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RESOLVED:- That the Governance and Audit Committee Terms of Reference be noted and reviewed at a future GAC meeting.
RESOLVED:- That the Work Programme be approved.
RESOLVED: - The Governance and Audit Committee has noted the Council’s draft Statement of Accounts for the financial year 2022/23.
RESOLVED: (i) That the Governance and Audit Committee noted the report, accepted the level of assurance and evidence provided and considered any messages that needed to be communicated across the Council. (ii) That the Governance and Audit Committee noted that the latest assessment of the risk of fraud was significant with a potentially moderate impact. On that basis the Governance and Audit Committee will monitor this element. (iii) That it was advised that Officers remained vigilant regarding any fraud related issues.
RESOLVED: - That the Governance and Audit Committee noted the Audit Wales Annual Audit Summary for 2022.
An apology for absence was submitted on behalf of Councillor Jon Jolley.
Matters Arising Item 5- Terms of Reference – A date to review the Terms of Reference will be confirmed in the near future. Item 7 – Audit Wales Decarbonisation Progress update – A Members training session will be scheduled for October 2023. Item 8 – Summary of External Regulation and Inspection – The Chief Officer for Finance and ICT confirmed that the Chief Officer for Social Care was unable to attend the recent Call over meeting but will obtain an update from him regarding the Social Care aspect and will report back to the Committee. Other - Lay Member Training Update The Chief Officer Finance & ICT explained that: a) Due to the cost implications, Lay Members would have to submit a request detailing their justification to attend relevant corporate training. b) On receipt of the relevant training list, collectively it can be decided what training was available to Lay Members and what was required. A skills matrix will be distributed to the Committee for completion. Item 9 – Audit Wales Quarter 4 Work Progress Update – The details regarding European Union (EU) funding will be circulated to Members. Item 11 – Annual Governance Statement – · An email will be submitted to the Leader of the Council regarding issues relating to Members behaviour. · A Member updated the Committee that there had been commissioning work through the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) to work with Group leaders to raise the standards of behaviour in the Council. · Wrexham Council has received support from external organisations, including Wales Audit regarding Members behaviour. · Members thanked the Leader of the Council for the assurances he provided during the meeting. RESOLVED:- (i) That the Minutes of the Meeting held on 25 May 2023 be signed as at 25 May 2023. (ii) That the Chief Officer Finance and ICT will provide the Committee feedback regarding the Social Care aspect (iii) That the Chair submits an email to the Leader of the Council regarding issues relating to Members behaviour.
Members were reminded of their responsibility, under Paragraph 11 of the Members’ Code of Conduct, to declare the existence and nature of any personal interest in respect of any of the business to be transacted at this meeting. The following declarations were made:- Agenda Item 6 – Statement of Accounts 2022/23 Independent Lay Person Trevor Coxon–Personal and not Prejudicial – The Lay Member was in receipt of an occupational pension and was a co-opted Member. Independent Lay Person Jerry O’Keeffe –Personal and not Prejudicial – The Lay Member was a co-opted Member. Independent Lay Person David Stewart - Personal and not Prejudicial – The Lay Member was in receipt of an occupational pension, a co-opted Member and was also a Member of the Governance and Audit Committee in Denbighshire County Council. The Independent Lay Members remained in the meeting taking part in the discussion and voting thereon.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED:- That the Governance and Audit Committee Terms of Reference be noted and reviewed at a future GAC meeting.
RESOLVED:- That the Governance and Audit Committee Terms of Reference be noted and reviewed at a future GAC meeting.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED:- That the Work Programme be approved.
It was confirmed that dates will be set: a) To review the Terms of Reference. b) The training sessions regarding the function of Scrutiny and the Risk and control registers. RESOLVED:- That the Work Programme be approved.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED: - The Governance and Audit Committee has noted the Council’s draft Statement of Accounts for the financial year 2022/23.
