The constitution, councillors' conduct, audit, performance and complaints.
What councils do
How the council itself is run: its constitution, staff, buildings, IT, complaints, and how councillors behave.
Who decides
The full Council agrees the constitution. A standards committee deals with councillors' conduct; the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales investigates complaints.
Having a say
Complain to the council first; if you're not satisfied, you can go to the Ombudsman. Council meetings are public, and many are broadcast.
In numbers
Welsh councils plan to spend £67 per person on this in 2026-27.
It ranges from -£4 in Monmouthshire to £167 in Blaenau Gwent.
Council tax collected: 95% across Wales (2025-26).
Council tax unpaid at the end of the year: £119 million across Wales (2025-26).
Council tax still owed from earlier years: £199.3 million across Wales (2025-26).
Council tax written off: £9 million across Wales (2025-26).
RESOLVED: Council AGREED to:
1.
Note the forthcoming vacancy of the post of Director of Governance and Legal Services, and approve a recruitment and selection exercise to fill the post;
2.
Agree no changes to the statement of duties, terms and conditions, including remuneration for the post, as previously determined by ECC and Council and referenced in paragraphs 6 and 9 of this report;
3.
Delegate authority to the Corporate Director, Resources, to put in place appropriate arrangements for public advertisement of the post;
4.
Note that an Appointments Committee will be convened to make a suitable appointment under its approved terms of reference;
5.
Receive a further report/s to:
a)
Note the Appointments Committee’s appointment of a new Director of Governance and Legal Services and for Council to designate the new appointee as the Council’s Monitoring Officer pursuant to section 5 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989;
b)
Agree the arrangements to be made for, and the designation of, an Interim Monitoring Officer, to discharge the statutory functions of this role until such time as the new Director of Governance and Legal Services and Monitoring Officer takes up their position;
6.
Authorise the Monitoring Officer to amend the Constitution Article 11 references to the term ‘employee’ to read instead as ‘officer’, in order to remove the inconsistency within the Constitution, as explained in paragraph 17 of the report;
7.
Assign the Corporate Director Resources to assist in carrying out the Returning Officer’s duties during his absence, with effect from the date on which the Director of Governance and Legal Services (as Deputy Returning Officer) leaves the employment of the Council.
Vale of Glamorgan, Licensing: Public Protection Committee,
RESOLVED –
(1) T H A T interviews be conducted on 19th September, 2023 in relation to the
post of Head of Digital and for Members to make a final determination to appoint a
suitable candidate.
(2) T H A T residual appointment details be delegated, as appropriate, to the
Director of Corporate Resources, in consultation with the Leader and Chief
Executive, once a suitable applicant has been confirmed by Elected Members of
the Committee.
No.
Reasons for decisions
(1) To ensure an appointment to the post was conducted in accordance with
the Council's constitution.
(2) To ensure that all Council functions were met within the area.
Vale of Glamorgan, Senior Management Appointment Committee,
RESOLVED –
(1) T H A T following final interviews on Tuesday 19th September, 2023 that
N.J. be appointed to the post of Head of Digital.
(2) T H A T residual appointment details be delegated, as appropriate, to the
Director of Corporate Resources, in consultation with the Leader and Chief
Executive, once a suitable applicant had been confirmed by Members.
Reasons for decisions
(1) To ensure an appointment to the post was conducted in accordance with
the Council's Constitution.
(2) To ensure that all Council functions were met within the area.
Vale of Glamorgan, Governance and Audit Committee,
RESOLVED – T H A T Members of the Governance and Audit Committee be
allowed four weeks in which to submit comments regarding the Annual Report for
2022/23 and for the final report to be presented to the Governance and Audit
Committee in December.
Reason for decision
Having regard to the contents of the report and discussions at the meeting.
Vale of Glamorgan, Governance and Audit Committee,
RESOLVED – T H A T the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards External Peer
Assessment of the Regional Internal Audit Service be acknowledged and endorsed.
Reason for decision
Having regard to the contents of the report and discussions at the meeting.
Vale of Glamorgan, Governance and Audit Committee,
RESOLVED –
(1) T H A T the status of the High and Medium recommendations contained
within the report be agreed.
(2) T H A T the relevant Directors / Heads of Service responsible for safeguarding
and cyber security be invited to attend the next meeting of the Governance and Audit
Committee in order to advise of the reasons for the delays in completed actions and
to outline what actions were in place in order to complete recommendations.
Reason for decisions
(1&2) Having regard to the contents of the report and discussions at the meeting.
Vale of Glamorgan, Governance and Audit Committee,
RESOLVED – T H A T the comments made by Members of the Governance and
Audit Committee be referred to Cabinet. The comments being:
• The report was easily accessible given the level and detail of information
provided;
• For extra context to be added around the use of agency staff and the
percentage of overall Council salaries that agency contracts make. Also to
add in some information regarding the Council’s policies around the use of
staff employed via agencies;
• Who were the targeted audiences as it would be difficult for the ordinary
person to engage with the report;
• Consideration be given to the balanced opinions provided in the report,
particularly as Council Tax was rising and the level of services were
decreasing;
• Brexit was mentioned under the Critical Challenges section but there was very
little detail about what that meant;
• Was more balanced commentary needed around Project Zero given that at its
previous meeting of the Governance and Audit Committee, the Committee
had asked for the risk to be attributed a “catastrophic” status;
• It was important to highlight the risks associated with Project Zero as the
Council had committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2030;
• The report mentioned that the Council had introduced new technology to
facilitate hybrid Council and Committee meetings, but given recent progress
was that a true reflection;
• There was reference to staff absence days increasing, so more context
behind that was required as well as data to show as a comparison to other
Local Authorities;
• With regard to areas that had missed targets for consideration to be given as
to how these were presented and to also include further commentary under
the Regulatory Improvements section.
Reason for decision
Having regard to the contents of the report and discussions at the meeting.
Vale of Glamorgan, Governance and Audit Committee,
RESOLVED –
(1) T H A T consideration be given to the Governance and Audit Committee
seeing the Statement of Accounts for the Cardiff Region City Deal, the Central South
Consortium and also the other joint services, namely the Shared Regulatory
Services and the Joint Adoption Service.
(2) T H A T the report and appendices be referred to Cabinet for its oversight.
Reason for decisions
(1&2) Having regard to the contents of the report and discussions at the meeting.
Vale of Glamorgan, Governance and Audit Committee,
RESOLVED – T H A T the contents of the report and the progress made against the
2023-24 Internal Audit Annual Risk Based Plan be noted.
Reason for decision
Having regard to the contents of the report and discussions at the meeting.