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RESOLVED:- That the Governance and Audit Committee Terms of Reference be noted.
RESOLVED: - (i) That the Governance and Audit Committee will provide feedback to the authority that further actions to address the elected Member culture within the council needed to be taken and referenced within the Annual Governance Statements and Annual Government Actions. (ii) That the Chair will write to the Chair of the Democratic Committee to seek assurance that Members have completed their statutory training. (iii) That the Leader of the council and the Chief Executive will attend a future meeting where they will provide a statement of an update of the governance issues that has been raised at this meeting.
RESOLVED:- That the Work Programme be approved.
RESOLVED: - That the Committee considered the information included within this report to determine that this Councils complaint management was compliant with all requirements and was effective in addressing customer concerns.
RESOLVED: - The Committee considered the report and attained satisfactory assurance and explanations regarding any area that was a concern.
RESOLVED:- That the Governance and Audit Committee recommended that the Chair of the Governance and Audit Committee’s Annual Report 2022/23 to be reported to Full Council.
RESOLVED: - That the Governance & Audit Committee considered the council’s response to reports received (Appendix A) and assurance in relation to the implementation of actions to address recommendations or proposals for improvement due for implementation during this reporting period (Appendix B).
RESOLVED: - That the Governance & Audit Committee noted the contents of the attached risk and control register extracts and considered any matters that required further investigation.
Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Independent Lay Member Trevor Coxon and Councillors Jon Jolley, Paul Rogers and Jerry Wellens.
(Member’s declarations of interest in relation to this item are set out in Minute 27 below). RESOLVED: - That the Minutes of the meeting held on 27 July 2023 be signed as a correct record.
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RESOLVED:- That the Governance and Audit Committee Terms of Reference be noted.
RESOLVED:- That the Governance and Audit Committee Terms of Reference be noted.
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 7 – Complaint Management and as an Item within the Minutes Independent Lay Person David Stewart - Personal and not Prejudicial – The Lay Member was in receipt of an occupational pension, and was also the Chair of the Governance and Audit Committee in Denbighshire County Council. The Independent Lay Person remained in the meeting taking part in the discussion and voting thereon. Agenda Item 11 – Risk and Control Registers Independent Lay Person David Stewart and Councillors William Baldwin, Trevor Bates, Becca Martin, Paul Roberts – personal and not prejudicial – have contributed to the Clwyd Pension Fund. The Independent Lay Person and Councillors remained in the meeting taking part in the discussion and voting thereon.
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RESOLVED: - (i) That the Governance and Audit Committee will provide feedback to the authority that further actions to address the elected Member culture within the council needed to be taken and referenced within the Annual Governance Statements and Annual Government Actions. (ii) That the Chair will write to the Chair of the Democratic Committee to seek assurance that Members have completed their statutory training. (iii) That the Leader of the council and the Chief Executive will attend a future meeting where they will provide a statement of an update of the governance issues that has been raised at this meeting.