Member’s declarations of interest in relation to this item are set out in Minute reference 17. The Chief Officer for Finance and ICT submitted a report (COFI/16/23) that detailed the Council’s Draft Statement of Accounts to the Governance and Audit Committee. The Head of Service Accountancy introduced the report and highlighted the main points within it. A discussion pursued and the following issues were noted, in particular: · A Member enquired about the £23.899m deficit annotated within the Councils Financial Position as at 31st March 2023, and sought assurance regarding the accuracy of the deficit figure. · The Chief Officer for Finance and ICT Officer explained to Members that there had been significant budget pressures across Social Care and the Environment & Technical department during the first quarter of 2023/24, and provided an explanation on how they occurred. · Members were assured that that there was a plan in place to recover the budget deficit position in-year. · A Member commended officers for reporting the budget deficit efficiently. · Officers explained that the exit packages mainly related to the restructuring of a service and that a business case from that department would have had to have been submitted to demonstrate that the amounts paid out would be paid back in by the savings made from that post over a period of time. · It was highlighted that the total amount of rent arrears as at 31 March 2023 was £3075K and the corresponding figure for 31 March 2022 was £2504K. · The Head of Service Accountancy assured Members that Financial Inclusion Officers and the HRA work with tenants to reduce their arrears, and that a provision would be made for the bad debt during the year. · The 2022/23 statutory deadlines provided by Welsh Government (WG) had been extended. Members of the Public will be able to inspect the Accounts following those deadline dates. · The Head of Service Accountancy explained: a) The calculation for the valuation of HRA dwellings. b) That the majority of the income received during 2021/22 related to the hardship funding and that offset expenditure against the Economy and Planning budget. c) There was extra funding to cover the costs relating to test trace and protect. d) The 13,383k costs that related to works and services commissioned from companies where a member had declared and interest was correct, and it was also confirmed that proper consideration of declarations of interest received from Members had been taken into account. e) That the officers remuneration banding would have increased due to relevant scaling and it also took into consideration the rise in inflation. · A Member enquired if officers were comfortable with the current budget monitoring and forecasting that was in place. · The Chief Officer for Finance and ICT assured Members that: a) The budgetary issues were being dealt with, b) That lessons had been learnt from the financial control regarding budget forecasting and monitoring within Social Care and the Environment and Technical Department. · Elected Members will be receiving budgetary interim reports and were assured that they will be expecting an interim budget monitoring report during the first week of September 2023. · There has been a national discussion about implementing a simplified version of the Financial Statement of Accounts. The Head of Service for Accountancy will update Members regarding any version updates. · A Member enquired about the reported Corporate and Central Services underspend and if any of those savings would be transferred over to cover the over spends that have occurred to deliver the front line services. · It was explained that the majority of £44,868k of capital borrowing related to the HRA programme (£41.1m) and that the amount would reduce over time. · The short term borrowing of £122,165k was used to manage cash flow. · The significant reduction in the income figures compared to the previous year was due to the Council receiving less hardship funding and grants from Welsh Government and other grant bodies. · The Transfers to and from earmarked reserves in respect of the Local Development Plan had reduced to £33k. This is due to the fees associated with the Local Development Plan. · Members will be provided with figures relating to the cost of energy. · The Head of Service for Accountancy will report back on the estimated cost for the valuation of heritage assets · A Member requested up to date budgetary information regarding Ty Pawb and also requested information on how much the schools paid to agencies, and how much of those payments went to the teacher and the teaching assistants direct. RESOLVED: - The Governance and Audit Committee has noted the Council’s draft Statement of Accounts for the financial year 2022/23.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED: (i) That the Governance and Audit Committee noted the report, accepted the level of assurance and evidence provided and considered any messages that needed to be communicated across the Council. (ii) That the Governance and Audit Committee noted that the latest assessment of the risk of fraud was significant with a potentially moderate impact. On that basis the Governance and Audit Committee will monitor this element. (iii) That it was advised that Officers remained vigilant regarding any fraud related issues.
