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RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the Governance and Audit Committee meeting held on 16th December 2025 as an accurate record. There were no matters arising to report.
RESOLVED: 1. To review the specific risk management arrangements in place for Strategic Risk 30 (Supporting our young people with additional learning needs) and determine whether they provide the required level of assurance on the arrangements in place.
RESOLVED: 1. To review the Internal Audit Strategy (Delivery Plan) and consider what comments and / or recommendations, if any, they wish to make.
RESOLVED: 1. To review the content of the report and seek assurance that recommendations made by the Internal Audit Service are being implemented within agreed timescales; and 2. To note the themes emerging from recommendations reported to date and provide feedback, as appropriate, to inform the Internal Audit Service in drafting the 2026/27 Internal Audit Annual Plan.
In accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct, there were no declarations made pertaining to the agenda.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the Governance and Audit Committee meeting held on 16th December 2025 as an accurate record. There were no matters arising to report.
It was RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the Governance and Audit Committee meeting held on 16th December 2025 as an accurate record. There were no matters arising to report.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED: 1. To review the specific risk management arrangements in place for Strategic Risk 30 (Supporting our young people with additional learning needs) and determine whether they provide the required level of assurance on the arrangements in place.
The Service Director for Audit, Performance and Transformational Services introduced the report and referred Members to the responsibilities of the Committee in respect of the Council’s risk management arrangements, as per its Terms of Reference. At a previous meeting of the Governance and Audit Committee, Members had requested more detailed updates on specific risks, with these scheduled to be reported to Members during the 2025/26 municipal year in respect of the following: Strategic Risk 11 - Regenerating our Communities (reported to the 4th November 2025 Governance and Audit Committee meeting); Strategic Risk 24 - A carbon neutral Council (reported to the 16th December 2025 Governance and Audit Committee meeting); and Strategic Risk 30 - Supporting our young people with additional learning needs. In line with this, the Head of Inclusion Services was present to provide Members with a detailed update in respect of Strategic Risk 30 - Supporting our young people with additional learning needs, as part of the Committee’s role to review and scrutinise the Council’s risk management arrangements. With the aid of a PowerPoint presentation, the officer provided the Committee with further detail in respect of the controls in place to manage the risk, examples of the controls in action and how the controls translate into measurable impacts across the Council. The Vice-Chair thanked the officer for the detailed presentation and questioned what the recruitment and retention issues were and how they were being addressed. The officer advised that the recruitment and retention of teaching assistants was a national issue and the Council were looking to address this by working with school and local colleges, along with utilising its own apprenticeship programme. The officer spoke of the importance of enhancing the training and career progression opportunities from teaching assistants to teachers. One Member sought further information on the recruitment of specialist behaviour support teaching assistants employed by the Local Authority, noting the demands and complexities of the role. The officer advised that by the very nature of the service, there was a need for this area to be looked at holistically. It was noted that in addition to the Behaviour Support Team in place the Council had invested in a specific officer to support schools at crisis point. In terms of early intervention and prevention, the officer spoke of the Step 4 programme and the Social, Emotional Behavioural Difficulties Learning Support Classes, which seek to assist in improving the continuum of support available for some of the most vulnerable learners and reduce the demand for more specialist provision. Members learned that £1.6M had been invested into the Step 4 programme over the last three years to upskill the school staff to manage newly emerging behaviours. Furthermore, the officer spoke of the robust training programmes in place, with support from educational psychologists and training on targeted intervention, such as Emotional Literacy Support Assistance (ELSA), Emotional Based School Avoidance (EBSA) and a strong trauma informed practice programme, which was accessible to all members of staff. One Member raised questions around Additional Learning Needs (ALN) pupils, who were electively home educated (EHE). The Member sought assurance that there were robust processes in place to monitor their wellbeing and safeguarding and queried whether Welsh Government funding for EHE had been used to support those pupils with ALN. Furthermore, the Member referred to a recently published evaluation report by Welsh Government, which outlined several recommendations, some in relation to ALN learners. who are educated at home. The officer informed the Committee that the Local Authority had a responsibility to maintain additional learning provision