Wrthi'n llwytho
Does dim crynodeb o'r cyfarfod hwn eto. Caiff un ei ysgrifennu pan fydd y cyngor yn cyhoeddi'r cofnodion. Mae'r agenda a'r papurau isod.
1.1 The MO&ACLO advised members of the changes that had been made regarding the eligibility of members for the role of Chair and Deputy Chair as a result of the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021 and asked members of the Committee for nominations for the role of Chair. Kathryn Pegington was nominated, and this was seconded. 1.2 The MO&ACLO confirmed that Kathryn Pegington had been elected as Chair of the Governance and Audit Committee. 1.3 The Chair asked members of the Committee for nominations for the role of Deputy Chair. Michael Kelleher was nominated, and this was seconded. 1.4 The Chair confirmed that Michael Kelleher had been elected as Deputy Chair of the Governance and Audit Committee.
2.1 Apologies were received from Michael Kelleher and Nigel Aurelius, Assistant Chief Executive Resources.
3.1 There were no declarations of interest.
4.1 The minutes of the meeting held on 9 March 2022 were confirmed as an accurate record.
5.1 The Committee noted the action sheet.
6.1 The MO&ACLO highlighted the following key headlines from the report: • The Annual Governance Statement (AGS) outlined the governance processes and arrangements that had been operating within the Authority for 2021/22. The Draft AGS had been prepared by officers in the Corporate Governance and Risk Management Group whose remit was ‘to ensure the Council is achieving and maintaining good corporate governance’. Assurance had been sought from the officers who were responsible for areas of governance contained in the statement that the arrangements were in place and working. • The completed AGS would be signed by the Leader and Chief Executive of the Council alongside the Annual Statement of Accounts which would be presented to Council for approval. • Paragraph 1.4 of the draft AGS had been updated to reflect the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. • The review of the effectiveness as outlined in section 11 of the draft AGS had concluded that the arrangements in place were effective. 6.2 Following questions from the Committee, the B&DSSM and HoIA&P made the following points: • The B&DSSM confirmed that the Education Overview & Scrutiny Committee were currently considering the terms of reference of the School Standards Monitoring Sub Committee, in order to look proactively at ways to improve education services within the Council. The lack of recent meetings of the Sub Committee was due to changes around accessibility of school attainment data. • The HoIA&P reassured members that any significant issues throughout the year would get reported via the appropriate channels and committees. Cllr Jones added that overview and scrutiny committees played a part in the above, as they would consider key topics and could refer them to the Governance and Audit Committee. 6.3 The Governance and Audit Committee agreed to note the content of the report.
7.1 JR highlighted the following key headlines from the report: • The Plan included the fees and timetables for the financial and performance audits that would be conducted during 2022-23. • The Auditor General for Wales’s responsibilities around the audit of financial statements were outlined in paragraphs 8 and 9 of the report. • Exhibit 1 of the report outlined the significant financial risks, and these were standard for local authorities this year; however the ‘other audit risks’ were specific to the Council. 7.2 BR introduced Exhibit 2 of the report and confirmed that the thematic review would be on a digital theme and the bespoke local project was likely to be on waste management; however scoping was yet to be completed on either and timetables were still being discussed. 7.3 Following questions from the Committee, the HoFS and BR made the following points: • The HoFS explained that the Council was awaiting guidance regarding the audit of financial statements work and officers were working towards the report being considered at a special meeting of the Governance and Audit Committee on 7 September 2022. • BR confirmed that audits around local authority projects regarding health would be developed alongside Audit Wales’s health team. • BR agreed that levelling up was an item that could be considered as part of future audit plans, and this could be raised with the Auditor General for Wales in March when topics were considered. 7.4 The Governance and Audit Committee agreed to note the content of the report.
8.1 BR introduced the report and confirmed that it included financial and performance audit updates, as well as Estyn and Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) audit updates. 8.2 The Governance and Audit Committee agreed to note the content of the update.
9.1 The B&DSSM highlighted the following key headlines from the report: • The report enabled members of the Governance and Audit Committee to note new recommendations and proposals for improvement received from Audit Wales and other external regulators / inspectorates since the last update report, and provided assurance that recommendations were being considered and answered by the Council. • Since the last update in March 2022, three new reports had been received by the Council from its external regulators and inspectors. The reports were around Direct Payments in Adult Social Care, Shared Resource Service Follow-Up Review and Education Services in Torfaen, and they were outlined in paragraphs 4.1.2, 4.1.3 and 4.1.4 of the report respectively. 9.2 The Governance and Audit Committee agreed to note new recommendations / proposals for improvement received and accepted by the Council since the last update report.
