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RESOLVED to exclude the public for the following item of business on the grounds that there would be disclosure to them of exempt information under category 3 of The Local Authorities (Access to Information) (Variation) (Wales) Order 2007). The Monitoring Officer has determined that category 3 of the Access to Information Procedure Rules applies to the following item. His view on the public interest test (having taken account of the provisions of Rule 14.8 of the Council's Access to Information Rules) was that to make this information public would disclose information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information). These factors in his view outweigh the public interest in disclosing this information. Members are asked to consider these factors when determining the public interest test, which they must decide when considering excluding the public from this part of the meeting.
Apologies for absence have been received from: Committee Chair, Lynne Hamilton, Cabinet Member County Councillor Sandra Davies and Monitoring Officer Clive Pinney.
No declarations of interest were made.
The Committee resolved to authorise the Chair to sign the minutes of the meeting held on the 21st November 2025 as a true reflection of the meeting. Questions, concerns and comments raised Responses provided The absence of an action regarding the annual review of the Whistleblowing Policy was questioned. Officers confirmed a review of the Whistleblowing Policy had taken place and agreed to add a this to the Forward Work Programme. Committee also asked for an annual review of the whistleblowing report to be added to the forward work programme. This was agreed. Assurance was sought that mandatory training for school governing bodies was being addressed. Officers confirmed mandatory training as a standing item in headteacher reports and governing body agendas was being with Chairs and Vice Chairs
The Chair noted that several items had been postponed and requested updates for each. • Audit Wales formal approval of 2026-27 Audit Plan Officers explained the delay was due to the need for sufficient planning work before presenting a meaningful audit plan. The change in financial system undertaken by the council this year would feature in this planning. It is now due to come to committee in March 2026. • The All-Wales Capital Report This report was delayed nationally and expected at the end of January 2026. Due to the timescales needed to receive Corporate responses, the report may not be ready for Governance and Audit Committee until late spring. • SWAP Deep Dive into root causes of overdue actions The report has been produced, but needs to go through the internal governance process. It is scheduled to be seen by the Corporate Leadership Team and should be available to committee by the 6th of March 2026.
5. AUDIT WALES QUARTER 3 WORK PROGRAMME AND TIMETABLE · Background: Audit Wales presented its six-monthly update on financial and performance audit work as at December 2025. · The next update was due to come to committee in June 2026. · From a financial audit perspective, Audit Wales was working through several grant claims. An update on performance audit project was detailed in the report, work was on track against internal timescales and working towards finalisation. Questions, concerns and comments raised Responses provided Committee noted a delay in two cases of Grants and returns information coming through from 2023-2024. Did this delay have any implications for the authority? Audit Wales confirmed the outstanding grants were immaterial and would not affect the audit opinion. Clarification was requested regarding the process for Management Response Forms. Councils completed the corporate response forms after receiving the final report, Audit Wales would review whether recommendations had been properly considered and present this to the committee.
6. NEWTOWN HIGH SCHOOL INTERNAL AUDIT REPORT Background: SWAP presented the July 2025 audit report, which gave a Limited Assurance opinion. Key areas of concern included: 1. Governance weaknesses (vacancies, incomplete mandatory training, missing statutory policies). 2. Procurement delays and missing documentation. 3. Finances: an unlicensed deficit budget projected to rise to £1.7m by 2028/29. 4. Voluntary funds of £102k not audited for five years. The Head teacher for Newtown high school provided an update on the actions arising from the audit. • Governance Vacancies: Active recruitment approach has resulted in two new governors have been appointed, and one is to be confirmed. Filling all vacancies. Community Governor vacancy has also been filled. Local authority vacancy for a councillor is due to be filled. • One teacher vacancy: This is a new vacancy and has been advertised, with the closing date in January 2026. It has seen interest from applicants. • Work is continuing with the Governing Body around training, the Business Continuity Plan and the Disaster Recovery Plan. • Work was ongoing with the Local Authority to address security on both campuses. • A budget recovery plan was submitted and accepted on the 14th November 2025. A consultation for support staff and teaching staff was in place. • Consideration was being given to further restructuring within leadership and further management of change. • Assurance was given that work was ongoing to address concerns around the outstanding School Voluntary Fund. An accountant was being secured to support. Local Authority Officers reiterated that all actions from the audit had been addressed by the school, bar the action around the school voluntary fund, where work was ongoing. Questions, concerns and comments raised Responses provided Committee expressed disappointment at the delay in receiving the report. And expressed concern about how this could lead to adverse press comment. Was there a communication tool available that could notify committee of the limited assurance audit in real time? Could an addendum be added to the report to provide an updated position when it comes to committee? Officers acknowledged the timing issue and agreed to improve communication and consider addendums for future reports. Committee was reminded that their role was to look for assurance that things were moving forward and timely actions had been delivered. Committee queried whether governors had received the report. Assurance was given that much of the report had been shared with the school’s governing body. via agenda items and the warning letter received from the local authority. Councillors sought updated figures on the deficit. Updated deficit projections were provided: £1.3m without intervention; reduced to £1.1m for 2026–27 and £1.5m for 2027–28, £1.7million deficit for 2028-29 following planned savings.
