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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 There were apologies from Councillor Williams.
2.1 The following declarations were made: • Councillor Ashley declared a personal interest as he was in receipt of a Pension from the Greater Gwent Pension Fund. • Councillor Jones declared a personal interest as he was a contributor to, and his wife 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. • Mr. Kelleher declared a personal interest as he was in receipt of a pension from the Greater Gwent Pension Fund.
3.1 The minutes of the meeting held on 25 September 2025 were considered. It was agreed that the minutes were an accurate record.
4.1 The Business and Democratic Support Services Manager gave an update on actions. 4.2 Lay Members would be invited to a workshop briefing in the New Year to support their development and understanding. The Head of Communications was exploring opportunities for Lay Members to attend Citizen Assembly meetings, with potential involvement by the Chair. Training and seminars on Marmot principles remained available and ongoing. Officers confirmed that the Apollo principles referenced in reports related to the Council’s medium-term financial planning process. 4.3 The Committee noted the action sheet.
5.1 The Head of Financial Services reported on the position of the 2024/25 Statement of Accounts. 5.2 Draft accounts were published by the statutory deadline of 30 June (and were available by the end of May). Certification by 31 October was not achieved due to a combination of resourcing pressures and a significant issue identified by Audit Wales concerning the sequencing of asset accounting transactions. While individual transactions were supportable, the order of processing had resulted in a material misstatement. 5.3 The issue spanned multiple years and required corrections back to a materially sound base year with adjustments carried forward. Officers confirmed that the matter did not affect reserves, the General Fund or Council Tax levels, as entries were accounting neutral; however, certain balance sheet items were misstated and needed to be corrected to meet audit requirements. Work was ongoing in collaboration with Audit Wales to implement system adjustments and retrospective corrections, aiming to bring the final accounts to the Committee by 19 March 2026, subject to competing priorities and audit review cycles. 5.4 Following questions from the Committee, the Head of Financial Services confirmed the following points: · The statutory certification deadline of 31 October 2025 had been missed; there were potential reputational implications but no direct financial penalties. · The matter reflected process sequencing rather than data entry error; remediation would require significant officer time to address. · The approach had been longstanding and not previously challenged; Audit Wales’ line of inquiry illuminated the issue for the current year, and officers accepted the need to correct and realign processes. · A realistic timetable was being managed to avoid knock-on impacts into 2025/26, with Audit Wales engaged in reviewing the corrective methods. 5.5 The Governance & Audit Committee: • Noted the position in respect of the 2024/25 external audit process. • Noted the next steps for finalising the Council’s Statement of Accounts.
6.1 The Chief Executive presented the draft response to the statutory Panel Performance Assessment undertaken earlier in the electoral cycle. 6.2 The panel concluded that the Council was well led, with strong Member–Officer relationships, clear role understanding and robust governance systems. The Council’s bold and innovative vision to tackle health inequality and sustainability through Marmot principles and early intervention was commended, alongside opportunities to advance the federated model with Blaenau Gwent. The draft response translated recommendations into an action plan, focusing on executing Marmot and early intervention in actionable detail, strengthening risk management on delivery, and building broader leadership capacity to avoid over-reliance on key individuals. 6.3 Following questions from the Committee, Officers confirmed the following points: · Accelerating federation carried risks of cultural disruption and operational complexity; mitigation would include phased implementation and clear communication to align staff and Members. · Marmot would be applied using proportionate universalism: universal improvement across communities with proportionately greater resources directed to the areas of highest need. · Blaenau Gwent had achieved Marmot Council status. Further joint working and development of aligned governance processes will give the opportunity to further strengthen the benefits of the federated model. · Leadership development and succession planning were being embedded via investment in staff at all levels and practical opportunities to lead in teams and communities, supported by a Chief Executive development programme offered to c.250 leaders across both boroughs. 6.4 The Governance and Audit Committee undertook its statutory role in the Panel Performance Assessment process by - reviewed the council’s response to its Panel Performance Assessment (PPA), and - made recommendations for changes to the response to the review.
7.1 The Monitoring Officer presented the Annual Governance Statement (AGS) for review prior to submission to Council. 7.2 The AGS sets out the governance arrangements that have been operating during the last year, the statement was in the same format as previous years and so the MO highlighted some of the key updates. This included the approval of a public participation strategy for children and young people, the invitation to register for the People’s panel, and the establishment of an officers’ participatory group), the adoption of the Council’s third Delivery Plan. The Federated Model of Political Governance with the new arrangements with Blaenau Gwent. 7.3 The Internal Audit’s overall opinion improved from ‘reliable’ to ‘sound with scope for improvement,’ with no significant control issues identified, and the review of effectiveness concluded that arrangements were effective. 7.4 Following questions from the Committee, Officers confirmed the following points: · No separate document is produced to evidence that the Governance and Audit committee considers the effectiveness of the Council’s arrangements through a planned programme of work. · References to the Global Internal Audit Standards would not appear in the next year’s AGS, as the standards came into effect after March 2025. 7.5 The Committee scrutinised and made comments on the draft Annual Governance Statement.
8.1 The Head of Financial Services presented the mid-year Treasury Management monitoring report as required under the Code of Practice. 8.2 The report confirmed compliance with prudential indicators and that borrowing and investments remained within authorised and operational limits. The capital programme had grown during the year, which was typical due to in-year grant awards, and the financing profile showed the majority of funding sourced via external grants, with a relatively small and affordable borrowing requirement. Officers highlighted that investment returns compared favourably with industry benchmarks, reflecting a prudent low-risk approach prioritising security and liquidity ahead of yield. 8.3 Following questions from the Committee, the Head of Financial Services confirmed the following points: · Lottery funding referenced in the programme related to Council-led applications (e.g. heritage/cultural schemes). · Programme expansion largely reflected grant allocations received during the year; compliance with prudential indicators remained on track and affordable within the revenue budget. 8.4 The Governance and Audit Committee noted the contents of this report and any comments for consideration by Council were provided.
