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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
RESOLVED – T H A T the minutes of the meeting held on 12th December, 2022 be approved as a correct record.
RESOLVED - (1) T H A T the report of the Appointed Auditor on the audit of the Council's Financial Statements for 2021/22 be approved and the Financial Statements including the Annual Governance Statement and Final Letter of Representation be recommended for signature by those authorised. (2) T H A T the minor changes to Appendix A be agreed. Those being: • Typographical error in infrastructure paragraph; • Opening Other Reserves in earmarked reserves disclosure; • Note 30 Audit costs (prior year difference); • Updates to the note references. January 23 Minutes - GD No. Reason for decisions (1&2) Having considered the results of the audit of the Council’s Financial Statements for 2021/22.
RESOLVED – (1) T H A T the Forward Work Programme be noted. (2) T H A T the schedule of items for the next meeting, 27th February 2023, be endorsed. January 23 Minutes - GD No. (3) T H A T in terms of audit review work, the Governance and Audit Committee be advised of any concerns or anything significant that the Head of the Regional Internal Audit Service may have. Reasons for decisions (1&2) To ensure the Governance and Audit Committee is aware and informed of progress on the proposed work programme. (3) To advise the Committee of anything of significance or concern. January 23 Minutes - GD
This was received from M. Evans (Lay Member).
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED – T H A T the minutes of the meeting held on 12th December, 2022 be approved as a correct record.
RESOLVED – T H A T the minutes of the meeting held on 12th December, 2022 be approved as a correct record.
No declarations of interest were received.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED - (1) T H A T the report of the Appointed Auditor on the audit of the Council's Financial Statements for 2021/22 be approved and the Financial Statements including the Annual Governance Statement and Final Letter of Representation be recommended for signature by those authorised. (2) T H A T the minor changes to Appendix A be agreed. Those being: • Typographical error in infrastructure paragraph; • Opening Other Reserves in earmarked reserves disclosure; • Note 30 Audit costs (prior year difference); • Updates to the note references. January 23 Minutes - GD No. Reason for decisions (1&2) Having considered the results of the audit of the Council’s Financial Statements for 2021/22.
The Operational Manager – Accountancy introduced the report, the purpose of which was to present to those charged with governance the report of the Auditor General for Wales following the audit of the Council's Financial Statements for 2021/22. For this item, the Committee also welcomed Mr. S. Wyndham from Audit Wales. January 23 Minutes - GD No. The audit of the 2021/22 Statement of Accounts was in the final stages of completion. The latest 2021/22 Statement of Accounts incorporating all agreed amendments was now presented to Governance and Audit Committee. As a result of the impact of the Covid 19 Pandemic the Audit deadline was changed from 31st July to 30th November, 2022. It was further delayed due to the need to amend the Code and bring in statutory regulations to allow changes to the way Infrastructure Assets were disclosed in the Statement of Accounts. The updated Annual Governance Statement at Appendix A, and the report of the Auditor General for Wales and the final Letter of Representation attached as Appendix B, had circulated prior to the Committee meeting. The provisional findings of Audit Wales on behalf of the Appointed Auditor on the audit of the Financial Statements were that: • Audit Wales intend to issue an unqualified audit opinion on this year’s accounts. There were some misstatements in the accounts that had now been corrected by management. The corrected misstatements were summarised below, and included for information in Appendix 3 of the Audit Wales ISA260 report shown in Appendix B: • Overstatement of the Debtors figure in the Financial Instruments note. • Vehicle Assets with a nil net book value that had not been written out of the Council’s accounts and therefore the Gross carrying amount and Accumulated Depreciation were overstated by £483k. • Corrections to the classifications included in the Debtors note. • Some narrative changes to the Senior Officer Remuneration note. • Amendment to the Accounting for a Transport for Wales transaction which required a reduction in the Deferred Capital Receipt value, disposal of the Asset Held for Sale and accounting for residual sum as a Capital Grant Received in Advance. This amendment impacted the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure and balance of the Unusable Reserve and therefore the amendments could be seen across a number of the Statements and disclosure notes contained within the accounts. • Other narrative and presentational amendments including changes to the Audit Fee, Joint Committee disclosures and the Annual Governance Statement. The Committee also