Loading
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 Ashley, Councillor Byrne, Councillor Davies & Councillor Williams
2. 1 The following declarations were made: • Councillor Jones declared a personal interest due to his wife being in receipt of a pension from the Greater Gwent Pension Fund. • Councillor Jones declared a personal interest due to being a contributor to the pension fund. • Professor Kelleher declared a personal interest as he was in receipt of a pension from the Greater Gwent Pension Fund. • Mr. Rees declared a personal interest as he was in receipt of a small pension from the Greater Gwent Pension Fund. • Mrs. Pegington declared a personal interest as her husband was in receipt of a pension from the Greater Gwent Pension Fund.
3.1 The minutes of the meeting held on 26th June 2024 were confirmed as an accurate record.
4.1 The Committee noted the action sheet.
5.1 The Chief Executive outlined the report and provided an update on the draft Annual Self-Assessment and Well-being Report 2023/24. 5.2 The Council was required to publish a report to publicly show how the Council was performing. This robust self-assessment showed the progress made against the Wellbeing objectives and delivery plan whilst simultaneously presenting how performance across the Council had been strengthened. 5.3 The Self-Assessment identified the challenges the public sector were likely to face in the future and showed appropriate preparation in order to continue to improve the well-being of the borough. There would be a focus on a Driving Communities approach whilst bolstering the resilience and independence of residents. 5.4 The close working relationship that would be formed with Blaenau-Gwent County Borough Council as a result of the new working arrangements would further increase the Council’s innovation and creativity. This would allow for the right culture within the Council that focused on striving for continuous improvement. 5.5 The Chief Executive gave thanks to the Business & Democratic Support Services Manager and Senior Corporate Improvement & Scrutiny Officer for their hard work on the report. 5.6 Following questions from the Committee, the Chief Executive made the following points: · The Discovery Phase in respect of Blaenau-Gwent County Borough Council had started mid-September. This would continue until the end of January where it would be decided by each Borough’s Members whether this was to continue. If the decision was made to continue the discovery phase this would then continue until the end of April where actions would be agreed. · Future Self-Assessments for both Torfaen and Blaenau-Gwent would scrutinise the collaborative efforts. The Self-Assessment form of scrutiny was tried and tested within Torfaen and would be replicated in Blaenau-Gwent. · Torfaen County Borough Council and Blaenau-Gwent Borough Council would remain separate but would be in the position to take a unique response to opportunities presented to them. 5.7 The Committee reviewed and commented on the Self-Assessment and Well-being Report 2023/24. The committee made their recommendations for any changes to the conclusions or actions the Council intends to take as result of undertaking the Self-Assessment exercise.
6.1 The head of financial services outlined the report and provided an update on treasury activity from 1 April 2024 to 31 August 2024. 6.2 The increased expenditure and slippage on capital could be explained by additional grants being received and the reprofiled capital programme approved by Council in July 2024. Table 3 within 4.3 of the report showed the changes to the capital financing requirements. There had been a new accounting standard for leases which accounted for the majority of the change of figures within the table. 6.3 The indications for external debt were comfortably within set limits. Borrowing activity had not changed since the previous report but there had been a large amount of temporary borrowing whilst monitoring the interest rates of long-term borrowing. In terms of investments, it was noted that there had not been a huge change in position since the beginning of the financial year. 6.4 The committee reviewed the contents of this report.
7.1 The Business & Democratic Support Services Manager outlined the report and provided an update on current actions proposed and progress achieved against previously received recommendations. 7.2 The current progress made against addressing actions could be seen in Appendix One of the report. It was not proposed that any recommendations were to be removed during this update. 7.3 There had been one new report received by Audit Wales during this period on Financial Sustainability which could be seen in the appendices of the report. There had been no recommendations made as an outcome of this review. 7.4 During this period there had been an Estyn Schools Monitoring visit and a CIW conducted review on Domiciliary Care. Estyn’s visit found that the changes that had been made by leaders had a positive impact on the education service’s work. The CIW inspection had positive conclusions and no priority actions. There was an action raised from the CIW inspection regarding recruitment and training of staff that would be taken to Adult and Communities Overview & Scrutiny Committee for further scrutinising. 7.5 The Committee: I. Reviewed the progress made, as set out in the Action Plan (attached as Appendix 1) to ensure appropriate action was 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.
8.1 The Complaints & FOI Team Leader outlined the report and provided an update on all complaints work for 2023/2024. All Torfaen County Borough Council complaints were dealt with by a central team who then worked closely with all officers to collect timely responses. 8.2 There had been 248 complaints within the last financial year which was an increase on 160 complaints the previous year. This increase was partly due to the revised way the complaints team categorised contacts during the previous financial year to be in line with policy and practices across other Local Authorities. Despite this increase only 6% of contacts were referred to the Ombudsman which was a decrease from the previous year’s figure of 11%. . 8.3 The percentage of fully upheld complaints increased slightly from 52.5% to 55%. Economy and Environment had the largest increases, some of which was attributed to the complaints received surrounding the Waste consultation in April 2023. 8.4 The increase in the number of complaints was a good reflection on the new processes and work that had been undertaken to implement these. There were currently conversations being held surrounding a new CRM platform for FOI’s and Complaints. 8.5 The Committee noted that this was a comprehensive report. 8.6 The Committee: i. Noted the information presented in this report and reviewed and assessed the Authority’s ability to handle complaints effectively. ii. Made clear comments and recommendations in relation to the Authority’s ability to handle complaints effectively, enabling the Complaints team to continue to work proactively with service areas to focus on learning and service improvement.
9.1 Alice King outlined the report and provided a quarterly update on Audit Wales work. The reported quarter had concluded in June. 9.2 The report summarising all the work undertaken since the last Annual Summary would be finalised in January 2025 and presented to the committee. All financial audit work was currently on-going. 9.3 Charlotte Owen gave a summary of the Performance Audit Work as seen in the report. It was noted that the thematic review for Staffing Resources and Pressures in Local Government had been deferred to the 2025-2026 financial year and a refund had been issued to the Local Authority in respect of this deferral. 9.4 Following questions from the Committee, Charlotte Owen and the Chief Executive made the following point: · There was no formal Audit work regarding the relationship between Torfaen County Borough Council and Blaenau-Gwent County Borough Council, but this would be looked at and undertaken in due course. .
10.1 The Head of Audit outlined the report and provided an update on the progress made to date against the Annual Operational Plan for 2024/25. 10.2 The achievement of the overall plan was currently 27% against a target of 75%. The achievement of the core plan (major financial systems) was 33% against a target of 100%. This was on target to be complete at the end of the financial year. There were no significant control issues or audit findings that needed to be brought to the attention of the Committee. 10.3 The Core HR / Payroll system audit (recruitment, contract amendments and terminations) had been completed and the opinion was now Substantial. There had been one priority recommendation in respect of the retention of data as this was being held too long in accordance with GDPR requirements. 10.4 There had been one school audit that had a limited opinion but this would return to normal once staffing issues had been addressed. 10.5 The Committee noted the content of the report and sought further clarification on any issues identified where necessary.
11.1 There were no updates to give on the work programme.
12.1 The next meeting is scheduled to take place on 30.01.2024 but it was noted that there would be a special committee meeting taking place the week commencing 4th November 2024.
Councillors must say when they have a personal link to something being discussed, such as a job, a property or a family member. A prejudicial interest is one strong enough that the councillor usually leaves the room and takes no part.
Declarations are read from the minutes once they are published.
Lists the council's current councillors only. Co-opted members, officers and former councillors aren't shown.