7. GOVERNANCE AND AUDIT COMMITTEE SKILLS SELF-ASSESSMENT Background: SWAP presented the results of the skills survey, which could be used to plan future training or development. The findings had indicated several strengths within the committee, including: • strong understanding of local authority structures. • strong financial awareness. • solid knowledge of internal and external audit. • confidence to focus on key areas and question effectively. The survey had also highlighted areas where further development could be beneficial, including: • greater familiarity with governance frameworks such as SOLACE. • improved understanding of internal audit standards. • enhanced knowledge of fraud risks and fraud generally. Overall, the assessment had shown a broadly sound level of capability across the committee. Questions, concerns and comments raised Responses provided Members queried whether training would be refreshed after committee membership changes. SWAP confirmed willingness to repeat the survey post-May to inform training plans. It was agreed that the Chair and Vice Chair would meet with the Assistant Director of SWAP to arrange a repeat of the skills assessment after May 2026, to obtain a more up to date understanding of the committee members’ skills.
· Audit Wales advised that the publication deadline for the 2025–26 Statement of Accounts would be brought forward to the end of September 2026. The Council would be implementing a new financial system, operational from 1st April 2026, and access to the current financial system would cease from 19th July 2026. · To support the revised timetable, the finance team had engaged with Audit Wales to confirm what audit resources were available for early interim testing, recognising audit backlogs across Wales. · The Council’s annual accounts closure timetable had been prepared; historically draft accounts were required by 30th June, but for 2025–26 officers aimed to provide the draft accounts by 15 June, to allow Audit Wales additional time to review and sample transactions. · Progress on the closure of accounts had become a standing agenda item at the weekly accountants’ meetings, enabling ongoing monitoring of preparedness. · An update could be brought to the March committee meeting if requested by committee. · Audit Wales officers reiterated that they were working closely with the Local Authority. Questions, concerns and comments raised Responses provided Committee asked of progress on transition to the new system. Key user training and workshops had already taken place as part of the system implementation. Several rounds of system testing had been completed, with the third tranche underway. Issues identified during testing had been passed to the system provider for resolution. Data migration work was ongoing and would continue until March 2026. Had any concerns been raised so far. Assurance was provided that regular project management board meetings were in place to oversee the implementation with both the system supplier and the Council’s project manager providing frequent updates. No concerns had been identified, and testing was progressing in a timely manner. Members asked about risks associated with the system change and whether Audit Wales had sufficient resources. Testing was on track, and Audit Wales had committed resources for early work.
Items 9 and 10 were taken together. See minutes under Item 10.
· Items 9 and 10 related to the annual whistleblowing reports required under Section 22 of the Constitution, which must be presented to the Governance and Audit Committee. · A working group had been established to review the whistleblowing regime and consider improvements to the information previously provided to the committee. As a result of this work, the reporting format had revised and now included: o the process each concern had been directed through (as not all were ultimately treated as whistleblowing cases). o whether each case had been investigated. o and the outcome of any investigation. · No clear themes or patterns had emerged from the cases reviewed. · Of the four cases that had proceeded as whistleblowing in 2024–25, three had concluded and none were upheld; one case submitted in March 2025, remained ongoing. · Confidentiality constraints limited the level of detail that could be shared, but an additional column could be included in future reports to summarise any recommended actions and to confirm that they had been implemented. Questions, concerns and comments raised Responses provided Committee thanked officers for their work on the whistleblowing process and for the additional detail in the updated report. The working group’s wish to see more than numerical data was reiterated, emphasising the value of identifying learning points. The inclusion of an additional column to record such learning and confirm completion of any actions was welcomed.
Background: · All non‑confidential risks were set out in the Strategic Risk Register, with detailed entries including mitigating actions, existing controls, and progress updates provided in Appendix A. · As at the end of Quarter 2 the register contained 12 non‑confidential risks. · Appendix B visually presented the risks on a heat map; this showed that eight residual risks sat within the top right (highest risk) quadrant. · Committee were reminded that Audit Wales had undertaken an audit of the Council’s risk management arrangements in March 2025, with the final report and management response presented to the committee in October 2025. · The recommendations accompanying the report sought Cabinet’s approval to note the current Strategic Risk Register and to confirm satisfaction with progress on mitigating actions for Quarter 2. Questions, concerns and comments raised Responses provided Clarification was requested around the timing of quarter 2 reports. The Q2 Report was written as of the end of September 2025.
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RESOLVED to exclude the public for the following item of business on the grounds that there would be disclosure to them of exempt information under category 3 of The Local Authorities (Access to Information) (Variation) (Wales) Order 2007). The Monitoring Officer has determined that category 3 of the Access to Information Procedure Rules applies to the following item. His view on the public interest test (having taken account of the provisions of Rule 14.8 of the Council's Access to Information Rules) was that to make this information public would disclose information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information). These factors in his view outweigh the public interest in disclosing this information. Members are asked to consider these factors when determining the public interest test, which they must decide when considering excluding the public from this part of the meeting.
RESOLVED to exclude the public for the following item of business on the grounds that there would be disclosure to them of exempt information under category 3 of The Local Authorities (Access to Information) (Variation) (Wales) Order 2007). The Monitoring Officer has determined that category 3 of the Access to Information Procedure Rules applies to the following item. His view on the public interest test (having taken account of the provisions of Rule 14.8 of the Council's Access to Information Rules) was that to make this information public would disclose information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information). These factors in his view outweigh the public interest in disclosing this information. Members are asked to consider these factors when determining the public interest test, which they must decide when considering excluding the public from this part of the meeting.
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