The Chair gave a verbal broad summary statement and chronology to Members that focused on the culture and value issues that had been raised at the May 2023 Governance and Audit Committee (GAC) meeting. The Chair then thanked the Leader and the Chief Executive for attending the Committee meeting and respectively asked: · The Chief Executive to outline how the structures worked and in particular, the role of the key governance officers and their relationship with the elected administration. · The Leader to respond to the concerns of the Committee and to describe what assurances could be given to the Committee to ensure compliance with the Code of Governance particularly in response to actions annotated in the Annual Governance Statement (AGS). The Chief Executive thanked the Chair and the GAC for inviting him to the meeting and highlighted the following points: · Maintain the right balance between professional and political considerations was one key element of achieving good governance. · Welcomed the wider role for the GAC and look forwarded to further discussions and debate about good governance as part of the Committee’s remit. · Provided a background to his detailed professional experience that covered the overseeing of governance aspects relating to Wrexham Council. · Emphasised that governance was improved by open transparent debate by listening to other people’s perceptions and triangulating views. The Chief Executive then outlined how the governance structures worked in particular: · The role of the key governance officers and their relationship with the elected administration; · What good governance meant for Councils; · How the statutory roles were linked to the Council’s governance element; · Responded specifically to the question regarding the Council’s effective Governance Framework; · Explained how officers and the professional aspect linked into the elected administration but also the full elected Council as a whole. · Made reference to Audit Wales’s Good Governance Standard for Public Service which covered six areas: a) A clear purpose and desired outcomes for the Council; b) Well defined functions and responsibilities; c) Appropriate corporate culture; d) Transparent decision making; e) A strong governance team; and f) Accountability to stakeholders. · Specifically responded to the questions relating to the administration, the full elected Council and gave Members an overview of two relevant examples; which was the Local Development Plan and the recent election of the Mayor. The Chief Executive looked forward to further discussions with GAC focusing on key governance and effective governance, working with the statutory officers. A detailed discussion pursued and a Member thanked the Chief Executive for acknowledging the remit of the GAC Committee during his verbal presentation. The Wrexham Council Leader addressed the Committee and informed them that he would explain to them about political discussion which included the right of debate and the right of challenge within Wrexham Council’s Chamber. The following was highlighted: · Fifty six elected Members were able to conduct healthy debates within the Council Chamber. · A debate should not be personal and should this be the case then there were processes in place where the issue could be reported to the Ombudsman and the Standards Committee. · Wrexham Council was in a good place with democracy. · Democracy and debate will remain in Wrexham Council and would be carried out in an appropriate manner that followed the Nolan principles. · Explained that a debate should not be closed down and that everyone had the opportunity to express their concerns, challenge and had the right to freedom of speech. · Made reference to the Military and the standards that they represented and explained that they had paid the price for democracy, by dealing with conflicts across the world and the different types of dictatorship and debates. · Understood that the GAC had been given new governance powers and identified that there was a difference between what they did compared to the Standards Committee. · Wrexham Council was the first Local Authority in Wales to implement webcasting which gave transparency where everyone was given the opportunity to view Committee meetings at Wrexham Council. · Officers were respected and made reference to democracy and the recent democratic and law issues regarding the Local Development Plan. · The right to debate was a democratic process and the country was built on democracy which should be continued. The Chair highlighted the main points regarding both presentations by making specific reference to the Article 10 of the Human Rights Act, the assailant issues, the areas of interest as a GAC, the constitutional requirements imposed on the GAC Committee and factors around Leadership. It was requested that should it become evident that there was a significant governance risk such as, the emergence of the authority or damage measure being imposed on other Members that the Wrexham Council Leader could step in and perhaps in partnership with the Chief Executive and the Monitoring Officer that some action could be implemented to take the heat out of discussion. Members asked a number of questions which were responded to accordingly, and the following points were highlighted during the detailed debate:- · Members thanked the Wrexham Council Leader and the Chief Executive for what they had highlighted during the meeting. · Members were assured about the attitudes and what had been explained to them and highlighted that they would have been concerned that if there was no debate and passion in the democratic process happening. The GAC supported the effectiveness of those democratic processes. · There was a risk that the Committee was basing their questioning on elements that had been picked up in the media. · The Chief Executive explained why culture and values was the first significant issue highlighted within the Annual Governance Statement Action Plan for 2022/23. · A Member highlighted that there was an element of governance in respect to the Ombudsman and the Standards Committee and that governance needed to be expanded to the group leader of the relevant party or if non-aligned then to the individual themselves. · It was the responsibility of the fifty six Councillors to act appropriately. · Members were assured that the Nolan Principals had been covered and clarified by the Chief Executive and the Leader for Wrexham Council. · A Member sought assurance from the Leader regarding the governance questions outlined in A10 of the Code of Governance – ‘Creating the conditions to ensure that the statutory officers, other key post holders and members are able to fulfil their responsibilities in accordance with legislative and regulatory