Loading
The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
RESOLVED that subject to the above, the minutes of the meeting held on the 11 Junel 2025 be received and approved as a true and correct record of the proceedings.
RESOLVED that Members note the verbal feedback.
RESOLVED that the committee note the position as presented of the draft Statement of Accounts for 2023/24 and asked that the points discussed were appropriate taking account of in the Statement of Accounts for following years and also were necessary taken for account by Audit Wales.
RESOLVED that; 1. The Governance and Audit committee note the performance of the TM function during 2024/25 and its compliance with the required Prudential Indicators as reported in the Annual TM Report 2024/25 2. That members note the TM update report for performance to date in 2025/26. 3. The Committee confirms that it has read, understood, and considered the Well-being Impact Assessment.
RESOLVED that subject to the suggested amendments stated above, Members of the Governance and Audit Committee approve the draft Annual Governance and Audit Committee report.
RESOLVED: that subject to the above and further consideration of some of the areas raised, the Governance and Audit Committee Forward Work Programme be noted.
Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Carol Holliday.
The Chair, Lay Member David Stewart declared a personal interest in relation to agenda item 6 as he was a recipient of a Clwyd Pension Fund Pension. He also raised a personal interest as he had been a member of Governance and Audit Committee for Wrexham County Borough Council at the time referred to in the papers. Councillor Bobby Feeley declared a personal interest in relation to agenda item 6 as he was a recipient of a Clwyd Pension Fund Pension. Lay Member, Nigel Rudd declared a personal interest as he was a member of the Conwy County Borough Council Governance and Audit Committee. Councillor Ellie Chard declared a personal interest in relation to agenda item 6 as he was a recipient of a Clwyd Pension Fund Pension.
None.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED that subject to the above, the minutes of the meeting held on the 11 Junel 2025 be received and approved as a true and correct record of the proceedings.
The minutes of the Governance and Audit Committee held on 11 June 2025 were submitted. Matters of accuracy – Page 7 – Minutes – The Chair stressed the funds being transferred from Westminster to Cardiff was to cover the additional employers National Insurance contribution. Page 13 - Annual Governance Statement 2024-2025 – The sentence ‘They had numerous reports where officers had been brought into the Governance and Audit sub-committee for the Corporate Joint Committee’ did not read well. The Monitoring Officer confirmed the sentence was in essence Gwynedd Council were working to establish the Governance and Audit sub committee. They had received nominations from all authorities. They were working on the governance arrangements and would arrange an induction section. Matters arising- Page 6 – Urgent Matters – The Chair confirmed that Councillor Chris Evans had contacted him with regards to the Llannerch Bridge. The Monitoring Officer confirmed Democratic Services had responded to Councillor Evan’s on the matters he raised with the Chair and requests made in relation to a Scrutiny request. Members heard the Chief Internal Auditor would contact Councillor Evans with further information in regards to the planned audit work. Page 7 – Minutes- The Chair asked for an update on the recruitment to the two vacant posts on the Governance and Audit Committee. The Monitoring Officer confirmed Democratic Services had contacted the Political Party Leader of the vacant seat to fill the position. The Lay Member vacancy would be advertised 23 July 2025. The position and specification had been translated put together. The advert would be published to Denbighshire County Council Website, social media sites, neighbouring authorities and direct to third party groups including Voluntary service council. The advert would run into September with interviews due to take place in October. Page 11 - Council Performance Self-Assessment 2024 To 2025 – it was stressed that the committee had not previously received an update on the Panel Performance Assessment action plan in the autumn. A performance report was presented to Members in the Spring. The forward work programme for the November meeting included a standalone report titled Panel Performance update report. The Monitoring Officer stated officers confirmed there was no legal need for an update on the Panel Performance Assessment action plan to be presented to Governance and Audit Committee in the Autumn. An update report was tabled for Cabinet and Performance Scrutiny in November. Officers stated they would circulate a link to the update report for members information. Page 13 - Annual Governance Statement 2024-2025 – The Chair confirmed a report on Capital Setting would be added to the forward work programme for September 2025. Page 14 – Annual Governance Statement 2024-2025 – The Chair confirmed he had emailed some suggestions on how the report was produced and reiterated his offer to assist or support officers when producing the papers. RESOLVED that subject to the above, the minutes of the meeting held on the 11 Junel 2025 be received and approved as a true and correct record of the proceedings.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED that Members note the verbal feedback.
