Loading
The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
RESOLVED – (i) That the Chief Officer Social Care be invited to attend the meeting in September to discuss Direct Payments. (ii) That the report be noted.
RESOLVED – That the Terms of Reference be noted.
RESOLVED – That the Governance & Audit Committee Work Programme for 2022/23 be noted
RESOLVED – That the information be noted.
RESOLVED – That the Council’s draft Statement of Accounts for the financial year 2021/22 be noted.
RESOLVED – That the Governance & Audit Committee considered that the draft Annual Governance Statement (Appendix A) properly reflected governance within the council for publication with the council’s draft Statement of Accounts.
Members were reminded of their responsibility, under Paragraph 11 of the Members’ Code of Conduct, to declare the existence and nature of any personal interest in respect of any of the business to be transacted at this meeting. The following declarations were made:- Agenda Item 7 – Statement of Accounts 2021/22 Independent Lay Person Trevor Coxon and David Steward – Personal and not Prejudicial – The two Lay Members were in receipt of an occupational pension. Councillor Jerry Wellens – Personal and not Prejudicial – The Councillor was in receipt of salary as a councillor. The Councillor and Independent Lay Members remained in the meeting taking part in the discussion and voting thereon.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED – (i) That the Chief Officer Social Care be invited to attend the meeting in September to discuss Direct Payments. (ii) That the report be noted.
The Chief Executive presented a report (CE/29/22) to provide an account of external regulation and inspection received since the last summary report in February 2022. The Chief Officer Finance and ICT introduced the report and highlighted the main points contained within it. A discussion ensued and the following points were raised: · Reference was made to the Action plan within the Welsh Language Commissioners letter and a Member requested the following: a) A hyperlink be provided when a new policy was being developed as part of an action because this would enhance assurance. b) Assurance regarding the contract management of Conway’s external welsh language translation service. · The Corporate Team Manager, Performance Improvement & Partnerships explained that the new Integrated Impact Assessment tool under development will be a broad tool that will cover council priorities, the wellbeing and future generations act, carbon and the sustainable development principle, in addition to equality protected characteristics. She noted members’ interest in assisting with the development of the new Integrated Impact Assessment tool and would consult with the Head of Service PIPS. · The Chief Officer Social Care will be asked to attend GAC in September to provide more information on the Direct Payments report, in particular in relation to financial abuse, and those actions which are due for implementation by September. · Members of the Committee were assured that:- a) There would be an update on progress with the e-learning module noted in the Welsh Language Commissioners report at the September monitoring report. b) There were sanctions and a range of measures for handling non-compliance in relation to the Welsh Language Commissioner. · It was explained that the External Regulator’s reports related to a 6 months reporting period and that Chief Officers were responsible for tracking the recommendations detailed within the External Regulator’s reports. · The Corporate Team Manager, Performance Improvement & Partnerships assured Members of the Committee that: a) A log of all the External Regulator recommendations reported to the Committee Members was maintained, together with the council’s response and target implementation dates. b) The External Regulator report that was due in September 2022 will include an Appendix B that will list all of the actions due to be implemented by September 2022. Any actions due after September 2022 will be included in the February 2023 External Regulator report, etc. c) Should any Members of the Committee have any specific concerns regarding any issues outlined within the External Regulator Reports, then there was a process in place for referring these to a scrutiny committee via the Scrutiny & Audit Protocol. This included the GAC Chair completing a topic selection form which set out clear rationale for the referral. · In relation to the ‘Springing Forward’ report, the Facilities Management Manager and the HR Manager provided examples of collaboration within their Department to ensure best practice. · The Chief Officer for Finance and ICT informed Committee Members that: a) If appropriate, a strategy regarding collaboration will be devised. b) A written response detailing bilingual policy costings will be provided to the Members of the Committee. RESOLVED – (i) That the Chief Officer Social Care be invited to attend the meeting in September to discuss Direct Payments. (ii) That the report be noted.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED – That the Terms of Reference be noted.
A copy of the Terms of Reference was submitted. RESOLVED – That the Terms of Reference be noted.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED – That the Governance & Audit Committee Work Programme for 2022/23 be noted
A copy of the Committee Work Programme for 2022/23 was submitted. During discussion, the following points were raised: · It was highlighted that the induction and statement of accounts training was really helpful to the Members of the Committee. · It was confirmed that the Wrexham Council Self-Assessment Report will explain the process for the Self-Assessment and that it was a major piece of work with a tight timescale. RESOLVED – That the Governance & Audit Committee Work Programme for 2022/23 be noted
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED – That the information be noted.
The Head of Service, Audit and Technical provided a verbal update on the Committee Development Programme. The following was discussed:- · An Independent Lay Member requested access to the intranet and explained that it would enable the Lay Members to obtain internal training and other relevant materials. The Chief Officer Finance and ICT confirmed that he will look into this matter and will report back accordingly. · There will be a training session in September 2022 for Lay Members on topics such as the Code of Conduct. RESOLVED – That the information be noted.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED – That the Council’s draft Statement of Accounts for the financial year 2021/22 be noted.
