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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 meetings held on 4th November 2025 and 24th November 2025 as accurate records of the meetings.
RESOLVED: 1. To note and consider the Council’s quarter 2 Strategic Risk Register position statement for the 2025/26 financial year; and 2. To review the specific risk management arrangements in place for Strategic Risk 24 (A Carbon Neutral Council) and determine whether they provide the required level of assurance on the arrangements in place.
RESOLVED: 1. To review and note the progress in respect of the 2024/25 Annual Governance Statement recommendations and seek clarity and explanation where there are areas of concern; and 2. To form an opinion on the adequacy of the progress made to date to implement the recommendations.
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. Note: County Borough Councillor G Hopkins left the meeting following the conclusion of this item.
RESOLVED: 1. To review the content of the report and the progress made against the Internal Audit Risk Based Plan 2025/26; and 2. To consider what comments and / or recommendations, if any, they wish to make.
RESOLVED: 1. To consider the CSC JES draft Statement of Accounts covering the period 1st April 2025 to 31st August 2025; 2. To consider the impact, if any, upon the draft Statement of Accounts of issues and audit reports brought before the Committee during the year to date; and 3. To note the plans for the audit of the CSC JES Statement of Accounts for 2025/26.
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 next items of business on the grounds that they involve 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 apologies for absence were received from County Borough Councillor A. Ellis and Mr J Roszkowski.
In accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct, there were no declarations made pertaining to the agenda, at this point in proceedings. Note, later in the meeting, County Borough Councillor G Hopkins declared a personal interest in respect of Item 3 of the agenda (Strategic Risk Update - A Carbon neutral Council) as Chair of a School Governing Body. (See minute no. 36)
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the meetings held on 4th November 2025 and 24th November 2025 as accurate records of the meetings.
It was RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the meetings held on 4th November 2025 and 24th November 2025 as accurate records of the meetings.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: 1. To note and consider the Council’s quarter 2 Strategic Risk Register position statement for the 2025/26 financial year; and 2. To review the specific risk management arrangements in place for Strategic Risk 24 (A Carbon Neutral Council) and determine whether they provide the required level of assurance on the arrangements in place.
The Service Director for Audit, Performance and Transformational Services provided the Governance and Audit Committee with the Council’s quarter 2 Strategic Risk Register position statement for the 2025/26 financial year. The Service Director referred Members to the responsibilities of the Committee in respect of the Council’s risk management arrangements, as per its Terms of Reference. Members were then referred to the Council’s Strategic Risk Register, which was attached as Appendix A to the report, and it was noted that at a previous meeting of the Governance and Audit Committee, Members had requested more detailed updates on specific risks, with these scheduled to be reported to Members during the 2025/26 municipal year in respect of the following: Strategic Risk 11 - Regenerating our Communities (reported to the 4th November 2025 Governance and Audit Committee meeting); Strategic Risk 24 - A carbon neutral Council; and Strategic Risk 30 - Supporting our young people with additional learning needs. In line with this, the Head of Energy and Carbon Reduction was present to provide Members with a detailed update in respect of Strategic Risk 24 - A carbon neutral Council, as part of the Committee’s role to review and scrutinise the Council’s risk management arrangements. With the aid of a PowerPoint presentation, the officer provided the Committee with further detail in respect of the strategic and operational controls in place to embed energy saving and carbon reduction across the Local Authority and examples of how the controls translate into practical action and measurable impacts across the Council. One Member thanked the officer for the risk update and stated that the updates from risk owners had been beneficial to his role on the Committee. The Member queried when there would be opportunity for the Committee to suggest further risk updates to come forward for consideration in the future and the Service Director advised that Members would have opportunity at the start of the next financial year as part of formulating the Committee’s work programme for 2026-2027. Referring to the data, the Vice-Chair noted that Scope 3 emissions had been identified as the largest area in respect of the Local Authority’s overall carbon footprint and questioned how this compared across other public sector organisations. Members were informed that other Councils report similar percentages in respect of their scope 3 emissions. The Service Director added that it was important to recognise that RCT Council has one of the largest capital programmes across Wales and explained that the positive service delivery impacts of more capital investment being delivered across the County Borough directly contributes to higher scope 3 emissions being reported. One Member questioned if there were any financial risks associated with the targets and indicators to becoming a Carbon Neutral Council. The Service Director advised that there were no financial penalties associated with Welsh Government’s target placed upon Local Authorities, however, there were financial risks or potential additional costs in relation to some decarbonisation work. An example provided to Members was if the Council were to replace its gas fuelled kitchens within schools with electricity driven equipment, this would initially likely to result in an increase in energy costs overall, with the officer indicating that further work would then be undertaken to identify additional solar solution installation opportunities to offset the increase in cost between gas and electricity. The Chair questioned what the key challenges were to achieve the Council’s ambition to become carbon neutral by 2030. The Service Director spoke of a recently developed guidance document for site managers to ensure that all staff are contributing to reducing the Council’s gas and electricity