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RESOLVED That the updates provided be noted.
RESOLVED a) That the report be noted. b) That no recommendations to Overview and Scrutiny Committees for further action or monitoring were necessary at this stage.
RESOLVED a) That the update report on the progress of the Corporate Governance Improvement Plan 2022-24 and follow-up to the Audit Wales Public Interest Report be noted. b) That the revised Improvement Plan be recommended to Full Council for approval.
RESOLVED That the report be noted and endorsed for consideration at Full Council.
RESOLVED a) That the report and recommendations to Cabinet be noted and endorsed. b) That a protocol for handling time-critical correspondence sub-contracted to external bodiesbe presented to this Committee for review.
RESOLVED a) That the Audit Wales’ Annual Audit Summary for Pembrokeshire County Council 2022 be noted. b) That a referral be made to the Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee to add the Audit Wales’ Time for Change Poverty in Wales report to theirForward Work Programme.
RESOLVED That the report be noted.
RESOLVED That the report be noted.
RESOLVED That the report be noted.
RESOLVED That the report be noted.
Apologies for absence were received from Mr Martin Veale and Councillors Mike James and Guy Woodham.
There were no declarations of interest made.
Moved by Mr. John Evans; Seconded by Councillor Aled Thomas. The vote, by way of show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Minutes of the Meeting held on 6 July 2023 be approved as a correct record, subject to a correction in the Welsh language Minutes as detailed below: That in the List of Attendees and all other references that ‘Councillor Guto Woodham’ be corrected to ‘Councillor Guy Woodham’.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED That the updates provided be noted.
The Audit, Risk and Counter Fraud Manager presented the follow-up actions report for the consideration of the Committee. Councillor Mike Stoddart referred to the question he raised at the Committee meeting held on 18 April 2023, regarding the number of gas and oil boilers being replaced by heat pumps in Council properties monthly. He stated he had received a response from the Audit, Risk and Counter Fraud Manager outside of the meeting, confirming that six boilers were being replaced with new boilers each week and the plan to replace boilers with heat pumps had been abandoned. As no further points were raised, Dr Norma Barry Moved the recommendation within the report; Seconded by Councillor Steve Alderman. The vote, by way of show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the updates provided be noted.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED a) That the report be noted. b) That no recommendations to Overview and Scrutiny Committees for further action or monitoring were necessary at this stage.
The Audit, Risk and Counter Fraud Manager presented his report on the activities of Internal Audit and Counter Fraud for Quarter 1 of the 2023-24 financial year. He revealed that progress against the Strategic Internal Audit Plan had gathered pace from the end of the first quarter reported to the Committee with new internal audit software now in operation. While some final processes were continuing to be implemented before becoming fully embedded within the Service, he was satisfied the new system would create efficiencies and would be able to produce real-time performance data for Internal Audit. During the first two quarters, the Audit, Risk and Counter Fraud Manager reported the Internal Audit team experienced difficulties with proposed activity within Schools. The reason for this, he explained, was that some Head Teachers had refused to engage with the audit process due to Trade Union guidance from the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT Cymru) announcing industrial action short of strike (ASOS) over pay and funding. He understood across Wales this was a common issue, which was raised with Trade Union representatives on behalf of the Welsh Chief Auditor Group. Following advice that the internal audit of schools did not fall under ASOS, the Audit, Risk and Counter Fraud Manager informed the meeting that the Council’s Internal Audit team had now started to undertake this work and four school audits were ongoing. The Audit, Risk and Counter Fraud Manager then made reference to the last Governance and Audit Committee meeting where he was asked to introduce a scorecard for outstanding recommendations, adding that they were tabled within his report. He drew attention to some of the recommendations falling into the 60-90 day and 90-120 days columns, pointing out that progress towards these had been affected by some Senior Staff changes since they were originally made. He expected an update on the recommendations being considered by new managers by the end of the month. For assurance purposes, the Audit, Risk and Counter Fraud Manager declared none of the recommendations currently graded as ‘Very High’ had passed their implementation date. These recommendations related to the Annual Governance Statement and an update would be provided to Committee at its next meeting. With regard to 43 recommendations listed as ‘Not Applicable’, the Audit, Risk and Counter Fraud Manager stated these were made by external regulators who do not grade their recommendations. On the issue of Counter Fraud, the Audit, Risk and Information Service had received seven referrals of purported fraud since the beginning of the new financial year. A dedicated Counter Fraud officer was employed to