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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 Councillor Byrne due to technical difficulties.
2.1 The following declarations of interest were made: • Councillor Ashley, Councillor Williams and Councillor Jones declared a personal interest as they were all in receipt of a pension from Torfaen County Borough Council. • Mrs. Pegington, Mr. Rees and Mr. Kelleher declared a personal interest as they were all in receipt of a pension from Torfaen County Borough Council. • Councillor Ashley declared a personal interest in agenda item 6 due to being a governor at Maendy Primary school.
3.1 The minutes of the meeting held on 14/06/2023 were confirmed as an accurate record.
4.1 The Committee noted the action sheet.
5.1 AK outlined the report and provided an update on the draft report in order to verify the accuracy and completeness of the information contained and to obtain views on the conclusions reached. 5.2 There had been one misstatement which could be seen within paragraph 11 of the report. This was an error made by Torfaen County Borough Council due to adjusted historical cost depreciation not being processed on certain assets following revaluation. This had been noted by the Local Authority and would be addressed in all future financial years. The report was due to be signed and agreed at the next Council meeting, taking place Tuesday 24th of October. 5.3 AK gave thanks to the Local Authority’s Finance team, acknowledging their hard work and the positive working relationship. 5.4 Following questions from the Committee, AK made the following points: • Disclosure errors was the name given when there was an error evident on the face of the accounts, rather than a more significant underlying error. • Any discrepancies in accounting had occurred due to the nature of the work undertaken within the audit, but this had since been corrected with the assistance of the finance team. 5.5 The DCE expressed his thanks to AK. It was felt that AK had made a seamless transition into her new role at Audit Wales whilst simultaneously offering valuable support to the Local Authority.
6.1 The DFS outlined the report. The Final Statement of Accounts 2022/2023 would be presented to Council at the next meeting 24th of October 2023. This year’s report was noted to be more detailed than previous years in accordance with the new standard Audit Wales were working to. 6.2 Following questions from the Committee, the DFS made the following points: • There would be consideration into training on fraudulent matters for all Committee members. • Information surrounding non-publicly listed investments and estimations would be shared with the Committee once obtained. • The reserves had been calculated to be sufficient based on a 4-year plan that looked at the everyday operational needs of Torfaen County Borough Council. • The term “original budget” referred to the initial budget amount that had been approved at the Council meeting in Spring 2022. The term “working budget” referred to the latest version of this budget which included any additional amounts and adjustments. • The net cost of services remained the same and any variations were balanced across budget lines. • Useable reserves were funds that were available for Local Authority use, an example of these would be savings on previously underspent budgets. Unusable reserves were funds that were not to be used for general purposes. • Due to changing work practices as a result of Covid-19, there was a general underspend due to reduced demand for certain expenditures. • There was a forecasted shortfall for 2022-2023 due to unavoidable economic pressures but the budget had been revised to take this into account. • The capital allocation for larger schemes was being reviewed in order to identify any potential revenue slippage. However, there would be some slippage within the 23/24 financial year due to delayed schemes and inflationary pressures. These would be monitored and additional support from Welsh Government would be requested if necessary. • Individual projects and revenue would be looked at via the scrutiny process in November. • HoIA&P- Anonymous referrals were received in respect of fraud and whistleblowing, but these were not actively sought as it was felt staff were aware of where to report this. • All evaluations were undertaken by the Assets team within Torfaen County Borough Council. These evaluations were completed in line with all relevant standards. • Financial assumptions are modelled and monitored based on negotiations and with consideration of the assumptions of other Local Authorities. These are often a robust estimate and are adjusted when needed. 6.3 The Governance and Audit Committee: I. Noted the position of the 2022/23 external audit process, II. Reviewed the Council’s Statement of Accounts, III. Noted the requirement for the Chair of the Governance & Audit Committee to sign alongside the Chief Financial Officer, the Council’s Letter of Representation
7.1 The GFO outlined the report and provided an update on all treasury activity from 1 April 2023 to 31 August 2023 and any changes to the prudential indicators and investment criteria as set in the Treasury Management Strategy. The forecast of the 2023/24 capital programme was also provided. 7.2 The Bank of England was currently attempting to control inflation levels but as a result borrowing had become more expensive. Therefore, there would only be short-term borrowing considered until interest rates fell. All investments or borrowing would be carefully considered and monitored. 7.3 The Governance and Audit Committee agreed and reviewed the content of this report.
