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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the 4th November 2024 as an accurate reflection of the meeting.
RESOLVED: 1. To review and note the progress in respect of the 2023/24 Annual Governance Statement recommendations and seek clarity and explanation where there are areas of concern. 2. To form an opinion in respect of whether they are satisfied with the progress made to date to implement the recommendations. 3. To review and approve the updated Local Code of Corporate Governance and for its publication on the Council’s website.
RESOLVED: 1. To review the content of the report and the Progress Made Against the Internal Audit Risk Based Plan 2024/25. 2. To consider what comments and / or recommendations, if any, they wish to make. (Note: County Borough Councillor G Hopkins left the meeting during the discussion of this item.)
RESOLVED: 1. To review the content of the report and seek assurance that recommendations made by the Internal Audit Service are being implemented within agreed timescales.
RESOLVED: 1. To scrutinise and comment on the information provided; and 2. To consider whether they wish to receive further detail on any matters contained in the report.
RESOLVED: “That the press and public be excluded from the meeting under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act (as amended) for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of the exempt information as defined in paragraph 14 of Part 4 of the Schedule 12A of the Act”.
The Chair welcomed attendees to the meeting of the Governance and Audit Committee and an apology for absence was received from Mr J Roszkowski.
In accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct, the following declaration was made pertaining to the agenda: - County Borough Councillor B Stephens declared the following personal interest in respect of item 6 - 2024/2025 Mid Year Treasury Management Stewardship Report: “I am a member of the Cynon Taf Housing Community Group which is referenced in the report”. (Note: this interest was declared during the discussion of the item – see Minute No. 43)
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the 4th November 2024 as an accurate reflection of the meeting.
It was RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the 4th November 2024 as an accurate reflection of the meeting.
Minute No. 31 - Social Services Representations, Compliments and Complaints Procedures Annual Report 2023/24: The Chair referred to the Committee’s request to receive a further update on the work undertaken by service areas to support families, following an increase in finance related complaints in respect of delays in assessments and lack of clarity around charges for care and services, and questioned if there were any updates on the matter. The Service Director of Finance and Improvement Services informed the Committee that following their observations at the last Committee meeting, letters had been written to people leaving hospital to clearly communicate the charging arrangements and further clarity also provided to Health staff, with these actions being an on-going process. The Service Director went on to feed back that there is on-going engagement and support available for families who were unclear or unable to complete the relevant financial assessment forms, and noted the need for this work to continue to be afforded a high priority based on the position set out in the Annual Report and also Members’ feedback as part of the previous Governance and Audit Committee meeting. The Service Director informed Members that further updates would be brought to the Governance and Audit Committee as the work progresses.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: 1. To review and note the progress in respect of the 2023/24 Annual Governance Statement recommendations and seek clarity and explanation where there are areas of concern. 2. To form an opinion in respect of whether they are satisfied with the progress made to date to implement the recommendations. 3. To review and approve the updated Local Code of Corporate Governance and for its publication on the Council’s website.