investigate allegations of fraud and was working on data matches provided by the National Fraud Initiative (NFI) on a risk-based plan as well as working on proactive fraud prevention as set out in the Internal Audit’s Counter Fraud Work Plan. To assist in the reporting of allegations of fraud, bribery or corruption, the Audit, Risk and Counter Fraud Manager announced the Internal Audit team were in the process of developing an online Fraud Referral Form that was due to be made available on the Council’s website by the end of October 2023. In addition, the team were aiming to raise anti-fraud awareness again among Council Members and Staff during International Fraud Awareness Week in November 2023, after receiving positive feedback from last year’s event. The Committee debated the contents of the report and the key points were highlighted as follows: · The Chair thanked the Audit, Risk and Counter Fraud Manager for the report and welcomed the use of the scorecard to monitor outstanding recommendations. While he was encouraged no limited assurance internal audit reports had been received in the first quarter, Mr Evans asked the Chief Executive whether the tracking of outstanding recommendations was part of his daily or weekly flash report, to which he replied it was done periodically through the Internal Audit and Counter Fraud quarterly reports and during meetings with the Interim Head of Internal Audit and other statutory officers, however, was open to suggestions for more regular reporting. Though reassured that monitoring was in place, Mr Evans reminded the Committee that checking progress against the recommendations was a ‘contributing factor to the performance of the Director and/or Head of Service responsible for those particular items’. · Mr Anthony Veale, from Audit Wales, made reference to the seven referrals of purported fraud received by the Council’s Audit, Risk and Information Service and confirmed that the external auditor would review those cases before embarking on the Audit of Accounts for 2022-23. · In agreement with the Chair, Dr Norma Barry expressed concern that about 100 recommendations in total remained outstanding, which included 53 recommendations graded as high risk. She stressed the need for those recommendations to be prioritised and warned, if left unaddressed, may continue to put the Authority at risk. The Audit, Risk and Counter Fraud Manager advised not all of the 53 recommendations had reached the due date for implementation. The Chief Executive undertook to discuss the recommendations, particularly those graded as high risk, with the Senior Management Team. Referring to the assurance given by the Audit, Risk and Counter Fraud Manager that the Council was on track to meet the timelines set by the recommendations, the Chief Executive felt ‘relatively comfortable’ risk mitigation measures were in place. In response, Mr Evans suggested the matter be incorporated as standing item on the agenda of the Senior Leadership Team. Moved by Dr Norma Barry; Seconded by Councillor Mike Stoddart. The vote, undertaken by a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED a) That the report be noted. b) That no recommendations to Overview and Scrutiny Committees for further action or monitoring were necessary at this stage.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED a) That the update report on the progress of the Corporate Governance Improvement Plan 2022-24 and follow-up to the Audit Wales Public Interest Report be noted. b) That the revised Improvement Plan be recommended to Full Council for approval.
The Committee considered a joint report by the Assistant Chief Executive and the Head of Law and Governance on the Corporate Governance Improvement Plan 2022-24. The Chief Executive introduced the Improvement Plan that had been ‘reshaped’ after a follow-up report on the recommendations issued in the Auditor General for Wales’ Report in the Public Interest. He highlighted the Council was overall ‘making progress’ in addressing eight recommendations in the report; the most significant being the rewriting of the Constitution being considered by full Council at its October 2023 meeting. He also put forward the Auditor General’s further recommendation that the Council ‘needs to assure itself and demonstrate that the actions it is taking are sustainable and will achieve the intended impacts’. The Chief Executive then invited Gareth Jones, of Audit Wales, to contribute to the Agenda item. Mr Jones outlined the process of completing an Assurance Review of the Authority between February and May 2023, which included a review of documents, observation of meetings of the Constitutional Review Working Group and interviewing key officers, the Chair and elected members of the Governance and Audit Committee. For the fifth recommendation, he reported the Council had fully implemented a review and update of its Pay Policy Statement, however, recognised it would take longer for it to fully embed the remaining recommendations, especially those focussing on cultural change. He noted the Improvement Plan had been revised to reflect both the intended outcomes of actions, but also the measures the Council proposes to use to assure itself and demonstrate progress to Committee and to the public. The Committee then debated the report’s contents and the key points were highlighted as follows: · Dr Norma Barrysought clarification regarding the status of the new annual Performance and Wellbeing plans for staff and the 360 appraisals for Chief Officers on page 92 of the Committee report. The Chief Executive responded a new Head of Human Resources had started