The Chief Officer Finance and ICT submitted a report (COFI/18/23) asking Members to consider the Counter Fraud Annual Report 2022-23. The Head of Service Audit & Technical introduced the report and highlighted the main points within it. Members considered the report and discussed the following: · The report highlighted that there was a significant reduction in the fraud figures for 2022/23 and a Member enquired if there had been a correlation with the universal credit being driven forward. · Officers confirmed that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) dealt with frauds associated to universal credit. · Members highlighted that dealing with cybercrime was an important way to go forward. · Wrexham Internal audit participates in the North & Mid Wales Counter Fraud Group, which meets quarterly and it promoted good practice in relation to Counter Fraud. · The only Welsh authority that had their own dedicated Counter fraud staff was Cardiff. · The Head of Service for Audit and Technical explained the two methods on how the Council championed the Counter Fraud Policy. · A Member enquired if there was a separate risk register detailing the different fraud risks associated to benefits and council tax grants. · Officers confirmed that the fraud risks were held accountable within each operational area and that there was no separate fraud risk register. · Members were assured that when Internal Audit were notified about the frauds then they would pass on detail and good guidance onto the relevant departments to action, and that there was a hub of fraud intelligence sharing. · It was confirmed that only very few Councils were members of the Better Governance Forum. · The Council did not currently employ any specialist Counter Fraud staff and that that the pooling of resources would be discussed with the regional groups. · It was highlighted that there were other public bodies such as Betsi Cadwaladar University who had counter fraud teams and Wrexham Council would consider to use them if required. · That risk registers are reviewed on a quarterly basis and that cyber fraud needed to be incorporated more into the risk register because it was considered to be one of the highest risk areas. · Cyber fraud had its own entry in the risk register and the corporate risk register as well. · Members will be provided with a table that detailed the updated Counter Fraud - Alleged Fraud Summary that will include 2018 figures. · It was confirmed that there had been 145 notifications of alleged fraud received through the ‘Stamp Out Fraud’ email address for 2022-23 and that 3 of the allegations related to internal fraud. · All of the alleged notifications of fraud would be examined and referred to the appropriate Council service to deal with. However, should the fraud become more serious or highlighted as a potential fraud then Internal Audit would become more involved and would consider to involve specialists to assist them with their fraud investigation. · It was confirmed that the majority of the fraud notifications related to tenancy fraud. · Members raised concern that the frauds needed to be investigated independently. · The Chief Officer for Finance and ICT clarified that the tenancy frauds were transactional and that it was more appropriate for the relevant service to investigate them. However, if a notification came through that was serious via whistle blowing or through management then a different approach would be undertaken and would be investigated independently. · Members advised that in order to protect the good name of the Council then there should be someone skilled in Counter fraud and that there was an independent person who would deal with it. · It was confirmed that the three internal frauds had been dealt with internal audit and the remainder fraud notifications were transactional. · It was explained that a lot of the fraud allegations were anonymous and that Internal Audit were unable to provide feedback on those. · An Internal Audit Work shop will be provided for Elected Members in the near future. · The Chief Officer for Finance and ICT confirmed that Benefit Fraud included the single person discounts and that Wrexham Council were carrying out their own piece of work with a supplementary review of council tax discounts. · It was confirmed that Wrexham Council were not privy to the outcome of the DWP investigations. · Members would like Wrexham Council to make a representation to the DWP requesting details regarding the outcome of the investigations and once received the feedback to be reported to the Committee. RESOLVED: (i) That the Governance and Audit Committee noted the report, accepted the level of assurance and evidence provided and considered any messages that needed to be communicated across the Council. (ii) That the Governance and Audit Committee noted that the latest assessment of the risk of fraud was significant with a potentially moderate impact. On that basis the Governance and Audit Committee will monitor this element. (iii) That it was advised that Officers remained vigilant regarding any fraud related issues.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED: - That the Governance and Audit Committee noted the Audit Wales Annual Audit Summary for 2022.
The Engagement Director and Audit Director updated Members on the Audit Wales Annual Audit Summary and highlighted the main points within it. The following was discussed:- · A Member enquired about the time frame for the report regarding Performance reporting. · It was explained that the production of the Annual Audit Summary was statutory and that Audit Wales were required to send out a letter to Local Government Councils defining it. · The exact figures to carry out the work of producing an Annual Audit Summary was not detailed in the report but a background summary was given. RESOLVED: - That the Governance and Audit Committee noted the Audit Wales Annual Audit Summary for 2022.
The following was discussed:- · A Member enquired if they could have early sight of the Chairs Annual Governance report. · The Final Statement of Accounts Report will be discussed at the February 2024 meeting. · A training date for the Financial Statement of Accounts will also be arranged in the near future.
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