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There is no summary of this meeting yet. One is written once the council publishes the minutes. The agenda and papers are below.
1.1 Apologies were received from Kathryn Pegington (Chair), Councillor Stuart Ashley, Councillor Nick Byrne, Nigel Aurelius, Assistant Chief Executive Resources and David Lilly, Head of Financial Services.
2.1 There were no declarations of interest.
3.1 The minutes of the meeting held on 29 June 2022 were confirmed as an accurate record.
4.1 The minutes of the meeting held on 29 September 2022 were confirmed as an accurate record.
5.1 The Committee noted the action sheet.
6.1 JR and BR outlined the quarterly update, and focussed specifically on the financial audit work, performance audit work and local government national studies that were planned / in progress. 6.2 JR confirmed that an update on the audit of the Council’s 2021-22 statement of accounts would be provided to the Committee in due course, and she also explained that the issues around infrastructure were on a national level and had not previously been an issue of audit risk. 6.3 The Governance and Audit Committee agreed to note the content of the update.
7.1 The GFOC outlined the report on the 2022/23 Treasury Management Strategy and Prudential Indicators which were approved by Council on 3 March 2022. The report reviewed: • Treasury activity from 1 April 2022 to 30 September 2022. • Any changes to the prudential indicators and investment criteria set in the Treasury Management Strategy approved by Council. • The forecast of the 2022/23 capital programme. 7.2 The GFOC explained that the new service area of Communities, Customer & Digital had been included in the ‘Capital Expenditure by Service’ table in paragraph 4.1 of the report. 7.3 The GFOC updated members of the Committee with regards to paragraph 4.9 of the report and confirmed that Link Group had recently been appointed as the Council’s treasury management and leasing services consultant, following a tendering process. 7.4 Following a question from the Committee, the GFOC confirmed that despite the current financial climate, replacement borrowing on more favourable terms was possible due to the lower rates available now compared to the rates that had previously been arranged. 7.5 The Governance and Audit Committee agreed to note the contents of the report.
8.1 The B&DSSM outlined the report, which enabled members of the Committee to review the actions proposed and progress achieved against previously received recommendations. 8.2 The B&DSSM confirmed that two new relevant external audit reports had been received since the Committee received its last update in July 2022. The ‘Springing Forward – Assets and Workforce’ report was a local review undertaken by Audit Wales and the ‘Public Sector Readiness for Net Zero Carbon by 2030’ report was a national study undertaken by Audit Wales. Both of the above were outlined in paragraph 4.2 of the report. 8.3 Since the last update report in March 2022, scrutiny committees had undertaken review work against the referrals received by the Governance and Audit Committee and had recommended the removal of two items from the monitor, as shown in paragraph 4.3.1 of the report. 8.4 The Governance and Audit Committee agreed to note: (i) The progress made, as set out in the Action Plan (attached as appendix one to the report) to ensure appropriate action was being taken to address recommendations previously accepted by the Council with regards to its governance arrangements; and (ii) The addition and removal of regulatory reports that would be monitored by the Council’s overview and scrutiny committees.
9.1 The C&FOITL outlined the report, which provided the Committee with information regarding complaints management and performance to enable the Committee to review and assess the Authority’s ability to handle complaints effectively. 9.2 The C&FOITL confirmed that the Complaints Team had received 122 compliments from service users during the 2021/22 financial year, which was an increase from the previous year. The number of complaints received by the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales (PSOW) regarding the Council had increased from 12 in 2020/21 to 18 on 2021/22. The team promoted the importance of training with officers and met regularly with key officers in order to build relationships and understanding. Information from the PSOW was shared with service areas as part of the above. 9.3 Following questions from the Committee, the C&FOITL made the following points: • There were a number of reasons why the Complaints Team’s work had increased, such as issues within specific service areas; however a greater awareness of the team’s work and the support they could provide in terms of resolution was also a factor in the increase. • The C&FOITL agreed to arrange an overview training session for members of the Committee, outlining how complaints were handled. 9.4 Members of the Committee praised officers for the comprehensive report and stated that the most important factors around complaints were how they were dealt with and learned from. 9.5 Mark Rees suggested that future reports could include one or two examples of complaints, including timelines and resulting actions. 9.6 Councillor Williams requested that future reports included percentages for increases / decreases in the number of compliments, as this was how all other information was presented within the report. 9.7 The Governance and Audit Committee agreed to note the contents of the report and commented that complaints were being handled very effectively.
10.1 The HoIA&P outlined the report and provided a quarterly update to the Committee on the progress made to date against the Annual Operational Plan for 2022/23. The progress in terms of jobs completed and planned to date was outlined in Appendix A of the report and the opinions on the work carried out to date. 10.2 The HoIA&P confirmed that the achievement of the overall plan was at 33% against a target of 65% and the achievement of the core plan was at 22% against the annual target of 100%. He reassured members of the Committee that he was not concerned by the above figures as they were on target. 10.3 The HoIA&P confirmed that there were no significant issues to raise within the Internal Audit Plan 2022/23 (Appendix 1 of the report); however a follow-up audit of Community Halls would occur in approximately 6-9 months due to the limited opinion that had been provided in that audit, and this would be reported back to the Committee. 10.4 The Governance and Audit Committee agreed to note the content of the report.
11.1 The HoIA&P presented the work programme and confirmed that it contained the items that were expected to be considered by the Governance and Audit Committee throughout the year; however it was subject to change. 11.2 The HoIA&P explained that a special meeting of the Committee may be required in order to consider the Torfaen Statement of Accounts. 11.3 The Governance and Audit Committee agreed to note the content of the work programme.
12.1 The next meeting is scheduled to take place on 18 January 2023. 12.2 The meeting closed at 10.35am.
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