requirements’. · The Monitoring Officer explained that her role was to guide and provide advice to all Wrexham Council Members including advice regarding Public Services Ombudsman self-referral. · A Member enquired if the Chief Executive was concerned regarding elected Member behaviour that had been in public view on a number of occasions and what internal and external support had he sought to proactively improve Member behaviour. · A member sought assurance from the Leader regarding A10 of the Code of Governance – ‘Creating the conditions to ensure that the statutory officers, other key post holders and members are able to fulfil their responsibilities in accordance with legislative and regulatory requirements’ · It was highlighted that the GAC Work Programme receives a regular report on the council’s compliance with the Local Code of Governance, and that this report includes an update on progress with the actions to address the significant governance issues identified in the AGS. This is in accordance with the GAC Terms of Reference. · The Chief Officer for Governance and Customer confirmed that Members had to complete training for the Licencing and Planning Committees and that all Member training was monitored by the Democratic Committee. · The Chair will write to the Chair of the Democratic Committee to seek assurance that Members have completed their statutory training. · The AGS will be published in the council’s statement of accounts when these are approved. · The Leader of the council and the Chief Executive will attend a future meeting where they will provide a statement of an update of the governance issues that has been raised at this meeting RESOLVED: - (i) That the Governance and Audit Committee will provide feedback to the authority that further actions to address the elected Member culture within the council needed to be taken and referenced within the Annual Governance Statements and Annual Government Actions. (ii) That the Chair will write to the Chair of the Democratic Committee to seek assurance that Members have completed their statutory training. (iii) That the Leader of the council and the Chief Executive will attend a future meeting where they will provide a statement of an update of the governance issues that has been raised at this meeting.
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RESOLVED:- That the Work Programme be approved.
A Member highlighted that the scheduled Work Programme for February 2024 was heavy. The Chief Officer for Finance and ICT confirmed that the Certification of the Financial Accounts was due to be reported in February 2024 but had yet to be confirmed with the Audit Wales colleagues and advised that this item could be moved. RESOLVED:- That the Work Programme be approved.
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RESOLVED: - That the Committee considered the information included within this report to determine that this Councils complaint management was compliant with all requirements and was effective in addressing customer concerns.
(Member’s declarations of interest in relation to this item are set out in Minute 27 above). The Chief Officer for Governance and Customer submitted a report (COGC/76/23) asking Members to provide details of:- a) The number and types of complaints and compliments across the Council (both Corporate and Statutory Complaints). b) To highlight the lessons learned and actions taken to address complaints across the Departments. The Complaints & Welsh Language Compliance Lead introduced the report and highlighted the main points within it. The following was discussed:- · A Member acknowledged that the Ombudsman received 65 complaints against Wrexham Council, a decrease from 71 received in 2021/22. Whilst there had been a slight increase in the intervention level, Wrexham Council continued to perform better than the national average. · A Member enquired about the Ombudsman’s involvement regarding the three Early Voluntary settlements. · It was explained the Good Will payment amounts were based on the Ombudsman’s recommendations and they were not payment amounts suggested by the Council. · It was confirmed that as part of the Council’s internal complaints process the Council would investigate the redress element where an individual would have suffered financially. · The Ombudsman would consider the amount of time and trouble a complainant would have incurred and recommended good will payments from £100 to £200 depending on the nature of the complaint. · Good will payments were based on a standard Ombudsman model and it was applied across Wales. · The Chief Officer Finance and ICT confirmed that there was no specific reserve account allocated for good will complaint payments. The financial consequences were relatively small in the scheme of things. · A Member noted that when the Committee received a summary report during the previous report that the information requested by the Committee at that time was documented within this report. · A Member enquired if there were lessons to be applied elsewhere as a result of complaints raised with the Ombudsman and if those lessons were passed on to the relevant departments so as to prevent the complaints happening again. · Members were assured that the recommendations made by the Ombudsman were inspected by the relevant Chief Officer who would work with the Complaints team in terms of an action plan that involved the responsible officers. · Departmental complaints will be dealt with holistically through the relevant performance management procedures. · The recommendations or lessons learnt from complaints would be addressed by the relevant management teams within that department so as to ensure that not just the individual action was addressed but any systemic issues could be implemented was implemented. · A Member made reference to the letter from the Ombudsman where it highlighted that the Complaints Standards Authority (CSA) was continuing to work with Public Bodies in Wales and that more than 50 public bodies were operating their model Complaints Policy. · Members were assured that Wrexham Council was one of the first Councils to implement the Ombudsman’s model Complaints Policy in 2012 and at that point it was an advisory Policy. · In 2021 Wrexham Council received a letter from the Ombudsman confirming that Wrexham Councils internal Complaints Policy was based on the Ombudsman’s model Policy. · The Chair made reference to point 4.8 of the report where the Ombudsman had commented that she had no concerns regarding Wrexham Council’s complaint management. RESOLVED: - That the Committee considered the information included within this report to determine that this Councils complaint management was compliant with all requirements and was effective in addressing customer concerns.
