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 Head of Legal Services explained that due to an oversight, the yearly appointment of the Chair and Deputy Chair had not been included within the agenda for the meeting. Therefore, this decision would be made at the next committee meeting, and a temporary Chair would be appointed to lead this meeting. 1.2 The Committee nominated Kathryn Pegington as the Chair. 1.3 Apologies were received from Councillor Giles Davies.
2.1 The following declarations are made: • Councillor Peter Jones declared personal interest as his wife was in receipt of a pension from the Greater Gwent Pension Fund. • Mr Michael Kelleher declared a personal interest as he was in receipt of a pension from the Greater Gwent Pension Fund. • Mr Mark Rees declared a personal interest as he was in receipt of a pension from the Greater Gwent Pension Fund. • Mrs Kathryn Pegington declared a personal interest as her husband was in receipt of a pension from the Greater Gwent Pension Fund. • Councillor David Williams declared a personal interest as both himself and his wife were in receipt pensions from the Greater Gwent Pension fund. · Councillor David Williams declared an interest as he had been interviewed in a different capacity under the Capital Planning and Local Government audits.
3.1 It was raised that a declaration had been included in the previous meeting for Mr, Rees who had given apologies. This would be amended. 3.2 The minutes of the meeting held on 27th March 2025 were confirmed as an accurate record.
4.1 The Business and Democratic Services Support Manager gave a verbal update to the remaining action.
5.1 The Chief Executive Officer outlined the report and provided an update on the closer working arrangements in place between Torfaen and Blaenau Gwent Councils. 5.2 Torfaen and Blaenau Gwent Council entered an initial discovery phase in June 2024. This had concluded by December 2024 with a decision on whether Members wished to continue with current arrangements being presented to full Council and agreed in January 2025. This agreement had been undertaken in response to the benefits this could provide in the face of national, regional and local financial pressures and their impacts upon services and public trust. Some services were already working closely together which was already responsible for a number of benefits seen due to an increase of scale and influence which was previously a challenge as two small authorities. 5.3 Since January there had been a vast amount of work undertaken to align structures of both authorities whilst ensuring both authorities keep their sovereignty which would be open to scrutiny. There would be further opportunities for development for all staff and Members. 5.4 It was proposed that an annual update on Closer Working Arrangements was brought to Committee. It was noted that there may be further opportunities for joint committees and training, but it was not known what this would look like in respect of Governance and Audit Committee but there was assurance that there would continue to be independence in respect of governance processes. 5.5 Following questions from the Committee, the Chief Executive Officer and Business and Democratic Services Support Manager made the following points: • There were difficulties to be considered with aligning structures, however, this did not mean that there were not any opportunities where these difficulties exist. • The term “Marmot” was named after the author of the marmot report which looked at health inequalities across the UK which concluded that well-being was not solely due to individual choice or biology but is socially determined. This focused on eight main principles which take steps towards tackling inequality, A further document would be provided to the Committee regarding these principles. • The £300,000 referenced was a recurring annual saving. • Leadership would attend Committee to update as often as deemed necessary. • The current projected timeframe for fully aligning the strategic aims of both councils was around 3 to 4 years. • There was a similar report to be taken to Blaenau Gwent’s Governance and Audit Committee in which a training and development session would be suggested. • According to legislation, Scrutiny Committee were able to meet across boundaries and form a joint committee. However, it was not thought that this was the same for Governance and Audit Committees so it was suggested that it may be more beneficial for the committees to come together informally, rather than via a formal joint committee meeting. • The landscape for training was a complicated area. Some training was funded nationally and some locally. It was noted that investment in staff was a priority. 5.6 The following suggestions were made by the Committee: • External Audit reports directly relating to the joint working arrangements between Torfaen and Blaenau Gwent may require a joint response and this would need to be represented in the forward audit plan. • Clarity surrounding the current teams that were closely working together would be useful for Committee knowledge. The Chair welcomed the opportunity for a further update in six months time. The Governance and Audit Committee noted the update provided.
6.1 Charlotte Owen, Audit Wales outlined the report and provided an update on Audit Wales’s work, in particular the work that had been undertaken since the report dated 31st March 2025. 6.2 Charlotte Owen confirmed the following updates: · The final version of thematic review on the Council’s commissioning arrangements had been issued and would likely be presented at the next Committee meeting. · The local project on ledger services would be starting in August/September. · The national study on temporary accommodation would be published in August. 6.3 Following questions from the Committee, The Head of Audit made the following points: • The Global Internal Audit Standards were mandatory and were assessed externally every 5 years. 6.4 Councillor David Williams declared an additional interest due to being interviewed under the Capital Planning and Local Government audit under a different capacity. 6.5 The Governance and Audit Committee noted the update provided.
