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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 17th December 2024 as an accurate reflection of the meeting.
RESOLVED: 1. To approve the updated Contract Procedure Rules in accordance with its Terms of Reference. 2. That no further amendments are required to the Contract Procedure Rules. 3. To recommend that the revised Contract Procedure Rules be presented to the Council’s Constitution 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; and 2. To note the themes emerging from recommendations reported to date with the outcome of the discussions being taken into account during the annual planning process for 2025/26.
RESOLVED: 1. To note the Council’s latest Strategic Risk Register for the 2024/25 financial year; and 2. To review the Strategic Risk Register and determine whether it provides the required level of assurance on the arrangements in place and also whether more detailed updates are required on the arrangements to manage specific strategic risks.
In accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct, there were no declarations made pertaining to the agenda.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the 17th December 2024 as an accurate reflection of the meeting.
It was RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the 17th December 2024 as an accurate reflection of the meeting.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: 1. To approve the updated Contract Procedure Rules in accordance with its Terms of Reference. 2. That no further amendments are required to the Contract Procedure Rules. 3. To recommend that the revised Contract Procedure Rules be presented to the Council’s Constitution Committee.
The Head of Procurement Delivery presented the Governance and Audit Committee with the proposed updated Council’s Contract Procedure Rules, and in accordance with the Constitution, sought approval in readiness for them to be presented to the Council’s Constitution Committee. Members were informed that with effect from 24th February 2025, the Procurement Act 2023 would replace the Public Contract Regulations 2015. To ensure the Council continues to comply with the regulations that it must follow, the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules had been updated to align with the requirements of the new Act. The Officer drew Members’ attention to section 4 of the report, which detailed the governance arrangements in respect of how the Contract Procedure Rules should be reviewed, updated and approved. The revised Contract Procedure Rules were provided at Appendix A to the report and the officer referred members to the key changes listed as follows: ·The estimated contract value should now be inclusive of VAT (previous arrangements identified financial thresholds net of VAT). ·The minimum levels of competition that must be carried out for below Procurement Act threshold contracts. ·Transparency Notices – The Procurement Act sets out the requirement to publish additional notices at various stages of the procurement lifecycle. The revised Contract Procedure Rules set out the key stages of the procurement process and the notices that must be published. The Vice-Chair sought clarity on what preparations the Council had made for the new Act. Officers explained that, in the early stages, the Council’s Senior Leadership Team had received an overview of the new Act from Welsh Government and nominated a number of key officers to receive training. Towards the end of 2024, the Procurement Manager had attended various service manager meetings across the Council to remind officers of their new duties in line with the Procurement Act 2023, and further awareness sessions have been scheduled. In terms of the operational arrangements, officers had updated the Contact Procedure Rules and various documentation to bring them in line with the new Act, the Council’s intranet site had been updated to include a suite of guidance, Procurement Officers had undertaken online training courses. The Vice-Chair questioned the percentage of spend, which had been spent locally or in Wales. Officers advised that during the 2023-2024 financial year, £201M had been spent with suppliers in Wales and of that figure, £155M had been spent with companies with a postcode in the City Deal Region and £71M with suppliers within RCT. One Member sought further information on the Council’s arrangements to monitor the requirements and how this would be reported to the Governance and Audit Committee for Members to be assured that the Council is complying with its new duties. It was explained that Procurement Officers are reliant on service areas to inform them of procurement activities and that e-forms had been designed to ensure service areas update Procurement Officers of any contract arrangements in place. Members were assured that there was a process in place to track spend and to identify areas of non-compliance from service areas, which would be followed up by the Service. In terms of providing further assurance to the Governance and Audit Committee, Officers suggested providing an update to a future meeting of the Governance and Audit Committee in respect of compliance with the Contract Procedure Rule updates. The Chair acknowledged the complexities of implementing new legislation across the Council and was pleased to note the comments in relation to training. The Chair questioned the main operational impacts the Procurement Act 2023 would have on services across the Council. In terms of the Procurement Service, the officer explained that there was in excess of 600 notices required to be published under the new Act, which was a significant increase in comparison to previous regulations and there would be a continued obligation for service areas to publish transparency notices during the contract management stage and end of contract stage. Members were also informed of the positive operational impacts emanating from the Act such as the importance of demonstrating openness and transparency. One Member questioned if there was a mechanism in place for the Procurement Service to cancel a contract for breaches. Officers provided assurance that the Council’s contracts include termination clauses should there be breaches or performance issues and noted that the Council would work with its suppliers in the first instance to understand the reasons for performance levels and where possible put remedial actions in place. Members were also informed that as part of the new Procurement Act, the Council must publish notices to include details of any terminated contracts based on performance. The Chair thanked the officers for the report and the Governance and Audit Committee RESOLVED: 1. To approve the updated Contract Procedure Rules in accordance with its Terms of Reference. 2. That no further amendments are required to the Contract Procedure Rules. 3. To recommend that the revised Contract Procedure Rules be presented to the Council’s Constitution Committee.