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RESOLVED: - The Committee considered the report and attained satisfactory assurance and explanations regarding any area that was a concern.
The Chief Officer for Finance and ICT submitted a report (COFI/20/23) asking Councillors to consider the Head of Service Audit and Technical’s Interim Report for April to August 2023. The Head of Service Audit and Technical introduced the report and highlighted the main points within it. The following was discussed: Housing Contract Management – Red Level of Assurance · The Chief Officer Housing acknowledged the weakness in the areas highlighted in the Housing Contract Management Audit and assured Members that an action plan had been prepared to address them. · The Head of Service for Property and Housing, explained to Members that: a) There had been a changeover of staff mainly due to retirement and assured Members that the remaining and newly appointed officers were academically qualified. b) Contract management training has been provided to the relevant housing staff. c) A Proactis system has been procured which would deal with all the Housing Departments contracts. d) Members were assured that the Housing Department was working closely with the procurement team so that when there was a new contract that all records associated to it would be recorded via the Procactis system. e) Key documents have been loaded onto the Proactis system for audit trail and consistency purposes. · It was confirmed that the Housing Contract audit was planned and it was explained that it was part of the housing expenditure review from the previous year where the contract management element formed part of the expenditure review. · Members were assured that the red assurance was picked up due to weaknesses derived from one of the bigger contracts and that some minor issues had to be addressed due to the result from that. · It was confirmed that the operational management of contracts was the responsibility of the relevant department and that the procurement team would help set up the contracts, and they would also assist with the monitoring of the KPI’s. In all instances the procurement team would work with the departments as a unit. · There had been a lot of staff turnover, change and learning within the whole procurement cycle as well as the requirements. · There were regulations that would allow contract extensions and it was explained that a robust business case would be required each time. · A Member enquired if a full review of the full contract management processes been made of the department and if there had been any lessons been learnt from it. · The Chief Officer for Housing took full responsibility for the contract management in her department and gave assurance that retraining will be provided to all relevant staff in this area. · Despite the projected budgetary constraints, the Housing Department will have the necessary staff and expertise to make sure that when a Housing Officers report is submitted to the GAC next time, then there will be an improvement. · The audit within the 2023/24 internal audit plan covers the whole contract management compliance element. · The target date for recommended actions was ongoing and in terms of the training that would be concluded by the set agreed implementation date. · The Head of Service for Internal Audit and Technical managed the procurement team and Members were assured that the procurement element of the review had been signed off independently by an independent Member of the Internal Audit Team. · It was confirmed that the scope for the planned payroll review outlined in the audit plan had been changed and that it was part of a rolling programme. · It was explained that the service continuity audit will be carried out later on in the financial year and the scope was to look at fairly significant pieces of work around revisions to continuity plans from emergency plans which will involve regional work. Highways Maintenance – Amber Level of Assurance · It was confirmed that the scope of the Highways Maintenance review did not cover the appointment of the Clerk of Works for Highways. · The Head of Service Operations addressed the GAC and confirmed that he agreed with the highways maintenance audit recommendations. · Members were assured that although there were budgetary constraints, assurance could be given regarding the implementation of the audit recommendations that were scheduled to be completed in November 2023. · Members were informed that a new package had been procured that allowed the Highways Department to record completed tickets that allowed for a photograph that would submit a date stamp and global positioning system (GPS) log. · Training on the new highways package will be provided to the relevant inspectors and staff with the aim to complete the training by the end of October 2023. RESOLVED: - The Committee considered the report and attained satisfactory assurance and explanations regarding any area that was a concern.