and the Individual Development Programme (IDP) for all children who are educated at home with a recognised ALN, and Members were provided with assurance that there was a robust process in place to support those children. It was explained that there was an emerging issue of children who were electively home educated having an ALN and that there was a system in place to deal with such pressures, including a robust panel process and additional learning co-ordinators who work with the children and undertake person-centred meetings and provide IDP support. In terms of safeguarding, the officer advised that it was the statutory obligation to ensure that the work remains reasonable and appropriate and that annual visits are undertaken. The officer added that strong relationships are built with the home educated community to provide ongoing support and, if a safeguarding issue arises, it is immediately reported. One Member sought clarity on the extent to which a preventative approach is taken as part of overall service delivery arrangements. The officer informed the Committee that prevention and early intervention was at the core of the ALN arrangements in Rhondda Cynon Taf, in line with the requirements of the ALNET (Wales) Act 2018. The officer referred to the early intervention strategy, which included targeted interventions based on the ALN data, rather than a reactive approach; Social and Emotional Behaviour Difficulties intervention through programmes such as the Nurture Provision Pilot in primary schools; and Social and Emotional Behaviour Difficulties support to help reduce exclusions and prevent escalation to pupil referral units. The officer added that the Council continued to look at strengthening mainstream capacity and the associated funding set aside to support ALN throughout Rhondda Cynon Taf. Members were also informed of the early years preventative work taking place throughout Welsh medium schools, in line with the WESP priorities, which monitored and identified any emerging themes through parental engagement and focus groups to help provide early support. The Member thanked the officer for the detailed response and suggested that an annual update on progress be brought back to the Governance and Audit Committee for Members to monitor the impact of the preventative measures. One Member was pleased to note the use of the Trauma Informed Model and the measurable impacts outlined within the presentation, such as the reduction in exclusion rates. The Member referred to the ongoing resource implications and the importance of early identification, in terms of children requiring additional support, and questioned the relationship with colleagues from other key services and partners such as health, children’s services and CAMHS. The officer spoke of the strong links with partner agencies and referred to the Youth Justice Preventative Group as an example, explaining the early intervention and holistic approach used to identify children and young people who require support. The officer also spoke of the positive engagement of joint health and education meetings, meetings with children’s services and of the close internal work between different areas of the education service, such as the school improvement team to support ALN. The Chair referred to the new Special School, which was in the process of being constructed at Clydach Vale, and queried its intended impact. The officer advised that the school would increase capacity by up to 150 children, which seeks to address the rise in demand for ALN. It was intended that the new school would increase space for the children, prevent escalation to out of county placements and ensure that more children are educated within Rhondda Cynon Taf. It was added that the additional special school would provide positive outreach for mainstream schools and learning support classes. The Vice-Chair queried the arrangements in place to forecast demand and sought assurance that funding increases are keeping pace with the demand. The officer advised that plans were in place to managed demand, these being reviewed on an on-going basis, and that the ongoing sufficiency monitoring was key in enabling early and timely adjustments to resource planning. In terms of longer-term strategic planning, it was reiterated that demand within the Welsh-medium setting was being closely monitored for future specialist pathways. The Director of Financial Services and Transformation also sought to provide assurance to the Committee, from a corporate perspective, that close working arrangements are in place with the Education and Inclusion Services Directorate to understand and forecast the level of demand, recognising the volatility of the area. The Director advised that phase 2 of the Council’s budget consultation process was underway, which sought the views of residents in respect of an uplift of funding to schools and further investment into ALN. The Director stated that the data-led approach referenced by the officer, which demonstrated a preventative approach, would be subject to on-going review to identify ‘invest-to-save’ opportunities. The Chair thanked the officer for the update. The Governance and Audit Committee RESOLVED: 1. To review the specific risk management arrangements in place for Strategic Risk 30 (Supporting our young people with additional learning needs) and determine whether they provide the required level of assurance on the arrangements in place.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED: 1. To review the Internal Audit Strategy (Delivery Plan) and consider what comments and / or recommendations, if any, they wish to make.