The Service Director, Finance and Improvement Services provided the Governance and Audit Committee with an update on the status of the recommendations included within the 2023/24 Annual Governance Statement and, as part of the agreed recommendations, an updated Local Code of Corporate Governance. The Service Director informed the Committee that all Local Authorities have a legal requirement to conduct a review, at least once per year, of the effectiveness of its system of internal control and must include a statement reporting on the review in the statement of accounts. It was explained that Rhondda Cynon Taf Council discharges this responsibility by producing an Annual Governance Statement. The Service Director drew Members’ attention to Appendix 1 of the report, which outlined 5 recommendations for the period, which would further support improvement to the Council’s governance arrangements. The Service Director informed the Committee that all 5 of the recommendations had been completed. In respect of the recommendations, the Service Director made specific reference to the Council’s Performance Management Framework and advised that the Council’s quarterly Performance Reporting arrangements had afforded more focus on service user information and case studies to help better demonstrate impacts and outcomes, and that this would be an ongoing exercise. The Service Director then referred Members to the updated Local Code of Corporate Governance document, which was attached as Appendix 2 to the report. The Service Director noted that the 2023/24 Annual Governance Statement recommended that the Council’s Local Code of Corporate Governance be reviewed and updated by December 2024, further to the document last being reviewed and reported to the Governance and Audit Committee on 4th July 2023. Members were informed that a small number of proposed updates had been highlighted within Appendix 2, for ease of reference for Members, and were of a housekeeping nature. The Chair thanked the Service Director for the report and sought clarity on the arrangements in place within the Council to implement Annual Governance Statement recommendations. The Service Director provided assurance to the Committee that the Annual Governance Statement is reviewed and signed off by the Senior Leadership Team, and where recommendations are agreed, they are discussed with the relevant responsible officers and incorporated into service delivery planning arrangements for the year ahead and monitored on a quarterly basis during the year. One Member noted the Service Director’s comments in respect of the performance management framework related recommendation included in Appendix 1 and that the progress update notes that demonstrating impacts and outcomes will be an on-going process. The Member questioned how the Committee would be able to monitor the on-going programme of work. The Service Director fed back that the Committee will have opportunity to scrutinise progress in this area via the year-end position statement of Annual Governance Statement recommendations to be reported to the Governance and Audit Committee in June / July 2025 and also the Council’s Annual Performance Self-Assessment that assesses the progress made to deliver the Council’s Well-being objectives and the impact of this work, with this report scheduled to be presented to the Committee in autumn 2025. One Member sought clarity on how outcomes are measured. The Service Director fed back that the Council is continuing to develop its arrangements to demonstrate outcomes, with the approach affording increased focus on service user feedback and case studies alongside the importance of taking into account local authority benchmarking information, where available. The Service Director also referenced the Council leading and working with partners on the Health Determinants Research Collaboration project, that aims to reduce health inequalities across Rhondda Cynon Taf, with activity in this area accessing a wide of range of information to contribute to demonstrating outcomes and potential areas for improvement. The Vice-Chair questioned if there had been any consultation with external auditors in the drafting of the Local Code of Corporate Governance and what mechanisms were in place to ensure it remains up to date. The Service Director advised that the Local Code was specific to Rhondda Cynon Taf and as such, it was for the Council to take ownership and demonstrate that its governance arrangements are fit for purpose. The Service Director added that the Local Code of Coporate Governance was a public document and available on the Council’s website, and was reviewed every 1 – 2 years. The Governance and Audit Committee RESOLVED: 1. To review and note the progress in respect of the 2023/24 Annual Governance Statement recommendations and seek clarity and explanation where there are areas of concern. 2. To form an opinion in respect of whether they are satisfied with the progress made to date to implement the recommendations. 3. To review and approve the updated Local Code of Corporate Governance and for its publication on the Council’s website.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: 1. To review the content of the report and the Progress Made Against the Internal Audit Risk Based Plan 2024/25. 2. To consider what comments and / or recommendations, if any, they wish to make. (Note: County Borough Councillor G Hopkins left the meeting during the discussion of this item.)