The Chair provided a verbal report. He stated in line with Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) recommended good practice for Local authorities audit committees, at the committees self-assessment session held on the 23 May 2025 it was agree that Members should annually have a 1:1 alone meeting with both internal auditors and external auditors. The reports received by Governance and Audit committee from Internal Audit and Audit Wales where different to other reports the committee receive, as they provided members with an opinion. It was fundamentally important that those opinions can be given and discussed freely without any hindrances. The Chair stressed there was no suspicion or question of any such hindrances but highlighted the guidance recommended that such meetings were a safe place for discussions and questions. The meeting also allowed for Members to raise questions on subject areas which they might feel were not appropriate to ask during a Governance and Audit committee meeting. A meeting took place on the 2ndJuly 2025 of which 6 Members of the Governance and Audit committee were in attendance. The first part of the meeting took place with Audit Wales representatives present, and the second half with the Chief Internal Auditor. During the meeting Audit Wales workload, Audit Wales role along with the differences of that role and Internal Audit was discussed. Audit Wales were asked for any views on Internal Audit capacity issues, members received assurance that it was not in Audit Wales role to comment on specific resources they would comment on any impacts of Internal Audit capacity. It was agreed for a member training session on role and functions of Audit Wales would be beneficial. Assurance was sought from Audit Wales on the effectiveness of the authorities’ new finance system. Also, the Chief Internal Auditor sought assurance that regarding Senior Management support regarding any adverse reports. Discussions around the governance culture in Denbighshire County Council. Overall it was felt the culture was felt to be healthy but would need to be safeguard this. Further discussion around the Internal Audit capacity and resources, value of Internal Audit and the need to ensure enough planned audit work was carried out to ensure a satisfactory annual opinion. Discussions also took place on some of the projects that had no gone to plan and any common route causes that may need addressing. It was agreed that following the report on the Internal Audit exercise and project management a dedicated member workshop would be beneficial to identify any possible improvement that may be necessary. It was agreed the meeting was valuable and would be repeated annually in June or July following receipt of the Annual Internal Audit report, Annual Governance Statement and Corporate Performance Self-Assessment. RESOLVED that Members note the verbal feedback.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED that the committee note the position as presented of the draft Statement of Accounts for 2023/24 and asked that the points discussed were appropriate taking account of in the Statement of Accounts for following years and also were necessary taken for account by Audit Wales.
The Chair welcomed the Lead Member for Finance along with the Head of Finance and reporting officers. The Lead Member for Finance introduced the draft Statement of Accounts 2023/24 report (previously circulated). The Council had a statutory duty to produce statement of accounts annually that complied with accounting standards. The accounts were audited and must be formally approved by elected members on behalf of the Council. This responsibility has been delegated to the Governance and Audit Committee prior to publication. The report included the draft accounts for financial year 2023/24 (Appendix 1) for information. It was considered good practice for draft accounts to be presented at Governance and Audit Committees as it provided an indication of the council’s financial position and could highlight any issues in the accounts or the process prior to the accounts being audited. Members are aware of the challenges officers were working on with regards to the 2022/23 accounts and asset management which had caused the delay of the attached draft accounts. A statemen had been made publicly informing of the issues. The draft accounts for 2023/24 had been completed accepting that there were issues with the opening balances of the unusable reserves on the balance sheet as explained in Appendix 2. The draft accounts for 2024/25 would be prepared on the same basis. This has been discussed with Audit Wales, who were supportive of the approach. External support had be sourced to assist with the auditing of historic accounts and assets. Audit Wales had already started the audit of 2023/24 accounts as information became available and their resourcing allowed. They expect to commence their work in earnest in October 2025. The Lead Member for Finance offered her thanks to all the officers who had been involved in the work to bring the report to members. The Head of Finance thanked the Lead Member for the introduction and continued by started by offering her thanks to the finance team and all teams outside of the finance for the contributions in the productions of the accounts. It was a whole council document. It always presented a challenge to produce and was very