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; and 2. To note the themes emerging from recommendations reported to date with the outcome of the discussions being taken into account during the annual planning process for 2025/26.
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 during 2024/25 to date, along with a summary of key themes to assist audit planning arrangements. It was noted that 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 the recommendations, how they plan to implement them and target dates. Those priorities are then organised as high, medium or low. 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 high and medium rated recommendation. Members’ attention was drawn to Table 2, which highlighted that there were 42 recommendations with a future target date, which would be reported back to Governance and Audit Committee at a later date. The Officer confirmed that the 2 outstanding recommendations detailed within the report had now been implemented. The Internal Audit Manager then referred Members to Table 3, which provided a summary of the themes during the year to date. One Member thanked the officer for bringing forward the summary of themes and categories for the financial year to date. The Member suggested that in future reporting it would be useful to also provide the priority ratings applied to the findings under each theme, to which the officer agreed. The Vice-Chair referred to the number of recommendations in the areas listed at Table 3 of the report and questioned if there were arrangements in place for schools to learn from others that have more robust provision. The Committee was informed that, from an Internal Audit perspective, there was a self-evaluation toolkit for schools to complete annually in order to benchmark their progress and identify any areas for improvement. In terms of a process of allowing schools to compare themselves, the officer advised that Secondary schools have a Business Managers Forum, which stimulates regular conversation between finance managers and allows opportunity for good practice to be shared. Members learned that there was similar process in place for cluster groups of Primary schools. The officer went on to assure Members that, more often than not, schools were able to implement recommendations themselves and if a school required further support, they would be signposted to the relevant department such as finance or provided with the contact details of other establishments where they could learn from good practice. The officer also indicated that this position would be fed back to the Director of Education and Inclusion Services as part of keeping under review all possible opportunities to support schools and share good practices. One Member requested that the draft Audit Plan for 2025/26 include thematic reviews of safeguarding, governance, purchase card compliance and private funds in schools, as per the key themes referenced in the report. The officer was content to take forward the Member’s request and agreed that a thematic review approach will provide coverage of areas where common themes or gaps have been identified, and would help enable findings to be communicated more widely across the Council. Another Member suggested the development of a mentoring programme for new headteachers or senior management within schools to instil good practice and spoke of procedural concerns regarding private funds. The officer fed back that regular training is already embedded for newly appointed headteachers and clerks and an informative induction booklet, which was being developed by the Education department. 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; and 2. To note the themes emerging from recommendations reported to date with the outcome of the discussions being taken into account during the annual planning process for 2025/26.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: 1. To note the Council’s latest Strategic Risk Register for the 2024/25 financial year; and 2. To review the Strategic Risk Register and determine whether it provides the required level of assurance on the arrangements in place and also whether more detailed updates are required on the arrangements to manage specific strategic risks.