in post and agreed to follow this up further with her and report back to the next Committee meeting. · The Chair voiced his concern that since returning to lead the Committee he had personally noted slippage in the majority of tasks in the Improvement Plan at every meeting from 29 November 2022. He was encouraged by the observations made by Audit Wales and hoped further slippage could be avoided with the addition of task due dates and/or mitigated with the use of a corrective action plan. In response, the Chief Executive admitted the Council’s plan had been “too ambitious” in terms of timelines and explained the reasons why some activities had slipped and were sequenced. Faced with a £20m budget gap for next year on the back of the Council having had to fill an £8m gap this year and a rising demand for its services, as well as delivering change programmes, the Chief Executive advised he needed to find balance across these variables to achieve the best possible outcomes. Reflecting on the cultural transformation, he felt there had been an “immeasurable change” before committing to hold officers to deadlines. If any adjustments to timelines needed to be made, the Chief Executive agreed to report back to Committee. · As a member of the Constitutional Review Working Group, Councillor Mike Stoddart concurred the timetable they had been set for rewriting the Council’s Constitution had been “far too ambitious” for such a large piece of work. Moved by Councillor Mike Stoddart; Seconded by Dr Norma Barry. The vote, undertaken by way of a roll-call, was carried. The votes were recorded as follows: For the Motion: Mr John Evans, Dr Norma Barry, Councillors Steve Alderman, Mike Stoddart, Aled Thomas and Jacob Williams [6] There were no votes against or abstentions. RESOLVED a) That the update report on the progress of the Corporate Governance Improvement Plan 2022-24 and follow-up to the Audit Wales Public Interest Report be noted. b) That the revised Improvement Plan be recommended to Full Council for approval.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED That the report be noted and endorsed for consideration at Full Council.
The Corporate Policy and Partnerships Manager presented a report he had compiled with the Corporate Planning Manager on the Council’s Draft Annual Self-assessment for 2022-23. It was outlined that the Council is required to make and publish a self-assessment report once in respect of every financial year, since legislation came into effect last year. The Corporate Policy and Partnerships Manager went on to say that a framework of key corporate and organisational themes was used to assess the Council’s performance in these areas and to provide ‘a broad picture of the health of the organisation as a whole’. Following the publication of the first report, the Corporate Policy and Partnerships Manager stated the Council had reviewed its approach to learn how other local authorities in Wales had undertaken their own assessments. Comments received from this Committee and from the Welsh Local Government Association’s (WLGA) Improvement Team were also taken on board. As such, the Corporate Policy and Partnerships Manager felt assured of the robustness of the methodology used, notwithstanding a few minor changes made to the framework with regards to the Welsh language and equalities. This year’s report was developed with input from the Senior Leadership Team, Extended Leadership Team, Cabinet, Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Improvement and Transformation Board, he added. Looking ahead to the next 12 months, the Corporate Policy and Partnerships Manager continued that issues such as the demand in social care, housing availability and affordability as well as workforce recruitment and retention set in the current challenging financial context would remain a priority for the Council. Given the scale and complexity of some of these challenges, he recognised it was not always easy to demonstrate year-to-year improvement in these areas. The Committee then debated the report’s contents and the key points were highlighted as follows: · Both the Chair and Dr Norma Barry expressed their thanks to the Corporate Policy and Partnerships Manager and his team for producing a clear and thorough report. · Councillor Aled Thomas, making reference to page 56 of the officer’s report, queried whether two new build social housing developments that were nearing completion included a site in Johnston as he had been told differently as the local Member. Secondly, he pointed out that ‘the rise in homelessness due to the housing market becoming challenging’ was mentioned without reference to the introduction of Welsh Government legislation requiring local authorities to provide help to homeless people. The Corporate Policy and Partnerships Manager agreed to look further into these matters outside of the meeting and before submitting the report to full Council. · The Chair suggested the improvement rating for one of the themes, SA2.3 on Strategic Asset Management, be altered to 4 (Emerging) from 3 (Evolving) and to include some empirical evidence in future reports for comparison. Moved by Councillor Steve Alderman; Seconded by Dr Norma Barry. The vote, undertaken by a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the report be noted and endorsed for consideration at Full Council.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED a) That the report and recommendations to Cabinet be noted and endorsed. b) That a protocol for handling time-critical correspondence sub-contracted to external bodiesbe presented to this Committee for review.