technical and complicated. The Head of Finance emphasised it was emphasised the report was the draft statement of accounts and was for information only. There was no approval required by members. It allowed for questions and comments to be submitted to the team following the meeting and the coming weeks before it is represented to the committee for final approval. A considerable amount of time had been allocated by officers for the production of the report along with a considerable amount of time Audit Wales will input into reviewing the accounts before reporting back to the committee. The Statement of Accounts was an unusual document that was unlike any other report. It covered every aspect of financial aspect of the revenue budget also including capital, housing revenue accounts, cash and treasury management position and other asset and liabilities in the balance sheets. The contents and format of the accounts was prescribed by codes of practice and legislation. It enabled the document to be more externally accessible document that could be compared to others. The management accounting produced elsewhere had more flexibility on its presentation. Members were reminded the document was retrospective looking back at the financial year ending 31st March 2024. The narrative report provided members with an important summary of the financial activities during the reporting period. It covered financial performance and linked it to other information available such as the year end position. The statement of responsibility was important for the committee, it set out the responsibility of the Head of Finance but also what the responsibility of the Council was, of which was delegated to the Governance and Audit committee. Members were guided through the other elements of the report. The Head of Finance provided a brief explanation of each including core statements, balance sheet providing a snapshot of the authority’s finances and income and expenditure statement. The Expenditure and Funding Analysis attempted to reconcile what was seen in the management accounts to what was seen monthly at the finance reports to Cabinet. Members were reminded the Annual Governance Statement separate to the Statement of Accounts, but it was included. The committee will have seen the Annual Governance Statement for 2023/24 and approved the report. The Chair thanked the Lead Member and Head of Finance for the detailed introduction. He noted it was pleasing to see progress on the statement of accounts. He echoed the thanks made by the Head of Finance to all officers and teams involved in the production of the draft accounts. He drew members attention to the risk section of the covering report (Section10). It was stressed the issue was a balance sheet issue, with the closing balance of 2022/23 becoming the opening balance of the 2023/24 accounts the issue persisted until it could be resolved satisfactory. The Chair encouraged members to ask questions as the accounts are complicated and difficult to understand. The Audit Wales representative Mike Whiteley informed members that Audit Wales would aim to give an opinion on the councils group financial statements. Including Denbighshire Leisure Limited accounts. An audit would cover all aspects of the income and expenditure and the items on the balance sheet. Audit Wales aimed to provide assurance to the Governance and Audit Committee and the wider council that the accounts represent a true and fair account and are materially correct. Audit Wales also certified the AONB returns. Confirmation that the 2023/24 returns had been certified with no delays. The Chair thanked the Audit Wales representative for his explanation of the Audit Wales role. During the discussion the following areas were discussed in greater detail: · The issue found during the 2022/23 audit of the accounts around historical cost of asset valuation over historic years was being worked on. Detail had been included in appendix 2 to the report. This had then affected the delay in producing the 2023/24 accounts. A decision was made to park the historical issues from the 2022/23 accounts and move forward with the production of the 2023/24 accounts. The issue needs to be resolved to move forward to a satisfactory audit level and to educe the reputational risk. Members heard extra capacity had been put in place, CIPFA had been commissioned to assist with the historical accounting issues. It was anticipated that work would take 6-8 weeks to resolve. The 2022/23 accounts could then be resubmitted to Audit Wales to recommence the audit work. · The team were carrying two vacant posts. Members heard the recruitment for those positions had taken place, with suitable candidates interviewed and offers of jobs made. · It was stressed it did not affect the financial management of the council. It did not affect the councils finances. · There was a cross over of producing accounts using the old system and the new system. The issue is just one part of creating the accounts. Officers stressed they did not want to fall to far behind with the production of future accounts. · The new financial system had been in place for over 12 months. It had taken time to bed in. Its reporting capability was very impressive. It will make it a more efficient process going forward once the issues were resolved. · There was a plan for the future of Denbighshire Leisure Limited and it’s