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 Apologies were received from Councillor Williams.
2.1 The following declarations of interest were made: • Councillor Jones declared a personal interest as his wife was in receipt of a pension from the Greater Gwent Pension Fund. • Mr. Kelleher declared a personal interest due to being in receipt of a pension from the Greater Gwent Pension Fund. • Mrs. Pegington declared a personal interest as her husband was in receipt of a pension from the Greater Gwent Pension Fund
3.1 The minutes of the meeting held on 18th January 2024 were confirmed as an accurate record.
4.1 The Committee noted the action sheet.
5.1 The SCI&SO outlined the report and provided an update on the Council’s processes for the management and monitoring of identified risks. 5.2 Risk Management is the systematic approach to the identification, evaluation and control of risks which helped secure the assets and reputation of the Local Authority. The role of Governance and Audit Committee was key to the Local Authority’s governance framework. 5.3 The changes made to the risk management process were detailed within paragraph 5.1 of the report. These changes included changing the register to a tiered approach, scoring risks numerically, and introducing a monitoring process for officers. Over the past year, these changes had been closely monitored and were successfully embedded with one minor exception. There had been several instances where the estimation date was adjusted. Due to the process being new, it was recognised that these initial dates were overly ambitious. Officers were encouraged to adopt a more balanced and thought-out approach when setting the estimation date. Additionally, a new column would be added to the risk register to clearly show original estimation dates and any changes. 5.4 All risks were monitored on a quarterly basis. This included reviewing risk scores and any evident changes, assessing newly identified risks to ensure accurate scoring, evaluating whether risks were treatable or tolerable, and ensuring completion of all risk mitigation measures prior to removing the risk from the register. Additionally, the Risk Register was also evaluated by the Leadership Team every twelve weeks. Overall, this new risk management approach was proactive and robust. 5.5 Following questions from the Committee, the SCI&SO made the following points: • The current direction table within the Risk Register had three possible options: increasing, static or decreasing. • The term “tolerate” meant that all possible mitigations had been taken, yet there was still some risk involved. Therefore, no estimation date would be asked for and this would remain on the register to be monitored. • There would be steps undertaken to ensure more consistency within the “expected date of travel” column. • The Risk Register was split into tiers, with the traffic light system removed to improve the accessibility of the report. The current layout and risk template was felt to be the most accessible and clear possible. • The changes to risk management were highly positive. The challenging of risks was much more robust than previously. • Risk 54 had been on the register for an extended period due to the nature of the Local Development Plan and the time needed for its implementation. The risk scoring for this risk had remained unchanged whilst it had been on the register. • Risk 97 was in respect of one building used by the Local Authority. There were concerns regarding ownership of health and safety whilst this building was in use. There had been an action plan agreed for this risk and it was due to be removed from the register shortly. 5.6 Mr. Rees explained that he had been part of a recent Welsh Local Government Association briefing for Governance and Audit and would be happy to share this with members of the Committee which was agreed by the Chair. 5.7 Members noted the progress made to date to further embed the process across all directorates for the identification of any risks facing the Council; and the management and monitoring of those identified risks on a quarterly basis throughout the year. 5.8 The SCI&SO and DCE left the meeting.
6.1 The AK outlined the report and provided an update on completed audit work since the last Annual Audit Summary, which was issued in December 2022. 6.2 The next Annual Audit Summary was due to be presented at the next meeting. The audit work undertaken for next year with the DFS and DCE had been highly successful, and an update on the timetable for this would be given at the next meeting. 6.3 The CO gave an in-depth review of the progress made within the last quarter. There had been a slight delay with the National Parks studies, but all other work was on track. 6.4 Following questions from the Committee, the CO made the following points: • There would be an answer provided to the Committee in regards of the timetabling and running of Corporate Joint Committees after the meeting.
7.1 The B&DSSM outlined the report and provided the bi-annual update for the Council Action Plan, which could be seen in appendix one of the report. A suggestion had been made to remove actioned recommendations from the monitoring report pending approval from members of the Committee. 7.2 There had been no new audit reports received since the previous update. Scrutiny Committees were due to review progress made against the referrals in June or July of this year. This review would be shared at the October meeting of the Governance and Audit Committee. 7.3 Following questions from the Committee, the B&DSSM & HoIA made the following points: • There were regular updates provided to full Council regarding the identified recommendations in respect of Education. Estyn were also updating each recommendation as appropriate via follow up letters, which were shared with all Members. • Education Overview and Scrutiny Committee would be undertaking their own piece of work on the recommendations made by Estyn which would be reported to Governance and Audit Committee in due course. • Internal audit had no role on the Education Strategic Improvement Board currently but it would be seen if this was needed and a response would be circulated to the Committee. • Future Generations training was not mandatory but it was promoted periodically to encourage staff to take part. The exact number of staff that had completed this training would be shared with the Committee. • The piece of writing regarding “recommended for removal” at the bottom of the action plan was a standard piece of writing included in each action plan. 7.4 Members of the Governance and Audit Committee reviewed the progress made, as set out in the Action Plan (attached as appendix one) to ensure appropriate action is being taken to address recommendations previously accepted by the Council with regards to its governance arrangements.
8.1 The HoIA outlined the report and provided an update on the progress against the Internal Audit plan for 2023/24. 8.2 The achievement of the overall plan currently stood at 70%, slightly below the target of 75%. However, the achievement of the core plan had met targets. To meet targets, there would need to be four to five additional reports submitted by the end of the March. Regardless of this, sufficient work had been undertaken across all systems to provide an annual opinion. 8.3 Whilst the opinion on HR & Payroll had been substantial last year, it was limited this year. This was attributed to issues such as missing references, qualifications and incomplete Code of Conducts forms. Although disappointing, these were easily rectifiable mistakes in order to return to a better position at the next audit. 8.4 The DCS explained that the issues were mostly within the recruitment process, which was reliant on managers, The risks were identified as medium with one risk being identified as low. These were easily rectified mistakes and a checklist had been put in place for new employees to address the identified gaps. 8.5 Following questions from the Committee, the DCS made the following points: • A drop in standards had led to the concerns with recruitment but this had been responded to in a robust manner. This had not led to any significant incidents. • The issues with recruitment were spread across a number of departments. • Although there were systems in place for recruitment, these were reliant on human interaction. 8.6 Governance & Audit Committee members noted the content of the report.
9.1 The HOIA outlined the report and provided detail of the areas to be covered in the draft Internal Audit Plan for 2024/25. 9.2 There was a rollover of work not carried out last year, but this was planned in order to give a degree of flexibility in respect of the target. The plan included a complete list of audits to be undertaken and their frequency. No significant changes were expected to the draft. However if any were identified, the report would be brought back to the Committee for review. Appendix A outlined the areas to be covered within the plan and their current risk scores, which allowed audits to be planned appropriately. 9.3 Following questions from the Committee, the HoIA made the following points: • There were both discussions with and reports sent to the Leadership Team. • Audit work was completed with the relevant managers being included. 9.4 Audit Committee members approved the draft 2024/25 Internal Audit plan, shown at Appendix A; and noted the Internal Audit Charter shown at Appendix B.
10.1 There were no updates to give on the work programme. 10.2 There was one action identified from the self-assessment exercise for a yearly Audit report to be submitted to Council, therefore this would be incorporated into the work programme.
11.1 The next meeting is scheduled to take place on 26.06.2024
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