The Internal Audit Manager provided the Governance and Audit Committee with an update on the Progress Against the Internal Audit Risk Based Plan for 2024/25. The Internal Audit Manager noted that the Internal Audit Risk Based Plan for 2024/25 was submitted to the Governance and Audit Committee for consideration and approved on the 29th April 2024. The Plan outlined the audit assignments to be carried out in order to provide adequate coverage to enable an overall opinion at the end of 2024/25. The Internal Audit Manager directed Members to Appendix A of the report, this detailing the status of each planned review, the audit opinion (where the audit has reached final report stage) and the number of recommendations made to improve the internal control, governance and risk management environment. As of 5th December 2024, 45% of the plan had been delivered to report stage, with 35 individual audits either completed to report stage or underway. Members were informed that of the 19 finalised audit assignments, all were given a Reasonable or Substantial Assurance audit opinion. The Chair thanked the officer for the report and was reassured to note that all 19 reports finalised to date either provided ‘Substantial’ or ‘Reasonable’ assurance. The Chair questioned if there were any significant emerging issues from the 8 draft reports for the Committee to be aware of. The Internal Audit Manager advised that until the reports are finalised the audit opinions could be subject to change and therefore it would be more appropriate to provide the overall audit opinions once the reports are finalised and reported to the Committee. The Head of Procurement Delivery added that unplanned work had also taken place in respect of a Primary School, and this had been given a ‘Limited Assurance’ audit opinion. This will be summarised within the Head of Internal Audit’s Annual Report and reported to the Committee at a future meeting. One Member acknowledged that there may be occasions where officers dispute draft recommendations prior to the final report being issued and sought clarity on the process. The Internal Audit Manager advised that, from experience, there had not been an occasion where an audit recommendation had been disputed and explained that regular dialogue takes place between the auditor and auditee throughout the duration of the audit. Members learned that sometimes there may be a misunderstanding in terms of the way the auditor has interpreted a process / area but, following the completion of the fieldwork, there is opportunity to discuss the findings during a closure meeting before a draft report is produced. Referring to the Amgen audit assignments, one Member queried the scheduled timescales for the audits to be undertaken on the supporting Appendix. The officer advised that the audit assignments had been scheduled for the Quarter 4 period and as such, they were still at the planning stage and scheduled to be looked at in early 2025. The Governance and Audit Committee RESOLVED: 1. To review the content of the report and the Progress Made Against the Internal Audit Risk Based Plan 2024/25. 2. To consider what comments and / or recommendations, if any, they wish to make. (Note: County Borough Councillor G Hopkins left the meeting during the discussion of this item.)
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: 1. To review the content of the report and seek assurance that recommendations made by the Internal Audit Service are being implemented within agreed timescales.
The Internal Audit Manager provided the Governance and Audit Committee with a position statement in respect of the status of the recommendations made by the Internal Audit Service. It was noted the recommendations are made at the conclusion of each audit review to identify improvements to be made to mitigate risk and strengthen controls. These recommendations are then included in the final audit reports and recipients are asked to provide a management response to indicate whether they agree with recommendations, how they plan to implement them and target dates. The recommendations are then organised as high, medium or low priority. Members were directed to Table 1 of the report that highlighted the different priority ratings which are used and the recommendation categorisation. Once the target date for implementation has been reached the relevant Officers are contacted and asked to provide feedback on the status of each agreed recommendation. Members’ attention was drawn to table 2 which highlighted that there were 37 outstanding recommendations and, at the time of writing the report, 5 of which were overdue, and emphasised that this was a moving picture. To date and of the 5 overdue recommendations, 3 had since been implemented, 1 target date had been revised and 1 remained overdue as the officer was on annual leave. Members were provided with assurance that Internal Audit would continue to monitor the implementation of recommendations. One Member noted that the target date for 1 of the 5 overdue recommendations had been revised and sought clarity on the process for the service to revise a completion date for a previously agreed internal audit recommendation. The officer advised that as a general rule, when draft reports are issued, Auditors would expect high priority recommendations to be implemented within a month, medium priority recommendations to be implemented within three months and low priority recommendations to be implemented within six months. However, the officer advised that the Auditor discusses timescales with the service area when finalising the report to ensure the timescales are reasonable. The officer added that there may sometimes be outside factors which can delay the implementation of a recommendation, for example, some tasks can only be done annually or officers may need to wait for actions to be progressed by an external party. It was added that if a department or school highlights risks to implement recommendations, the officer assured Members that there were processes in place to provide specific support. One Member questioned if there had been any consistent or recurring themes that had emerged from the audit work to date and whether this warrants wider communication across the Council. The officer advised that the internal audit software used allows the team to categorise every individual audit recommendation made, which enables the identification of recurring themes. Members were informed that an update is scheduled to be reported to the January 2025 Governance and Audit Committee on this area. The Chair thanked the officer for the report and the Governance and Audit Committee RESOLVED: 1. To review the content of the report and seek assurance that recommendations made by the Internal Audit Service are being implemented within agreed timescales.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: 1. To scrutinise and comment on the information provided; and 2. To consider whether they wish to receive further detail on any matters contained in the report.