future. Member workshops were set up to discuss options and future pressures of the service. Once suggested plans were recommended they would be taken through the democratic process and presented to number of committees and boards. · The reserves were reported to the Cabinet monthly. The reserves reported were taken from a point of time. The authority did hold sufficient earmarked reserves. The Head of Finance suggested the general reserve be increased. · The value of the buildings did not impact on the level of service delivered from those buildings. The value of the properties were material to the figures entered into the accounts. · Members stressed that it was important to look back at the accounts in respect of the climate of the time and not current climate · Several authorities across Wales had experienced through issues such as these at different times. There was a challenge in the sector for meeting account deadlines. The Head of Finance was aware of one other North Wales authority going through similar issues. · Members heard Audit Wales were hosting some good practice sessions to look a how better working or good practices could be adopted. · Members heard there was a difference between the way England and Wales fund schools. In England there was a designated school’s fund grant that fund schools, local authorities did not have an input on school funding unlike in Wales. Pressures and an increase in need for children in school in England they introduced the statutory override which meant the costs were being removed from their accounts. It was a temporary measure. It was not the same position in Wales. · Additional grant funding was being provided by Welsh Government to help fund the additional needs in Welsh Schools. Unfortunately, it did not meet the pressures faced by schools. · Members felt it would be beneficial to have more emphasis and information on NNDR levels. Officers agreed reference was made to NNDR but it could be expanded in the report. · Members raised the importance of having an effective Governance and Audit committee to help assist and support officers in capital financing. Officers agreed further work could be done to establish functions and the role of the committee in relation to capital. · Related parties, declarations of interest were completed by members and officers. It was separate to the Code of Conduct, declarations of interest. · Members asked if an amendment could be made to the covering report to amend ‘elected’ members to include Lay Members. The Head of Finance confirmed the wording could be amended. · The Head of Finance confirmed the publication of the draft accounts could be published on social media and County Voice. · There was a difference in figures detailed regarding the budget mitigation reserve as one was the figure was the total movement for the year and the other the outturn of year end figure. The role of the budget mitigation reserve was to be called upon when instances occur. It was monitored monthly. Figures in reserved changed and could go up and down. · In the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement it showed an increase in the gross expenditure of Leisure ADM. Officers stated they would have to have a deeper look as to why and respond to questions outside the meeting. It was confirmed the level of funding given to Denbighshire Leisure Limited had not significantly changed over the years. · An impairment loss was something that would affect the carrying value of an asset. Such impairments would be a fire of an asset or where a spend has taken place on an asset, but it did not increase the value of that asset. It was spending to prolong the life of an asset without increasing the value. · Accumulated absences were an accounting standard around benefits of employment. They had no cash value or impact on the accounts. · It was suggested for transparency purposes a link be included directing the reader to further information on where to find members allowances. · Members heard a pay policy statement was produced and presented to County Council annually. It includes a breakdown of salaries and how they compare across the region. · The Head of Finance was hopeful the Audit of the 2022/23 and 2023/24 accounts could be pencilled into the forward work programme for March 2026. It was dependant on capacity of other teams such as Audit Wales and CIPFA, but officers were hopeful. Members were thankful for the proposed reporting schedule. It was hoped by November officers would have a better understanding of the position of the accounts. Members thanked all officers for the detailed report and comments and wished them all the best for the upcoming months. RESOLVED that the committee note the position as presented of the draft Statement of Accounts for 2023/24 and asked that the points discussed were appropriate taking account of in the Statement of Accounts for following years and also were necessary taken for account by Audit Wales.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED that; 1. The Governance and Audit committee note the performance of the TM function during 2024/25 and its compliance with the required Prudential Indicators as reported in the Annual TM Report 2024/25 2. That members note the TM update report for performance to date in 2025/26. 3. The Committee confirms that it has read, understood, and considered the Well-being Impact Assessment.