The Cabinet Member for Corporate Finance introduced the report, stating the net revenue expenditure budget for this year was £287.6m, which was approved by Cabinet in March. The Quarter 1 projected outturn for the year was £292.4m and represented a projected overspend of £4.8m, which was ‘deeply concerning after only a single quarter’, the Cabinet Member remarked. A moratorium on all non-essential spending has been put in place for the rest of the financial year. In response to growing inflation, he went onto say that the Council budgeted using Office for Budget Responsibility figures that had predicted a faster reduction in inflation than had happened, with Consumer Price Index (CPI inflation) increasing to 7.9%. Pay awards for teaching and non-teaching staff were yet to be agreed for this year, however, the Cabinet Member told the Committee current pay offers were still in line with budget projections. He also discussed the increased demand for the Council’s statutory services, with additional learning needs packages in schools amounting to £0.3m; Children’s Services, including out of County placements (£4.7m); Adults’ Social Care (£1.7m) and homelessness (£0.9m). Furthermore, the majority of schools had set budgets this year that exceeded the funding received in year with balances projected to reduce by £4.9m to only £1m. Not only was this position unsustainable, the Cabinet Member cautioned, but would need to be continually reviewed with school staffing structures and organisation over the medium term as well. Referring to the slippage in the Council’s 2022-23 Capital Programme that had resulted in reduced borrowing costs and higher investment balances than budgeted, the Council Member anticipated these would have a beneficial effect on budgeted investment income and underspend on capital finance costs of £3.5m for the year. However, to catch up on the capital programme, he advised the Council would need to borrow at higher rates to fund investment, leading to further pressure on capital financing costs in 2024-25 and beyond. A review of capital financing costs, with a 15-year timeline, was underway. The Cabinet Member forecasted a rise in the potential funding gap to £37.3m over the remainder of the Council’s Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) to 2026-27, with £20m in respect of next year alone which was an increase from £15.9m since the budget was set in March. To balance the 2023-24 budget, the Cabinet Member informed the meeting that the Council received a higher-than-expected 7.9% increase in funding from Welsh Government, in addition to the Council Tax rise it approved of 7.5% and made £8m of savings. Although these savings were rated as green in the Authority’s ‘traffic light’ system of reporting, meaning they were the least difficult to implement, he admitted the savings were still proving challenging to realise with 65% being on track for delivery, 14% at medium risk of delivery and 13% at serious risk of not being met. The Cabinet Member understood that Welsh Government intends to allocate a 3.1% increase in funding for 2024-25, which would leave the Council with an estimated £20m shortfall. Even if the Authority were to approve a further 7.5% rise in Council Tax, he warned budget savings of £14.1m would still be required. The likelihood would be that those savings rated red or amber last year would need to be made. The Committee then debated the report’s contents and the key points were highlighted as follows: · Councillor Mike Stoddart questioned the use of food and energy price inflation in budget planning, to which the Cabinet Member for Corporate Finance advised that each Service applies the ‘most appropriate’ inflation rate to their area in question. · Councillor Aled Thomas requested confirmation of the number of Second Homes in the County as information he had received internally showed that over the past five years second home ownership had been declining year-on-year, with the slight exception of 2021 where it up. Secondly, he pointed out that ‘the rise in homelessness due to the housing market becoming challenging’ was mentioned without reference to the introduction of Welsh Government legislation requiring local authorities to provide help to homeless people. The Cabinet Member for Corporate Finance verified the £0.9m overspend as ‘entirely accurate’ and reiterated it was a statutory requirement of Council to fund homelessness. The Finance Manager advised homelessness had increased by around 800% since COVID and the lack of housing had contributed to this. · Councillor Thomas then sought clarification of the amount of Council Tax owed and £400,000 shortfall caused by the late delivery of rent increase letters and their subsequent reissue, as he understood this figure to be £380,000. The Finance Manager agreed to look further into all of the matters raised by Councillor Thomas outside of the meeting. · Councillor Jacob Williams, making reference to the question raised by Councillor Thomas, asked whether the Council had launched an investigation and was endeavouring to recover lost income after the late delivery of rent increase letters, to which theCabinet Member for Corporate Finance responded he was aware that the Director of Resources and other officers had been pursuing these matters. The Cabinet Member agreed to follow this up further and report back to full Council or to a future Committee meeting. · In connection with how time-critical correspondence is handled within the Authority, Councillor Mike Stoddart queried whether the Committee could examine the Council’s