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RESOLVED:- That the Governance and Audit Committee recommended that the Chair of the Governance and Audit Committee’s Annual Report 2022/23 to be reported to Full Council.
The Chief Officer Finance & ICT submitted a report (COFI/19/23) asking Members to consider the Chair of the Governance and Audit Committee’s Annual Report. Members were reminded that the Chair had circulated the Governance and Audit Committee’s Annual Report to Members for comments previously. RESOLVED:- That the Governance and Audit Committee recommended that the Chair of the Governance and Audit Committee’s Annual Report 2022/23 to be reported to Full Council.
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RESOLVED: - That the Governance & Audit Committee considered the council’s response to reports received (Appendix A) and assurance in relation to the implementation of actions to address recommendations or proposals for improvement due for implementation during this reporting period (Appendix B).
The Chief Executive submitted a report (CE/25/23) informing Members of an account of external regulation and inspection received since the last summary report (May 25th 2023) that would enable the Governance & Audit Committee (GAC) to fulfil its Terms of Reference so that it can ensure that the council had provided an effective response to any relevant recommendations received from external regulators and inspectors. The Head of Service: Performance, Improvement, Partnerships and Scrutiny introduced the report and highlighted the main points within it. The following was discussed: · It was confirmed that an adequate response had been received from relevant officers regarding the movements of the implementation dates outlined in Appendix B. · Officers were aware that a monitoring system was in place regarding External Regulation and Inspection actions and implementation dates. RESOLVED: - That the Governance & Audit Committee considered the council’s response to reports received (Appendix A) and assurance in relation to the implementation of actions to address recommendations or proposals for improvement due for implementation during this reporting period (Appendix B).
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RESOLVED: - That the Governance & Audit Committee noted the contents of the attached risk and control register extracts and considered any matters that required further investigation.
(Member’s declarations of interest in relation to this item are set out in Minute 27 above). The Chief Executive submitted a report (CE/20/23) that highlighted the Council’s work in managing its Risk and Control Registers and how the Council’s risks were being managed. The Head of Service: Performance, Improvement, Partnerships and Scrutiny introduced the report and highlighted the main points within it. The following was discussed: · It was explained that it was quite difficult to differentiate between what was a sub register that related to a work stream and a sub register that related to a project. · Project risks were not listed in the sub register because they were included in project management arrangements. · The change of scores outlined on page 145 of the report and shown in Appendix D had been reviewed to be displayed and explained better. · A risk, performance, and project management system has been procured and officers and implementation was underway. These issues will be managed via this new system. · It was agreed that members of the GAC should be focussed on assurance of the management of risk rather than the management of specific risks. · Officers confirmed that they take part in the Welsh Local Government Associations Risk Management network. · The reports clearly demonstrates the links of between departmental risks and corporate risks. · The owners of the risks were required to keep their risks under review for further mitigation. If there was no mitigation then the owners of the risk would be expected to note why no further mitigations were added to their risks. · The Head of Service Performance, Improvement, Partnerships and Scrutiny will provide an update regarding the review of policies and procedures associated to Social Care risks outlined in Section 5 of the risk register report and will update the mitigation element regarding the Governance and Customer gc008 risk. · It was confirmed that cyber security was annotated in the risk register and it covered the risks associated to supply chains. RESOLVED: - That the Governance & Audit Committee noted the contents of the attached risk and control register extracts and considered any matters that required further investigation.
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