The Lead Member for Finance introduced the Annual Treasury Management (TM) Report 2024/25 and the TM Update Report 2025/26 Quarter 1 (previously circulated). The Annual TM Report 2024/25 detailed the Council’s investment and borrowing activity during the financial year. It also provided details of the economic climate during that time and showed how the Council complied with its Prudential Indicators. The TM Update Report (Appendix 2) provided details of the Council’s TM activities during 2025/26 to date. The term ‘treasury management’ included the management of the Council’s borrowing, investments and cash flow. Approximately £0.5bn passes through the Council’s bank accounts every year. The Council’s outstanding borrowing at 31 March 2025 was £324.4m at an average rate of 4.49% and the Council held £7.9m in investments at an average rate of 4.38%. It was stressed managing the treasury was a complicated area. The Council sets the annual strategy, deputising the duty of scrutinising the treasury management to the Governance and Audit committee. The report was very technical, the Head of Finance was in attendance to support members with any comments or questions. The Head of Finance thanked the Lead Member for the introduction. She highlighted a few areas for members. Within the annual report for 2024/25 the level of borrowing was in line with officers’ expectations. During the year the borrowing facility to fund the coastal sea defences was arranged and £35m of borrowing was drawn down during the year at a rate of 4.84%. Investment followed strategy of investing firstly for security of the sums involved, liquidity and yield. At year end the Council had £7.9M invested which would have provided and equalised annual yield of 4.38%. These figures showed a balanced approach to both risk and return and ensured the financial decisions supported the Council’s broader priorities. Appendix 2 provided an update on Quarter1 Treasury Management for 2025/26 it provided members with a snapshot of the current position including any external factors affecting the strategy. There was no change in terms of investment, but officers continued to follow the same strategy. Borrowing continued to be a mix of long and short term. A vacant position in the capital and technical team had been filled, it was hoped work would begin on the capital strategy noted in appendix 2 during the summer period. The Chair thanked the Lead Member and the Head of Finance for the introduction. The schedule of reports had been agreed he reminded members that the April and November reports were for information members agreed that arrangement continued. It was hoped that a training session would be arranged for Governance and Audit members and Cabinet in particular, before the next update and Capital Strategy report in January. The committee discussed the following further – · The turmoil and changes to worldwide economics affected the UK Government and the level of borrowing. The rate at which the UK borrowed was directly linked to much of the source of Denbighshire’s borrowing. It was difficult to predict when the rates will go up or down hence the risk involved in Treasury Management. It was hoped the training session with Arligclose would be arranged for October/ November. · It was suggested to include pagination numbering in the contents page of the annual report. An update to the glossary to include National Wealth Fund and descriptor was also proposed. · The authority had an income budget for investment income. It was not viewed as a target. The Head of Finance did not want to chance a target in such a risky element of the authorities finances. The investments the authority held were relatively low risk. · The definition of short term was usually a 12-month term of borrowing. It also referred to a short 3-year term (current year plus 2). It was an important point the authority had to be clear on what the indicator was and how it was measured. · Within the quarterly update it stated there would be significant need for funding in the future. Members felt it was important to ensure Governance and Audit committee was working effectively to ensure oversight of the borrowing continued. · Members felt the additional appendices on the impact assessments were not necessary for these reports and were not required. The Head of Finance agreed, as the reports were update reports they were not necessarily required to accompany the papers. It was felt that it was appropriate to complete one with the annual strategy report or any significant changes. All Members agreed with the proposal made by the Head of Finance. The Monitoring Officer confirmed the policy stated they were required when there was a decision or proposal for change. · An overview of internal controls that are in place when reviewing risks with investments/ borrowing could be provided to the committee. It was stressed Internal Audit audited the controls set on an annual basis. It could be added as an area of discussion in the upcoming training. · The authority would always be incurring Capital Expenditure. The authority would always want fixed rate borrowing to secure interest rates, what officers did not want was all the authorities fixed rate borrowing maturing at the same time resulting in the need for refinancing. Officers tried