The Service Director, Finance Services provided the Governance and Audit Committee with the opportunity to scrutinise Treasury Management information presented to Council on 27th November 2024. The Council report was attached at Appendix 1 and contained information on the Council’s Treasury Management activity during the first six months of 2024/25 and Prudential and Treasury Indicators for the same period. The Service Director confirmed that Rhondda Cynon Taf had complied with all relevant Codes of Practice with regard to Treasury Management, this being CIPFA’s Code of Practice on Treasury Management and the Prudential Code. Members’ attention was drawn to section 5 of the report, which outlined the economic background for the first half of the financial year. The Service Director noted that the Council’s investment income is subject to changes in short term interest rates. The level of the Bank Base Rate or ‘Bank Rate’ is one of the main determinants of the rate of interest the Council receives on its short-term investments. The Bank Rate which had been 5.25% since August 2023, was cut to 5% on 1st August 2024 and then to 4.75% on 7th November 2024. The Service Director drew Members’ attention to section 6 of the report, which outlined the Council’s borrowing activity. Members were informed that in March 2024, the borrowing requirement was estimated to be £19M based on the Capital Programme at that time. The borrowing requirement had since increased for 2024/25 to £22.7M due to amended capital cost projections. The Service Director stated that no new external borrowing had been undertaken during the first half of the year and capital charges are within budget. Members were informed that sections 7, 8, 9 and 10 contain a suite of Treasury Management and Prudential indicators and are compliant with limits set by full Council on 6th March earlier in the year. Members were also informed of details within sections 11 and 12 demonstrating the low-risk strategy associated with the approach to investments, with an investment return in line with the benchmark rate. One Member thanked the Service Director for the report and sought assurance that there was a level of flexibility to address any emerging issues. The Service Director assured the Committee that treasury management is an activity which takes place daily within the Council, with bank balances checked, cash flows maintained, and surplus cash invested into the money market. The Service Director explained that based on the systems and daily processes in place, the Council was in a position to deal with any unexpected situations on a timely basis. The Member then questioned if the Council liaises with other Local Authorities and the Service Director advised that the Council receive information from its Treasury Management advisor, Arlingclose, which enables officers to compare with other Local Authorities. Members learned that RCT tends to be at the lower end of the risk profile compared to other Local Authorities and noted that against this back-drop the Council was not underperforming in terms of investment return. Referring to paragraph 6.2 of the report, one Member noted that the borrowing requirement to fund the Council’s Capital Programme had increased from £19M in March 2024 to £22.7M at the mid-point of the year and questioned what was causing the change in projections and if it would likely have an impact on the full year capital charges cost. The Service Director advised that the changes in the Capital Programme meant that the capital expenditure funded by borrowing had increased by £3.7M. This related to changes in the profiling of projects within the Sustainable Communities for Learning Programme. Rhondda Cynon Taf CBC tends to maximise the use of internal borrowing (i.e. using surplus cash to fund the capital programme) before borrowing externally on the money markets. It was explained that if expenditure increases, it affects cash flow, there is less surplus cash and as such, there is less investment income and projections are changed going forward. The Member then spoke of Welsh Government’s provisional Local Government Settlement for 2025/26, which was announced on 11th December 2024 and questioned if RCT’s Revenue Settlement of 4.7% would have any affect on future borrowing requirements. The Service Director confirmed that cashflow forecasts would be projected based on the provisional settlement and it was explained that the Council continually adjusts its cashflow forecasts for items such as Council tax income, general payments etc., and then updates the forecast for interest receivable and interest payable. (Note: At this stage in proceedings, County Borough Councillor B Stephens declared the following personal interest in respect of the item: “I am a member of the Cynon Taf Housing Community Group which is referenced in the report”.) The Governance and Audit Committee RESOLVED: 1. To scrutinise and comment on the information provided; and 2. To consider whether they wish to receive further detail on any matters contained in the report.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: “That the press and public be excluded from the meeting under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act (as amended) for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of the exempt information as defined in paragraph 14 of Part 4 of the Schedule 12A of the Act”.
It was RESOLVED: “That the press and public be excluded from the meeting under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act (as amended) for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of the exempt information as defined in paragraph 14 of Part 4 of the Schedule 12A of the Act”.
The Chair wished to place on record his thanks to Members and Officers for their work during the 2024 year and extended Christmas wishes.
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.
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