8.1 The B&DSSM outlined the report. There was an update provided on the actions currently monitored by the Governance and Audit Committee within the appendix of the report. The new reports and recommendations for the Council were also included within the report. 8.2 Following questions from the Committee, the B&DSSM made the following points: • There would be a separate conversation held surrounding the format of the report in response of colour coding Committees. • Further clarification on recommendation 7 would be sought from the relevant director. It was noted that this was a national report, therefore not all the recommendations within the report were specific to Torfaen County Borough Council. • In respect of the action plan, the denoted completed actions would be removed with all members agreement. • The recommendation on page 164 of the report would remain on the action plan as suggested by the Committee and this would be communicated to the relevant service area. 8.3 The Governance and Audit Committee: (i) Reviewed the progress made, as set out in the Action Plan (attached as appendix one) to ensure appropriate action is being taken to address recommendations previously accepted by the Council with regards to its governance arrangements (ii) Noted the addition and removal of regulatory reports that will be monitored by the council’s overview and scrutiny committees.
9.1 The CTL outlined the report and gave an overview of the work undertaken by Complaints team during the 2022/23 period. 9.2 During the 2022/23 financial year, the Authority received a total of 160 complaints; 139 at stage 1, 3 at stage 2 and 18 received from the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales. There was a 73.9% increase on the previous year, this was explained to be due to a revision in the way that complaints were categorised during this period. The revision was implemented in order to align all Local Authority processes. Overall, there had been an increase in compliance and in instances where compliance could not be met, the team remained in contact with the complainant. 9.3 Following questions from the Committee, the CTL made the following points: • The compliments within the report had been sent from Heads of Services. • Complaints were seen as positive learning experiences. In respect of complaints that had referred by Members, Members are often copied into any response when authorised by the complainant. • There was a mistake further in the report and it was confirmed that the number of compliments received by service users was 110. • Complaints can be dependent on what is currently taking place within the borough of Torfaen and there can often be seasonally based complaints. • Any enquiry type complaints are passed to the necessary team, but those that need further intervention are handled by the Complaints team. • Appendix 1 of the report presented a detailed breakdown of the complaints. A larger portion of the complaints referred to Economy and Environment, concerning problems such as uncollected refuse bins. It was observed that the higher number of complaints in this area might not necessarily indicate a significant area of concern, given the nature of these issues. • There would be an inquiry made regarding Ombudsman training for the Governance & Audit Committee. 9.4 The Committee noted that out of the Local Authorities included in the report, Torfaen County Borough Council had the least number of complaints submitted to the Ombudsman. 9.5 The Governance and Audit Committee: (i) Noted the information presented in this report and are requested in doing so to review and assess the Authority’s ability points effectively. (ii) Agreed to make clear comments and recommendations in relation to the Authority’s ability to handle complaints effectively. This will enable the Complaints team to continue to work proactively with service areas to focus on learning and service improvement. (iii) Provided comments in response to the Public Services Ombudsman’s Annual Letter.
10.1 The HoIA&P outlined the report and provided an update of the progress against the Internal Audit plan for 2023/24. The progress of the plan was on track with a current 37% completion out of 75%. The core plan completion was at 41% out of 100%. There were no significant issues within this period that needed to be brought to Committee. 10.2 The Committee noted the usefulness of this document and thanked the HoIA&P. 10.3 The Governance and Audit Committee agreed to note the content of the report and if necessary, seek any further clarification on any issues identified.
11.1 The HoIA&P outlined the report and explained that this had been included to inform Committee members in preparation for the upcoming Governance and Audit meeting in December.
14.1 The next meeting is scheduled to take place on 17.01.2023. 14.2 The meeting closed at 11:29
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