7.1 The Business and Democratic Support Services Manager outlined the report and provided an update on new recommendations and proposals for improvement received from Audit Wales and other external regulators / inspectorates since the last update report. 7.2 There had been two new reports received since the previous update in March 2025. One local report from Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) regarding Foster Wales Torfaen and one regional report from Audit Wales on urgent and emergency care flow out of hospital. The full outcomes of these reports could be seen within the appendices. 7.3 There had been one recommendation made in respect of the CIW report and four out of fourteen recommendations made by Audit Wales needed a response from the Local Authority. The full recommendations of both reports could be seen within 4.2.2 of the report and the regional response to the Audit Wales report could be seen within appendix 3. These reports had already been received and discussed by leadership and recommendations would continue to be monitored by the appropriate scrutiny committee. 7.4 Following questions from the Committee, the Business and Democratic Support Services Manager made the following points: • The difference between mainstream foster carers and connected person foster carers would be circulated to the Committee. • The exact waiting time for assessments in respect of the regional Audit Wales report would be provided to the Committee. • The outcomes of scrutiny recommendations and whether it was felt these had appropriately been dealt with would be presented to the Governance and Audit Committee in September. 7.5 The Governance and Audit Committee noted the new recommendations / proposals for improvement received and accepted by the Council since the last update report.
8.1 The Group Finance Officer outlined the report and provided an update on the activities of the treasury management function during 2024/25. 8.2 The graph within 4.1.3 was explained to be front heavy due to the volatile nature of financial markets, mainly due to the appointment of US president and his policies. There was work being undertaken to address this. 8.3 The Local Authority continued to perform well against the industry benchmark, earning 5.70% which was higher than the average. There had been no breaches to report. 8.4 Following questions from the Committee, the Group Finance Officer made the following points: • Brokers were responsible for any investments in conjunction with other Local Authorities. These had been sought as a higher level of interest could be earned on the £10m investment balance. The Governance and Audit Committee scrutinised: (i) The Treasury Management borrowing activity for 2024/25 in paragraph 4.1. (ii) The Treasury Management investment activity for 2024/25 in paragraph 4.2. (iii) The review of the Treasury Prudential Indicators in paragraph 4.3. (iv) The Capital Programme in paragraph 4.4
9.1 The Head of Audit outlined the report and provided an update surrounding the effectiveness of the Authority’s Internal Control System based upon the work conducted by the Internal Audit Section during the 2024/25 financial year. 9.2 The opinion could be seen in full in paragraph 4.1 of the report. Overall, internal control effectiveness had improved compared to the previous year. Last year the opinion had slipped to reliable due to a decrease of controls in place around HR systems. The opinion had returned to sound this year but it was noted that there was still room for improvement which was reflected in the recommendations. 9.3 The full recommendations could be seen within the report and the appropriate areas of high priority had been identified and indicated. In summary, it was thought that the system was sound with scope for improvement. 9.4 Following questions from the Committee, the Head of Audit made the following points: • There had only been minor instances of fraud activity which was on par for recent years. 9.5 The Committee noted that this was a reassuring report. 9.6 The Governance and Audit Committee noted the content of the report
10.1 The Head of Audit outlined the report and provided an update on the previous meeting. 10.2 The Draft Audit Plan had been presented within the previous meeting. There had been no significant changes to the report that had been presented and further work was being undertaken. 10.3 The Governance and Audit Committee noted the update provided by the Head of Internal Audit.
11.1 The Chair outlined the report and explained that this would be the second annual report presented to council and asked members of the Committee to suggest any changes they may want to see to the draft prior to a final version being presented to Full Council in July. 11.2 The Head of Audit explained that the format of the report was identical to the year previous and updated in respect of work carried out in 2024/2025 11.3 Following questions from the Committee, the Head of Audit made the following points: · The error regarding the date of the council meeting would be rectified. · If there were any further suggestions to add to the report to let him know as soon as possible. 11.4 The Committee noted that it would be helpful to undertake the CIPFA self-assessment activity again for the current year. It was also suggested that the assessment is expanded to include other elements from the full assessment. 11.5 The Governance and Audit Committee agreed for the report to be presented to full Council on 22nd July 2025.
12.1 The Head of Audit outlined the report and provided an update to three existing strategies, anti-fraud strategy, money laundering policy and local code of corporate governance. 12.2 Audit Wales reviewed the anti-fraud policy and recommended that the strategy that was out of date and needed updated. An updated version was attached to the reports as appendix A. 12.3 The Local Authority were extremely low risk in respect of money laundering but there was a policy in place based on recommended best practice from the Chartered Public Finance Accountancy Institute (CPFA). 12.4 The local code of corporate governance was a framework document produced by Solace in conjunction with the Public Finance Institute. This acted as a benchmark to assess best practice against. This was now up to date. 12.5 The Committee noted it was important to continue to offer low-level cash payments as to not ostracise any residents. It was also suggested that updates to policies were clearly marked out within the appendices, so it could be seen what exact changes had been made. 12.6 The Governance and Audit Committee agreed to approve the revised and updated: - Anti-fraud strategy; -Money laundering policy; and -The local code of corporate governance .
13.1 The Head of Audit read through the report. This had been added as information for the Committee. 13.2 The Head of Financial Services noted that there may be delegation of final approval of the Statement of Accounts to the Governance and Audit Committee pending approval from Council. More information would be presented to the Committee in due course. 13.3 Members of the Committee felt that Council should still have sight of the Statement of Accounts, but it was also suggested this could be as information. 13.5 The Head of Audit confirmed there would be more information provided to the Committee on the Global Internal Audit Standards prior to December Committee. 13.6 The Governance and Audit Committee noted the work programme.
14.1 The next meeting is scheduled to take place on 25.09.25
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