the housing department supply the committee with the figures that outline the need for housing on a monthly basis · In relation to houses or multiple occupancy (HMOs) a councillor highlighted the rules that must be adhered to at the premises and questioned whether the rules could be made available to potential neighbours when considering new locations for HMOs as this could go a long way to appease some concerns · Why does it take contractors so long to redevelop some premises and bring them back into use · The report mentions the use of the Civica System and the difficulties you are currently having and the need to use multiple systems to log information. Do you believe using multiple systems will cause further issues going forward · The report states that officers have been working with D2PropCo over the past 18 months, can you confirm if they are an efficient partner to work with and has there been any conflict · The number of people in B&Bs are fairly static is this down to Landlords wanting to sell their properties or are there others reasons that we may not be aware of · D2PropCo properties have cameras on site and very strict rules but these measures are not set in law, does this leave a gap for rogue landlords to come in and set up HMOs. Is it possible for Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council to impose the same set of rules for all HMOs in the County Borough · 4.2 of the report mentions lots of changes that have led to unintended consequences, what are these consequences and would legislative change resolve some of these consequences · It was noted that we are failing in the Sustainability of Accommodation Order along with most other local authorities in Wales, are there any consequences or sanctions that could be imposed on us as a Local Authority · Clarity was sough in relation to the number of social housing units highlighted on Page 24 of the report. The Chair thanked the Officers for the report and their responses to the questions raised.
Councillor A Barry introduced the item to the committee and provided an update on the report. The following questions were raised by the committee and answered in detail by the officer and Cllr A Barry (Cabinet Member) · In terms of the technical process does this report go to Cabinet for approval before or after it has been addressed at this committee · Clarity was sought in relation to how risks make it onto the risk register and what processes are used to identify risks across the Authority and who has the final say on whether a risk is added to the risk register · The risk appetite is set at 12 is that a standard risk appetite for all areas of the organisation · All risks go to Senior Leadership Team, who makes the final decision of what risks make it onto the risk register The Chair thanked the officers for the report and their responses to the questions raised.
Councillor A Barry introduced the item and highlighted the salient points within the report. The following questions were raised by the committee and responded to in detail by the officers in attendance. Tha Chair raised an issue within the report where it referenced the incorrect year 2022-2023 and asked could this be resolved before the report goes forward to Cabinet The Chair raised the possibility of some work being done around Risk appetite as it is believed that one size fits all is particularly helpful and perhaps there should be some consideration for a variable scale of risk appetite and there are lots of models available. It was also noted that it must tie in to all of the strategic plans for the organisation. The chair raised the point that risk is obviously taken very seriously as the report states that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) accounts are disabled at the end of the financial year for those staff that have not completed all of the e-learning modules during the year and asked has this happened and are there any records to show the number of accounts that have been disabled. · What software/technology is used to track risk within the Authority The Chair thanked the Officers for the report and the responses to the questions raised by the committee.
Ian Phillips and Mike Jones (Audit Wales) introduced the item and highlighted the salient points within the report. · It was noted that the status ‘In progress’ logged against the Audit of the Councils 2022-2023 statement of accounts was unhelpful as it provided no detail and The Chair requested an update on progress The Chair thanked the officers for their responses.
Mike Jones (Audit Wales) introduced the item and highlighted the salient points within the report. The following questions were raised by the committee and were responded to in detail by the officers in attendance. · Confirmation was sought on why the deadline was missed in relation to housing benefits · Are there any clawbacks or consequences for missing deadlines The Chair thanked M Jones for the update.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
It was resolved that the committee approve the report.
Lisa Cumpston introduced the report and outlined how the Strategy and Plan were developed. The following questions were raised by the committee and were responded to in detail by the officers in attendance. · The report highlighted that items were postponed last year, can you confirm that you have capacity to get all 41 audits completed · The repot states that discussions were held with the Senior Management Team (SMT) in terms of what should be included in the plan and therefore some things weren’t included, do you also have similar discussions with Audit Wales and other regulators such as Estyn · Hot topics for almost all public sector organisations are Climate Change, Cyber Security & ICT and Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). I can see two of the three included in the draft plan but nothing around EDI. Is EDI something that has been discussed and as it is not included in the Top 40 is that because it is not a significant issue and you are comfortable with where we are as an organisation The Chair thanked the officers for the report and their responses to the questions raised. It was resolved that the committee approve the report.
Andrew Wathan (Head of Regional Internal Audit Service) introduced the item and highlighted the salient points within the report. The following questions were raised by the committee and were responded to in detail by the officers present. · Confirmation was sought as to whether the report was still in draft format as it contained a DRAFT watermark The Chair highlighted the ‘Reasonable’ assurance is a good result as the higher category is very rarely achieved and the authority should be pleased with the outcome. · The report highlighted a 27 day gap between issuing the draft report and the final report is there a piece of work to be done there to get people to respond in a more timely fashion · The reports that received ‘Limited’ assurance are shocking, how long are departments/individuals given to put things in place to rectify the issues that were highlighted · Examples such as schools not carrying out DBS checks and no insurance on school transport are very serious is action taken immediately by the officers on site when the findings come to light · When Audit reveals extremely poor practice which may dip into criminality the auditors are not always qualified to effectively to manage the journey through and good evidence gathering opportunities can be missed, however with the recruitment of a fraud officer this would not be the case in Merthyr Tydfil The Chair thanked the officers for the report and their responses to the questions raised by the committee.
The Chair raised a query in relation to the quinquennial audit review which is currently not included in the forward work programme and requested it be added for September.
Helen Harbord introduced the item and highlighted the salient points. The following questions were raised by the committee and were responded to in detail by the officers in attendance. The Chair highlighted the three limited assurance reports and raised concerns but was happy that the issues had been addressed. · In relation to Sundry debtors this area has not received limited assurance reports in the past and concern was raise that the Authority was losing out on money that was due if the correct processes weren’t being followed. The Cabinet Member Councillor A Barry thanked the Auditors for the report and highlighted the importance of Internal Audit and would like to see how things move forward and welcomes a follow up report. The chair thanked the officers for the report and their responses to the questions raised.
The Chair highlighted the poor attendance at the meeting and Councillor A Barry requested that the issue be raised with the Political Leaders to highlight the importance of the Governance and Audit Committee.
No other business deemed urgent by the Chair and the meeting was closed.
Rhaid i gynghorwyr ddweud pan fydd ganddyn nhw gysylltiad personol â rhywbeth sy'n cael ei drafod, fel swydd, eiddo neu aelod o'r teulu. Mae buddiant sy'n rhagfarnu yn ddigon cryf i'r cynghorydd adael yr ystafell fel arfer a pheidio â chymryd rhan.
Caiff datganiadau eu darllen o'r cofnodion unwaith y byddan nhw wedi'u cyhoeddi.
Yn rhestru cynghorwyr presennol y cyngor yn unig. Nid yw aelodau cyfetholedig, swyddogion a chyn-gynghorwyr yn cael eu dangos.