10.1 The HoFS highlighted the following key headlines from the report: • The report detailed the activities of the treasury management function during 2021/22 and met the requirements of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) Code of Practice on Treasury Management and the CIPFA Prudential Code for Capital Finance in Local Authorities. • A small reduction to the debt position had occurred due to the normal repayment schedule, with no new borrowing during 2021/22. • All investment remained within the agreed criteria. The Council’s policy looks to secure the principal investment initially, then it looks towards liquidity and yield. • The enhanced investment levels seen in paragraph 4.2.4 of the report were affected by additional funding from Welsh Government (WG) and other public bodies, capital slippage and the general underspend on the revenue budget. • In 2021/22 the Council spent £18 million on assets through the capital programme, with a £4.3 million slippage into 2022/23. Further details were available in paragraph 4.4 of the report. • An error existed within the recommendations of the report. The references to paragraphs 4, 5 and 6 should read paragraphs 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 respectively. 10.2 Following questions from the Committee, the HoFS made the following points: • As per paragraph 4.1.1 of the report, due to interest rates remaining at such low levels, it was highly unlikely that these Lender Option Borrower Option (LOBO) market loans would be called for a change in rates. • Management of the Capital Programme was achieved via project managers, and he confirmed that an increase in cost pressures was being witnessed. One particular scheme had to be redesigned and WG provided additional funding towards it; however this resulted in a delay to the scheme. • The Council attempted to mitigate against cost pressures during the tendering process and all projects had contingency elements built in. • The slippage in the Capital Programme had been discussed with the senior leadership team and monitoring had been enhanced around this. The B&DSSM suggested that a Members Seminar on the new wider general performance monitoring arrangements would be beneficial, and he confirmed that the Council would be reporting more frequently to members on general performance going forward. BR added that Audit Wales would be looking into Capital Programme Management during the current year. • The Council borrowed from a spread of banks and looked for the best rates available. • The Council generally invested for periods up to three months and as a result there were not many opportunities to invest in longer-term climate-focussed investments; however the Pension Fund was able to take a longer-term viewpoint. 10.3 The Governance and Audit Committee agreed to note: (i) The Treasury Management borrowing activity for 2021/22 in paragraph 4.1 of the report; (ii) The Treasury Management investment activity for 2021/22 in paragraph 4.2 of the report; and (iii) The review of the Treasury Prudential Indicators in paragraph 4.3 of the report.
11.1 The HoIA&P highlighted the following key headlines from the report: • The overall conclusion was that the System of Internal Control continues to be classified as sound with scope for improvement. This had been the case for a number of years and demonstrated the stable nature of the internal control environment. • No high priority recommendations had been identified and management had agreed to rectify medium and low priority weaknesses identified via agreed action plans. • Appendix 1 of the report showed the opinions for the core systems for the current and previous years and Appendix 2 of the report showed the opinions for all the work carried out during the 2021/22 year. • With regards to non-core financial systems, there were two audits where the opinion was identified as limited with less than 50% of the controls tested in place. Both audits had agreed action plans in place and follow up audits would be undertaken at the appropriate time to ensure progress was being made to address the issues identified. • There was a requirement for each Internal Audit to be externally assessed against the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS) once every five years. The next five year review would be undertaken during 2023. • Internal Audit had achieved all of their targets during 2021/2022 and the fact that 100% of recommendations had been accepted demonstrated the positive relationship between Internal Audit and the Council’s service areas. 11.2 Following a question from the Committee, the HoIA&P confirmed that it was likely that the external assessment against the PSIAS would cost less than £5,000, which was the threshold that would require a tendering process. 11.3 The Governance and Audit Committee agreed to note the content of the report.
12.1 The HoIA&P introduced the report and confirmed that there were no changes to the 2022/23 Internal Audit Plan approved in March 2022. 12.2 The Governance and Audit Committee agreed to note the content of the report.
13.1 The HoIA&P presented the work programme and explained that it contained the items that were expected to be considered by the Governance and Audit Committee throughout the year; however it was subject to change. He added that officers were hoping to merge the potential special meetings in July 2022 and September 2022, with a target date of 7 September 2022. 13.2 The Governance and Audit Committee agreed to note the content of the work programme.
14.1 The next meeting is scheduled to take place on 19 October 2022. 14.2 The meeting closed at 11.25am.
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