The Service Director for Audit, Performance and Transformational Services provided the Governance and Audit Committee with an overview of the Internal Audit Strategy (Delivery Plan) for 2025/26, which was attached at Appendix A to the report. The Vice-Chair questioned what the key priorities were for the service in 2026/27 and how the Internal Audit Strategy would support Internal Audit to focus on emerging risks, rather than historic issues. The Service Director informed the Committee that the priority for the service during the coming year was to ensure the completion of the Internal Audit Plan and maintain high standards and quality of work to support the Governance and Audit Committee in fulfilling its Terms of Reference. In terms of beyond 2026/27, the Service Director spoke of the need for on-going focus on workforce planning as part of supporting service delivery over the long term, including exploring further recruitment opportunities via the Council’s Graduate Scheme. In terms of Council wide emerging risks, the Service Director advised that a risk-based audit plan was compiled annually, in accordance with best practice, to identify and review emerging risks. Referring to the report, the Chair noted that the Audit Management System was an area for on-going review and questioned what the key areas for development were. The Service Director advised that the system had been in place for approximately two years and is supporting the capture of a wide range of information that is being used to inform and direct the work of Internal Audit and the performance of the service and will be an area for on-going development. The Chair thanked the Service Director for the report, and the Governance and Audit Committee RESOLVED: 1. To review the Internal Audit Strategy (Delivery Plan) and consider what comments and / or recommendations, if any, they wish to make.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED: 1. To review the content of the report and seek assurance that recommendations made by the Internal Audit Service are being implemented within agreed timescales; and 2. To note the themes emerging from recommendations reported to date and provide feedback, as appropriate, to inform the Internal Audit Service in drafting the 2026/27 Internal Audit Annual Plan.
The Internal Audit Manager provided the Governance and Audit Committee with a position statement in respect of the status of the recommendations made by the Internal Audit Service during 2025/26 to date along with the recommendations being categorised into key themes to assist audit planning arrangements. One Member noted from the report that 44 recommendations were due to be implemented at a point in time in the future. The Member sought clarity in respect of the high priority recommendations in terms of how the risks were being managed and mitigated in the period prior to the recommendations being implemented. The Member also noted that 7 of the high priority recommendations were in relation to safeguarding and sought clarity on the detail of these recommendations along with requesting clarity on if there had been progress in implementing the recommendations, which were of a limited assurance opinion, in respect of Ysgol Bro Taf and Mountain Ash Comprehensive School. The officer advised that, in terms of recommendations, the general guideline was that high risk recommendations were to be addressed within a month, medium-risk within three months and low-risk recommendations to be addressed within a six-month period. It was explained that most of the 44 recommendations referenced by the Member were to be addressed by the end of the financial year but that there were a few, which had been requested to be addressed by the summer. This could be because there is a need for more than one service area to collaborate, a policy change is required which takes time or that an individual needs to attend a training course before changes can be implemented. In terms of the query regarding safeguarding, the officer explained that by its very definition, most of the recommendations are deemed high priority. An example was provided to Members where specific staff had read a particular policy but the service was unable to provide evidence that this was the case. With regards to the schools with a limited assurance opinion, the officer assured the Committee that regular engagement was taking place between the schools and the Internal Audit Service to address the recommendations in advance of the target dates. Referring to the themes included in table 3 of the report, the Vice-Chair sought further information on the ‘housekeeping and record keeping’ category and why a high proportion of Internal Audit recommendations continued to relate to schools. In response, the officer advised that housekeeping referred to an incomplete or an inconsistently updated record. In terms of the proportionately high number of recommendations reported in respect of schools, the officer advised that of the 28 finalised audit assignments to date, over 50% were school based audits and this was impacting the overall number of school related recommendations reported. Members were assured that when the 2 schools with limited assurance opinions were excluded, there were two high priority findings reported across all other schools that had been subject to an internal audit in the year to date. One Member referred to the themes identified and questioned the extent to which these would be taken account of as part of audit planning for 2026/27. The officer advised that, to date, two thematic reviews had been undertaken in respect of Governance and Safeguarding and that there were two reviews in progress relating to School Private Fund and School Purchase Card. The officer indicated that the results of the audits would be communicated across schools and support provided, as appropriate, during 2026/27 in these areas. The Chair thanked the officer for the update and was assured that the Internal Audit Service was planning and allocating its resources appropriately. The Governance and Audit Committee RESOLVED: 1. To review the content of the report and seek assurance that recommendations made by the Internal Audit Service are being implemented within agreed timescales; and 2. To note the themes emerging from recommendations reported to date and provide feedback, as appropriate, to inform the Internal Audit Service in drafting the 2026/27 Internal Audit Annual Plan.
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