to spread that out over the period. · Members heard as of the 31 March 2025 the authority held £19m in temporary loans from other local authorities, compared to £36.5m at the previous year end 31 March 2024. It was thought this was due to timing with officers waiting to secure a loan against the coastal sea defence project. It was a snapshot of the figures on that particular day. · The money laundering policy did not have a date on it to be updated, officers felt the awareness of the policy could be increased across the authority. It could be included alongside the fraud policy and training. · Capital expenditure was in total. It was felt looking at the HRA and non HRA was important. Capital expenditure included items such as grants. · An full annual audit of Treasury Management was completed by Internal Audit. All areas were reviewed as part of that audit. · It was hoped progress would be made on the medium-term Capital Strategy during the Summer. Time had been set aside for officers to review and work on. The priority had been on the Statement of Accounts, but it was hoped going forward time could be allocated to review the strategy. RESOLVED that; 1. The Governance and Audit committee note the performance of the TM function during 2024/25 and its compliance with the required Prudential Indicators as reported in the Annual TM Report 2024/25 2. That members note the TM update report for performance to date in 2025/26. 3. The Committee confirms that it has read, understood, and considered the Well-being Impact Assessment.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED that subject to the suggested amendments stated above, Members of the Governance and Audit Committee approve the draft Annual Governance and Audit Committee report.
The Lead Member for Finance introduced the report (previously circulated) stating the papers provided committee with a draft report of the work of Governance and Audit Committee which would be presented to County Council in November 2025. The report details the role of the Committee and the committee’s business. It provided details of how the committee had achieved its remit and the results of its evaluation and efficiency. The Lead Member thanked the Chair for producing the report along with the work of the whole committee to ensure Denbighshire was a well-run council. The Chief Internal Audit continued by confirming the report was a annual report that required committees approval before being presented to full County Council. The report had to demonstrate accountability and transparency in its operation. The report would ensure that Governance and Audit committee was fulfilling its responsibilities regarding governance, risk management and internal and external audit processes. The report also provided assurance that the council was meeting statutory duties and acting in accordance with relevant regulations and standards. The report looked back at the reports that had been presented to Governance and Audit committee during the 2024/25 financial year. It allowed the committee to reflect on the work that had been presented to the committee and areas of work that needed to be strengthened. The Chief Internal Auditor highlighted an error on 10.1 of the cover report, stating it should have read ‘not’. The Chair confirmed he had drafted the report presented to the committee. The detail of the draft report was a true reflection of his sentiments of the committee. The Chair offered his thanks and appreciation to all members of the committee. He felt the working of elected members and lay members worked well and all provided valuable contributions to the discussion at each committee meeting. He noted in the report that the meetings and scheduled training events were well attended. He thanked especially the Vice Chair for his support, it was felt having and elected member as Vice Chair linked the committees business into the wider authorities business. He also highlighted the regular support from officers and Audit Wales within the paper. Members heard the report summarised the work of the committee during 2024/25 providing detail area by area for ease. It also provided the reader with how the committee assessed its effectiveness. It was tressed the report did not recognize nor highlight any significant governance weaknesses that needed to be brought to the Council’s attention. It did highlight some areas the committee felt need to be carefully managed. The report reminded Council of the reasons behind the delay in producing the statement of accounts. It detailed the financial years 2022/23 and 2023/24. The report stressed that there was no financial impact on the Councils overall financial position or budget. It was an important governance requirement for transparency and reporting purposes. The Governance and Audit Committee had a duty to raise the issue as part of its annual report. In response to Councillor Ellie Chards question relating to why attendance data from the meeting held 30 April 2025 being included, the Chair confirmed that meeting included discussions related to wok completed in the 2024/25 year so had been included. The Monitoring Officer stated the meetings ran from civic year which started in May of each year. Lay Member thanked the Chair and Officers for the report. He felt more specific reference