9.1 The Head of Financial Services presented the forward-looking Capital and Treasury Management Strategy. 9.2 The strategy proposed continued reliance on internal borrowing where cash balances permitted, thereby minimising external debt costs, and favoured short-term borrowing while market rates remained elevated, with a view to accessing longer-term borrowing when rates moderated. Investment priorities remained security, liquidity and yield, with minimum balances maintained to ensure access to Public Works Loan Board (PWLB) facilities and sound cash flow. The Section 151 Officer retained delegated authority to make day-to-day borrowing and investment decisions, supported by external treasury advisers, with the strategy parameters subject to annual Council approval. 9.3 Following questions from the Committee, the Head of Financial Services made the following points: • Short-term borrowing would be used tactically to avoid locking into higher long-term rates, shifting to longer maturities as market conditions improved. • A minimum investment balance would be maintained (including to meet PWLB access requirements) within a low-risk framework emphasising asset security and liquidity 9.4 The Governance & Audit Committee scrutinised and commented upon the Capital and Treasury Management Strategy and related appendices.
10.1 The Business & Director Support Manager presented an update on External Regulatory Activity which included two new external reports. 10.2 The CIW regional report on the South East Wales Adoption Service (hosted by Blaenau Gwent) found strong governance and strategic direction, robust adoption assessments, and excellent safeguarding awareness among practitioners, while identifying challenges including delays in adoption support due to waiting lists, insufficient recruitment of adopters to meet children’s needs, and premises that were not ideal for service delivery. 10.3 The Audit Wales report on the Council’s Leisure Strategy commended the development of the strategy in accordance with the sustainable development principle (as per the Well-Being of Future Generations Act 2015), alignment with corporate priorities, and collaboration, but recommended strengthening engagement and consultation to capture diverse community views and establishing baseline performance data, clear targets, and milestones to measure progress effectively 10.4 Following questions from the Committee, the Business and Democratic Services Manager made the following points: • Leisure Strategy performance baselines would be developed with the new provider; timing of the new strategic approach had limited historical baselines. • The adoption service’s action plan was being developed regionally; details on premises location and mitigations would be provided to Members once agreed. There would also be details of where the service was based provided. • Directorate integration would continue to be reinforced to ensure consistent delivery against strategic objectives and Future Generations principles. 10.5 The Governance and Audit Committee undertook their assurance role by noting new recommendations / proposals for improvement received and accepted by the Council since the last update report.
11.1 Audit Wales provided a briefing on the biennial UK-wide data matching exercise designed to detect and prevent fraud. 11.2 Local progress for Torfaen was outlined, with matches prioritised by risk category and very high-risk cases investigated first. Officers noted that the current findings indicated low levels of fraud and some timing-related errors, consistent with robust internal controls. The creditors duplicate payments exercise was also being undertaken annually alongside NFI, recognising that high volumes of identical care home payments were legitimate repeat transactions rather than errors or fraud. 11.3 Following questions from the Committee, Audit Wales confirmed the following: · The Cabinet Office risk logic determines ‘very high’ versus ‘high’ matches; Torfaen investigates all very high-risk matches and a proportion of high-risk matches subject to capacity. · Duplicate payment matches are reviewed with established annual creditor checks, noting that repeated care home payments reflect correct weekly cycles rather than anomalies. · Capacity was sufficient to investigate high-risk NFI matches, and escalations would be pursued where control breakdowns were indicated. 11,4 Councillor Ashley gave apologies as he had to leave the remainder of the meeting to attend an appointment.
12.1 The Head of Audit reported solid progress against the operational plan, with 57% completion against an 85% year-end target and core systems at 83% completion. 12.2 No high-priority recommendations were identified in the quarter. An audit of community halls resulted in a limited assurance opinion due to expected controls not being in place; follow-up audit work was scheduled to confirm implementation of agreed actions. Officers also presented a table of follow-up audits evidencing improved assurance opinions where recommendations had been implemented (e.g. moderate moving to substantial). 12.3 Following questions from the Committee, the Head of Audit made the following points: · Follow-up audits showed improving opinions where recommendations had been implemented, demonstrating control strengthening. · No significant issues required escalation to the Committee in this quarter. 12.4 The Governance and Audit Committee noted the content of the report. .
13.1 The Head of Audit presented the Internal Audit Charter and mandate for approval, in line with the Global Internal Audit Standards effective April 2025. 13,2 The Charter reaffirmed Internal Audit’s purpose, authority and responsibility, and confirmed access to people, records and systems. The mandate reflected the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2014 requirement for a relevant body to maintain adequate and effective internal audit. 13,3 The Head of Audit noted continued external assessment on a five-year cycle, with the last external assessments in 2017 and 2022 both concluding ‘generally conforms’. The internal self-assessment for 2025/26 was nearing completion and indicated continued ‘generally conforms’. A Member briefing on GS would be scheduled in the New Year. 13.4 Following questions from the Committee, Officers confirmed the following points: · The Charter and mandate aligned with the new standards and the Council’s Constitution; no impairments to independence were reported. · A standalone Internal Audit Strategy document was not required since constituent elements already existed (e.g. fraud strategy, service plans, risk assessment). · There would be consideration of a briefing taking place on these standards for members of the Committee. 13.5 The Governance and Audit Committee discussed and approved the Internal Audit Charter and Mandate.
14.1 The Work Programme was presented for information.
15.1 The next meeting is scheduled to take place on 19/03/26.
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.
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