noted some minor amendments required to be made within Appendix A. Those being: • Typographical error in infrastructure paragraph; • Opening Other Reserves in earmarked reserves disclosure; • Note 30 Audit costs (prior year difference); and • Updates to the note references. January 23 Minutes - GD No. It was proposed that the audited Statement of Accounts be reported to Council on 30th January, 2023 for approval and then signed by the Auditor General for Wales. Councillor M. Hooper queried the Council’s policy relating to the level of its financial reserves which had been building up overtime. In reply, the Operational Manager advised that the Council policy was indicated within the Budget report presented to Cabinet on 19th January, 2023. That report outlined that the use of reserves would be more closely aligned to the Council’s risks. That included extra funding from reserves for pressures such as homelessness, energy costs and staff pay awards. In addition, a significant portion of the reserves had been earmarked for capital project schemes. It had also been agreed to improve the frequency of reports relating to the use and levels of reserves to Cabinet and to the Scrutiny Committees. The Chair, Mr. G. Chapman, stated that there may be a need for training to be provided to members around the use of reserves and the Council’s policy. Councillor J. Protheroe queried what were the acceptable values for uncorrected misstatements. In reply, Mr. S. Wyndham (Audit Wales) stated that there was a formular used to calculate materiality, which for uncorrected misstatements was around £200k. Details relating to the levels of materiality were contained within the report. Mr. N. Ireland (Lay Member) queried the learning from some of the corrections, citing the £483k for vehicle assets as an example. In response, the Operational Manager stated that for vehicle assets, the Council had been reconciling additions and disposals for a number of years but not reconciling the overall fleet balance. The Council had been undertaking a lot of work around the Council’s equipment and infrastructure assets, but that same piece of work had not been carried out for vehicles. Subsequently, the Governance and Audit Committee RESOLVED - (1) T H A T the report of the Appointed Auditor on the audit of the Council's Financial Statements for 2021/22 be approved and the Financial Statements including the Annual Governance Statement and Final Letter of Representation be recommended for signature by those authorised. (2) T H A T the minor changes to Appendix A be agreed. Those being: • Typographical error in infrastructure paragraph; • Opening Other Reserves in earmarked reserves disclosure; • Note 30 Audit costs (prior year difference); • Updates to the note references. January 23 Minutes - GD No. Reason for decisions (1&2) Having considered the results of the audit of the Council’s Financial Statements for 2021/22.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED – (1) T H A T the Forward Work Programme be noted. (2) T H A T the schedule of items for the next meeting, 27th February 2023, be endorsed. January 23 Minutes - GD No. (3) T H A T in terms of audit review work, the Governance and Audit Committee be advised of any concerns or anything significant that the Head of the Regional Internal Audit Service may have. Reasons for decisions (1&2) To ensure the Governance and Audit Committee is aware and informed of progress on the proposed work programme. (3) To advise the Committee of anything of significance or concern. January 23 Minutes - GD
The report provided Members with an Updated Forward Work Programme for 2022/2023. To assist the Committee in ensuring that due consideration had been given by the Committee to all aspects of their core functions, the Forward Work Programme appended to the report at Appendix A had been produced and was aligned to the Committee's Terms of Reference. The Forward Work Programme had been updated to reflect changes required to the Committee's Terms of Reference under the new Local Government and Elections Act and included items previously requested by Members of the Committee. The Committee was asked to note the Forward Work Programme and indicate whether any additional information was required. Mr. N. Ireland (Lay Member), noting that the Recommendation Monitoring report would be presented on a quarterly basis, requested for the Committee to have an update if there were any concerns or anything significant that required reporting. Subsequently, it was RESOLVED – (1) T H A T the Forward Work Programme be noted. (2) T H A T the schedule of items for the next meeting, 27th February 2023, be endorsed. January 23 Minutes - GD No. (3) T H A T in terms of audit review work, the Governance and Audit Committee be advised of any concerns or anything significant that the Head of the Regional Internal Audit Service may have. Reasons for decisions (1&2) To ensure the Governance and Audit Committee is aware and informed of progress on the proposed work programme. (3) To advise the Committee of anything of significance or concern. January 23 Minutes - GD
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