protocol in this aspect, to which the Head of Democratic Services advised the Committee had been given a remit within its Terms of Reference to investigate and report back to a future meeting. · In response to a question from Dr Norma Barry, the Cabinet Member for Corporate Finance confirmed discussion was ongoing regarding collaborative working with other local authorities in Wales to tackle homelessness and to engage with Welsh Government on this issue. · The Chair proposed the order of nursing home and residential home costs, at £152 and £184 respectively, on page 196 of the officer’s report be reviewed. The Finance Manager agreed to follow this up further with the Finance Manager for Social Care. · The Chair also questioned the use of income generated from the Second Homes Council Tax and Long-Term Empty Properties Premium for 2027-28. He calculated that a less than seven per cent share of a 25% allocation with the Affordable Housing programme had been awarded to the Enhancing Pembrokeshire Grant scheme set up to support areas impacted by second homes. The Cabinet Member for Corporate Finance stated the level of Premium would be considered at December’s full Council meeting. Moved by Councillor Mike Stoddart; Seconded by Councillor Steve Alderman. The vote, undertaken by way of a roll-call, was carried. The votes were recorded as follows: For the Motion: Mr John Evans, Dr Norma Barry, Councillors Steve Alderman, Mike Stoddart, Aled Thomas and Jacob Williams [6] There were no votes against or abstentions. RESOLVED a) That the report and recommendations to Cabinet be noted and endorsed. b) That a protocol for handling time-critical correspondence sub-contracted to external bodiesbe presented to this Committee for review.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED a) That the Audit Wales’ Annual Audit Summary for Pembrokeshire County Council 2022 be noted. b) That a referral be made to the Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee to add the Audit Wales’ Time for Change Poverty in Wales report to theirForward Work Programme.
Mr Anthony Veale and Non Jenkins, Audit Wales, presented the Auditor General for Wales’ Annual Audit Summary for 2022. The Committee then debated the report’s contents and the key points were highlighted as follows: · Councillor Steve Alderman, making reference to the Time for Change Poverty in Wales report by the Auditor General, was concerned by one of the findings that grant funding was not making the impact it could on alleviating and tackling poverty. This was due to the ‘short-term nature of grant programmes, overly complex administration, weaknesses in guidance and grant restrictions, and difficulties spending monies …” Councillor Alderman believed it was important to raise the matter with the Welsh Government. Councillors Steve Alderman Moved the recommendation with the addition that a referral be made to the Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee to add the Audit Wales’ Time for Change Poverty in Wales report to their Forward Work Programme; Seconded by Councillor Jacob Williams. The vote, undertaken by way of a roll-call, was carried. The votes were recorded as follows: For the Motion: Mr John Evans, Dr Norma Barry, Councillors Steve Alderman, Mike Stoddart, Aled Thomas and Jacob Williams [6] There were no votes against or abstentions. RESOLVED a) That the Audit Wales’ Annual Audit Summary for Pembrokeshire County Council 2022 be noted. b) That a referral be made to the Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee to add the Audit Wales’ Time for Change Poverty in Wales report to theirForward Work Programme.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED That the report be noted.
Mr Anthony Veale and Duncan MacKenzie, Audit Wales, presented a letter providing a progress update on the Council’s financial position as part of the body’s 2021-22 Assurance and Risk Assessment. Moved by Councillor Mike Stoddart; Seconded by Councillor Steve Alderman. The vote, undertaken by a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the report be noted.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED That the report be noted.
Non Jenkins, Audit Wales, presented a report on the setting of the Council’s Well-being Objectives. She informed the meeting that the Council had applied the sustainable development principle in the setting of its objectives but needed to strengthen its arrangements for citizen involvement and monitoring its progress. Moved by Councillor Jacob Williams; Seconded by Dr Norma Barry. The vote, undertaken by a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the report be noted.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED That the report be noted.
Mr Anthony Veale,Audit Wales, set out the body’s work planned to be undertaken during 2023 in order to discharge Audit Wales’ statutory responsibilities as the Council’s external auditor and fulfil the obligations under the Code of Audit Practice. Moved by Councillor Jacob Williams; Seconded by Councillor Steve Alderman. The vote, undertaken by a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the report be noted.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED That the report be noted.
Non Jenkins,Audit Wales, presented a report highlighting the work undertaken by the body at the end of Quarter 1 of the 2023-24 financial year. Moved by Dr Norma Barry; Seconded by Councillor Steve Alderman. The vote, undertaken by a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the report be noted.
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