consumption by undertaking small and simple actions such as switching off the lights, closing windows and checking the boiler temperature. It was reported that one of the other challenges was linked to ensuring that funding is available to enable investment in alternative energy supplies. Referring to the earlier PowerPoint presentation, the Vice-Chair noted that, to date, over £14M had been invested into the Council’s Carbon Reduction Programme and questioned what happens to the return on investment. Members were informed that some of the return on investment is invested back into the Council and redistributed through the Carbon Reduction Programme to support projects going forward and some of the return supports the Council’s annual budget setting arrangements. The officer advised that during the current financial year, approximately £1.8M had been spent on decarbonising the Council’s assets. Referring to Risk 30 (Supporting our young people with additional learning needs), one Member spoke of the pressures within schools to meet the demands and increase in additional learning needs support and queried whether the financial aspect had been considered as part of the risk. The Director – Financial Services and Transformation acknowledged the Member’s feedback and noted that the information relayed by the Member was consistent with the position set out within the Council’s Strategic Risk Register. The Officer went on to provide assurance that robust service delivery arrangements are in place to support children’s needs, with the Council working closely with schools and families. The Officer recognised there has been an increase in demand for Additional Learning Needs provision and it was explained that as part of the Council’s budget setting arrangements, additional resources have been allocated to ensure the necessary support and range of services are in place, with this being an area that is subject to on-going review. Members were also reminded that Risk 30 would be discussed in detail by the designated Risk Lead Officer at a future meeting of the Governance and Audit Committee. Note: At this point in proceedings, County Borough Councillor G Hopkins declared a personal interest in respect of this item of business, as Chair of a School Governing Body. The Chair thanked the officers for the update and the Governance and Audit Committee RESOLVED: 1. To note and consider the Council’s quarter 2 Strategic Risk Register position statement for the 2025/26 financial year; and 2. To review the specific risk management arrangements in place for Strategic Risk 24 (A Carbon Neutral Council) and determine whether they provide the required level of assurance on the arrangements in place.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: 1. To review and note the progress in respect of the 2024/25 Annual Governance Statement recommendations and seek clarity and explanation where there are areas of concern; and 2. To form an opinion on the adequacy of the progress made to date to implement the recommendations.
The Director - Financial Services and Transformation provided the Governance and Audit Committee with a progress update on the implementation of the recommendations included within the 2024/25 Annual Governance Statement. One Member noted that the Committee had recently received the areas for improvement from the Panel Performance Assessment and the self-assessment earlier in the year and felt it would be useful if future updates on the status of all recommendations could be reported in one document to help Members form an opinion on all areas identified as requiring improvement. The Service Director for Audit, Performance and Transformational Services agreed with the suggestion and confirmed this would be actioned to support the Committee in the continued effective discharge of its terms of reference. One Member noted from the Annual Governance Statement that the Council’s Performance Management Framework was updated in 2024/25 and questioned how frequently the Performance Management Framework is updated and whether its content would require amendment to take into account the findings from the recent Panel Performance Assessment. The Director fed back that the Council reviews its Performance Management Framework on an annual basis and confirmed that the Panel Performance Assessment findings would be considered as part of the next review process. The Chair thanked the Director for the report and the Governance and Audit Committee RESOLVED: 1. To review and note the progress in respect of the 2024/25 Annual Governance Statement recommendations and seek clarity and explanation where there are areas of concern; and 2. To form an opinion on the adequacy of the progress made to date to implement the recommendations.
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. Note: County Borough Councillor G Hopkins left the meeting following the conclusion of this item.
The Service Director for Audit, Performance and Transformational Services provided the Governance and Audit Committee with a position statement in respect of the status of the recommendations made by the Internal Audit Service. Referring to Appendix A of the report, one Member noted that there was a ‘limited assurance’ opinion reported in respect of two schools. The Member sought feedback on what support was being provided to Ysgol Bro Taf to achieve compliance given the school was new and of large capacity and also for Mountain Ash Comprehensive School. The Service Director informed the Committee that when a school receives a ‘limited assurance’ opinion, support is provided by Internal Audit and officers from the Council’s Education Directorate and Financial Services Directorate to ensure lessons are learned from Internal Audit’s findings and action is taken to implement the recommendations reported. The Service Director went on to provide assurance that with specific regard to the two schools referenced, relevant support will be provided by the Council’s Education and Finance Directorates in the first instance and that Internal Audit will undertake a follow-up review later in the year to provide the schools with sufficient time to implement the agreed recommendations, the outcome of both reviews being reported back to Governance and Audit Committee. The Chair thanked the Service Director for the information 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. Note: County Borough Councillor G Hopkins left the meeting following the conclusion of this item.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: 1. To review the content of the report and the progress made against the Internal Audit Risk Based Plan 2025/26; and 2. To consider what comments and / or recommendations, if any, they wish to make.