The Service Director of Finance and Improvement Services provided the Governance and Audit Committee with the latest Strategic Risk Register for the 2024/25 financial year in line with its role to review the Council’s risk management arrangements. The Service Director reminded Members that in line with the Committee’s Terms of Reference, the 4th November 2024 Governance and Audit Committee received a ‘Risk Management Update’ that set out an overview of the Council’s risk management arrangements together with the updated Strategic Risk Register as at 30th June 2024 (Quarter 1). The Service Director added that as part of the update, the Committee’s role in reviewing the Council’s risk management arrangements included keeping up-to-date with its risk profile and also the effectiveness of risk management arrangements. Members’ attention was drawn to the Council’s latest Strategic Risk Register, which was attached as Appendix 1 to the report. The Service Director provided an overview of the Strategic Risk Register noting that it contained 14 strategic risks, 11 of which were categorised as high risk and 3 medium risk, and all of which had been allocated a Risk Lead Officer to manage and co-ordinate the risk mitigation actions and controls. The Register is incorporated into the Council’s quarterly performance reports that are considered by the Council’s Cabinet and, thereafter, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The Service Director emphasised that each of the 14 risks were representative of the areas which could potentially compromise the delivery of the Council’s Corporate Plan Wellbeing objectives, and as such, were accompanied with progress updates and actions taken to mitigate the risks arising or having a significant adverse effect. One Member spoke of the Committee’s key role in reviewing the Council’s risk management arrangements, in line with its Terms of Reference, and felt that it would be beneficial to receive a report in the Committee’s workplan in respect of the Council’s operational risk management arrangements. The Service Director noted the requested and confirmed that the area of operational risk management arrangements will be incorporated into the Audit Plan for the coming year. One Member questioned what training or support was available for Council officers to ensure that their risk management arrangements are fit for purpose. The Head of Procurement Delivery informed the Committee that the Council’s Risk Management Strategy was underpinned by a risk management toolkit, which provides detailed guidance on identifying, managing, and mitigating risks. The officer also spoke of a short video, which had been developed in the last year to highlight the key elements of the risk management toolkit and to provide officers with an overview of the Council’s risk management arrangements. The officer advised that this could be built into the Committee’s workplan for the coming year which Committee Members welcomed. Referring to Risk 11 of the Strategic Risk Register – ‘Regenerating our Communities’, one Member spoke of the positive work in several communities and town centres, through various Government initiatives, but highlighted the risk of such programmes ending and the impact on harder to reach communities. The Member provided examples, such as, the Levelling up fund, Regional Development Plans and Regional Transport Plans, which were subject to Government funding and questioned if the Council had considered the potential risks and impact on the communities, which saw less funding from Central and Welsh Government. Following the Member’s point, the Chair asked that, as part of future workplans that the Committee receives updates in respect of the following areas: • Regenerating our communities; • Supporting our young people with additional learning needs; and • A carbon neutral Council In response, the Service Director confirmed that specific updates in respect of the above-mentioned risk areas would be built into the Committee’s workplan and that the appropriate strategic risk lead officers would be invited to future Committee meetings to discuss the arrangements in place to manage each of these strategic risks. Discussions ensued and the Vice-Chair put forward the suggestion of the Committee receiving further information on the arrangements in place to manage Risk 20 of the register – ‘Cyber Security’. The Member spoke of the importance of the Council maintaining a high level of cyber security and sought assurance on the processes in place. The Service Director advised that within the report, there was a hyperlink to further details regarding the Council’s cyber security arrangements but informed the Committee that he would seek a more comprehensive summary from the service area for Member perusal. Referring to Risk 28 – ‘School Attendance’, the Vice-Chair questioned if homeschooling had an impact on attendance figures and if there was a process in place to monitor those individuals registered for homeschooling to ensure they were receiving the correct level of education and welfare at their home setting. The Service Director fed back that the Council’s Home Tuition service engage directly with schools and families, including those hard to reach, and indicated that he would relay the enquiry to the Director of Education and Inclusion Services and provide feedback to the Committee. The Head of Procurement Delivery added that the Register was a ‘live’ document and discussions would take place with the Director of Education and Inclusion Services to determine whether any updates are required to the Strategic Risk Register. Members of the Committee were in support of receiving future updates in relation to specific risks, as proposed by the Chair. They were also supportive of receiving further information in respect of the process in place for monitoring home schooled children in terms of the School Attendance Risk. The Governance and Audit Committee RESOLVED: 1. To note the Council’s latest Strategic Risk Register for the 2024/25 financial year; and 2. To review the Strategic Risk Register and determine whether it provides the required level of assurance on the arrangements in place and also whether more detailed updates are required on the arrangements to manage specific strategic risks.
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