on the role of the Vice Chair and the importance of the position could be included in the report. He also asked for further information of the adoption of a local code of corporate governance stated in the report. Mr Rudd also felt a greater tie in of capital strategy and capital finance and treasury management strategy would add benefit to the paper. Clarity was sought if a Cabinet Member could sit on Governance and Audit committee as details in the report did not make it clear. The Chair endorsed the comments regarding the role of the Vice Chair and agreed to add a section on the importance of the role of Vice Chair in the smooth running of the committee. He agreed to include further detail as suggested on capital strategy and Treasury Management. The Chair stated he had suggested the local code of corporate governance as it had been suggested by CIPFA. It had been included as a future item for discussion on the forward work programme. It allowed authorities a document that detailed the role of the committee and how it worked for the authority. It was currently being worked on. The Monitoring Officer apologised for the delay in producing the report he would prepare the paper during the recess in time for the September meeting. The Monitoring Officer confirmed that the terms of reference appended to the report are not the most up to date version. The law stated you can have no more than 1 Cabinet Member sit on the Governance and Audit committee the Council has previously decided it did not want any Cabinet Members sit on the committee. The updated version only states the Council terms of refence. The Monitoring Officer confirmed he would circulate a copy of the up to date Terms of refence to all. RESOLVED that subject to the suggested amendments stated above, Members of the Governance and Audit Committee approve the draft Annual Governance and Audit Committee report.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: that subject to the above and further consideration of some of the areas raised, the Governance and Audit Committee Forward Work Programme be noted.
The Governance and Audit Committee’s Forward Work Programme (previously circulated) was presented for consideration. Members heard the Chair, Vice Chair and Chief Internal Auditor had met to discuss the forward work programme. Some further amendments to the attached report were required around Statement of Accounts and Capital reporting. The Monitoring Officer stated officers were proposing a change to the constitution around how amendments are moved in respect of the budget. Any changes to the constitution are required to be considered by the Governance and Audit committee before presented to County Council for approval. The role of the Governance and Audit Committee was to scrutinise the proposed changes and offer any recommendations for final approvement by Council. The Chair also informed Members the Peer Panel assessment would be added to the proposed November agenda. Nigel Rudd informed the Committee that Conwy County Borough Council had adopted a beneficial practice that a brief presentation from the Director of Finance be presented to the committee. It provided an overview of the financial position in relation to capital revenue and budget savings. He felt it may be beneficial for the Head of Finance for Denbighshire to consider something similar. Mr Rudd also suggested some additions to the forward work programme in the form of reports on the fees and charges, Capital strategy and asset investment strategy. The Head of Finance thanked the Lay Member for his comments and suggestions. She reminded members that officers produced a report on the medium term financial strategy for committee three times per annum. To produce additional reports, it would have an impact on officers’ capacity. Members were also reminded that a monthly budget report was produced and presented to Cabinet of which Members had sight of if they felt any aspect warranted further discussion. The Head of Finance agreed to approach Conwy Council to assess if a different approach would be beneficial to Denbighshire and Governance and Audit. A capital strategy document was produced alongside the capital plan annually. This was received by County Council allowing for debate and comments. The Chair thanked the Head of Finance for the extended invitation for Lay Members to attend budget workshops arranged for Members. The Chair confirmed some amendments to the training aspect of the forward work document was required. Following the postponement of the ‘lessons learnt from recent investigations’ a new date was needed. In addition, a training session on ‘Audit Wales- Role’ had been agreed to be added. RESOLVED: that subject to the above and further consideration of some of the areas raised, the Governance and Audit Committee Forward Work Programme be noted.
Councillors must say when they have a personal link to something being discussed, such as a job, a property or a family member. A prejudicial interest is one strong enough that the councillor usually leaves the room and takes no part.
Declarations are read from the minutes once they are published.
The council hasn't recorded attendance for this meeting.
Lists the council's current councillors only. Co-opted members, officers and former councillors aren't shown.