The Service Director for Audit, Performance and Transformational Services provided the Governance and Audit Committee with a position statement in respect of the status of the recommendations made by the Internal Audit Service. Members were informed of a correction needed to section 4.5 of the report and it was noted that as of 1st December 2025, 49% of the audit plan had been completed to report stage, rather than 50%. The Chair thanked the Service Director for the information and commented that the report evidenced a balanced assessment in terms of the work delivered by the team. The Chair acknowledged that the time taken to complete fieldwork may vary for several reasons but noted that the number of days that the team take to complete a draft report following the completion of fieldwork varies from 2 days up to 29 days and that the timeliness of management responses also varied considerably. As such, the Chair questioned if there were targets in place for the above-mentioned areas of the audit process. The Service Director advised that although there were no specific targets in place for the time taken to undertake fieldwork, as due to the very nature of the role, some were quicker to carry out than others, local performance management arrangements were in place across the Council’s Internal Audit team. The Service Director acknowledged that the development of targets would help to further strengthening existing performance managements arrangements and agreed to take forward an action to develop targets for inclusion in future reports. 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 2025/26; and 2. To consider what comments and / or recommendations, if any, they wish to make.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: 1. To consider the CSC JES draft Statement of Accounts covering the period 1st April 2025 to 31st August 2025; 2. To consider the impact, if any, upon the draft Statement of Accounts of issues and audit reports brought before the Committee during the year to date; and 3. To note the plans for the audit of the CSC JES Statement of Accounts for 2025/26.
The Service Director – Finance Services (Education & Financial Reporting) provided the Governance and Audit Committee with the opportunity to consider the draft (unaudited) 2025/26 Statement of Accounts of the Central South Consortium Joint Education Service Joint Committee (CSC JES) and provided an overview as set out in the covering report. The Vice-Chair noted that there were reserve balances remaining as at the 31st August 2025 and sought further information on the process to be followed to determine the intended use of the balances. The Service Director advised that the accounts would firstly need to be audited to ensure that there are no material misstatements and also that the balances are correct and, following completion of the process, the audited statement of accounts would be presented to Central South Joint Committee for approval, alongside the accompanying external audit report. It was explained that any remaining distributable reserve balances would then need to be distributed to the constituent authorities in accordance with the legal agreement in place and each of the local authority’s contribution percentages. A Member questioned the role of the Governance and Audit Committee in terms of overseeing the arrangements from 1st September 2025. It was explained that in terms of the statutory accounts, the new regional service from 1st September 2025 would no longer be operating under a joint committee governance arrangement, but rather a joint arrangement between the five local authorities and as such, there would no longer be a requirement to produce a statement of accounts for consideration by the Governance and Audit Committee. However, it was noted that, as Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council continues to be the host, all Council wide type issues, such as internal audit reviews and recommendations, would be relevant to the new joint arrangement and will continue to be reported to the Governance and Audit Committee. The Chair sought assurance that the close-down arrangements for the Central South Consortium were being undertaken in line with the legal agreement, as referenced within the report, to which the Service Director confirmed was the case. The Chair thanked the Service Director for the update and the Governance and Audit Committee RESOLVED: 1. To consider the CSC JES draft Statement of Accounts covering the period 1st April 2025 to 31st August 2025; 2. To consider the impact, if any, upon the draft Statement of Accounts of issues and audit reports brought before the Committee during the year to date; and 3. To note the plans for the audit of the CSC JES Statement of Accounts for 2025/26.
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 (Education & Financial Reporting) provided the Governance and Audit Committee with the opportunity to scrutinise Treasury Management information, as presented to full Council on 26th November 2025, and provided an overview as set out in the covering report. The Chair thanked the officer for the report and commented that the update provides assurance that the Council has robust arrangements in place and were operating within the appropriate prudential limits. 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 next items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of the exempt information as defined in paragraph 14 of Part 4 of the Schedule 12A of the Act.
The Governance and Audit Committee RESOLVED that the press and public be excluded from the meeting under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act (as amended) for the next items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of the exempt information as defined in paragraph 14 of Part 4 of the Schedule 12A of the Act.
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