(Member’s declarations of interest in relation to this item are set out in Minute 15 above) The Chief Officer Finance & ICT submitted a report (COFI/16/22) to present the Council’s 2021/22 draft Statement of Accounts. The Head of Service Accountancy, Finance & ICT Services introduced the report and informed Members that it provided members with the opportunity to review and achieve a broad understanding of the content. Whilst introducing the report it was highlighted that: · The accounts had been prepared in accordance with the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy’s (CIPFA’s) Code of Practice. · The audit of the draft Statement of Accounts 2021/22 have commenced and will continue to be reviewed over the next couple of months. · There has been changes to the property plant and equipment element where there had been a national issue with the asset values. · Valuations that had been carried out a few years ago may not be the same value due to the current climate driven by inflation and economic instability. · Discussions have been held between Audit Wales and the Society of Welsh Treasurers to explore how enhanced valuations could be implemented and Members of the Committee will be updated of any changes in the autumn. During discussion, the following points were raised: · It was confirmed that the Council revalued all of its assets every four years. · The Head of Service Accountancy will provide Members with the following: a) A breakdown of the capital investments (including capital accruals), a list of transactions relating to disposals, operating expenditure and a breakdown on short term creditors b) Confirmation on the £21k North Wales Police precept amount. c) Verification that the individual Safe Custody accounts for service users living in the community, were being audited on an annual basis. · It was confirmed that the actual bank balance was not overspent. The bank balance as at 31st March 2022 was 605k and that there had been unpresented payments amounting to £11m which related to bacs payments. · Internal Valuers will take into account any damage or impairment costs whilst re-evaluating the Council properties. · Chief Officer Finance and ICT informed Members of the Committee that: a) The risks around cost increases and the demands on service budgets has recently been shared to Members. b) Information will be provided on how much the Education paid out to private agencies for supply teachers. c) A scheme relating to the cost of living crisis living payments was currently being developed. · The income relating to the hard ship fund claim for February and March 2022 was received in April 2022. · There was an ongoing issue and risk across Wales regarding the Social Care overspend and that this issue has been covered in depth. · Clarification was sought regarding the difference in the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) repayment figure where it stated 189m in 2020/21 and then it changed to 29m in 2021/22. · It was explained that there had been an issue with Council dwellings and the HRA valuations during the previous financial year where some of the incurred expenditure had added value to those properties which has resulted to a valuation of impairment. · The Head of Service Accountancy confirmed that:- a) The other Comprehensive (income) and Expenditure related to the pension liability statement. b) Long term debtors were predominantly due to prepayments such as IT purchases. · The Chief Officer Finance and ICT informed Members that: a) There was a formal statutory declaration that had to be documented in the Financial Statement report that set out the budget and he was satisfied with the Councils balances and reserves. b) Will report back to Members about the information relating to the number of people who administer the court protection orders to action court payments. c) The Government administered the loans and information regarding the payments will be provided to Members of the Committee. · The CIPFA code did not require the Council to detail election duty payments. Although, Audit Wales have asked the Council to consider the inclusion of election duty salaries. · The financial position has improved regarding the amount of monies owed by Betsi Cadwaladr University and that £1m had been paid back from the previous year. · Information regarding compensation for accidents and insurance claims will be reported back to Members. · Rent and Council tax arrears were managed by the services involved and that there were measures in place to manage those debts. The level of debt was reviewed annually and provision will be made in the accounts regarding on how much of the debt would likely be recovered. · The empty property expenditure will be reviewed to establish if they have added value or if they needed to be impaired. · Voluntary Aided Schools will not appear on the balance sheet because they were an independent organisation and in result they would appear on the balance sheet of the Voluntary Aided School as it was their asset and not the Councils. · Clarification was sought regarding the risk of management overrides that had been highlighted by Audit Wales whilst compiling the accounts. It was confirmed that nothing had been brought to the Head of Service Accountancy’s attention in relation to this. RESOLVED – That the Council’s draft Statement of Accounts for the financial year 2021/22 be noted.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED – That the Governance & Audit Committee considered that the draft Annual Governance Statement (Appendix A) properly reflected governance within the council for publication with the council’s draft Statement of Accounts.
The Chief Executive submitted a report (CE/33/22) to consider the progress against the actions identified in the Annual Governance Statement (AGS) Action Plan for the year ended 31 March 2021 and to consider the draft Annual Governance Statement for the period 2021-22 for publication with the Council’s Statement of Accounts. The Chief Officer Finance and ICT introduced the report and highlighted that: · The Accounts and Audit (Wales) Regulations 2014 required local authorities to undertake an annual review of their systems of internal control, and to consider this review when preparing the Annual Governance Statement. · The AGS was a statutory public document which accounted to stakeholders and could be found on the Councils Website. · The annual review, which informed the AGS, has been undertaken by the Governance and Officer Group and Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and has been submitted to the GAC in accordance with the GAC Terms of reference. · The AGS was structured around the 7 core principles of good governance and will be included in the final Statements of Accounts Report. During consideration of the report the following was discussed: · The AGS was a time limited piece of work up to 31st March 2022 and that the finalised report will be published in November 2022 as part of the Statement of Accounts, and separately on the council’s website. · The AGS included an action plan and Members of the Committee will receive an update on them during quarter 2 and 4. In relation to the period of time between the reporting and publication periods, the advice received from CIPFA stated that in order to maintain the integrity of the AGS report then only changes to identified significant issues and /or resulting actions should be updated during this time period. The Chief Executive and SLT would take a view as to whether the AGS required such an update. · Across the council, there were a range of bodies and structures which fulfilled an important role in developing and maintaining the governance framework. · The table specifying the Governance and Audit Committees Role required updating to reflect the recent change in responsibilities regarding complaints. · Reference was made to the Public Services Ombudsman Wales’ report (September 2021) where it was confirmed that Wrexham Council was not an outlier in terms of complaints across all 22 local authorities and whether this was aspirational enough. Officers confirmed that the AGS review was a report detailing where the Council was at in relation to governance rather than detailing aspiration. · A Member raised concern regarding principles D, F and G of the assessment in relation to how we assessed and reported our performance, in particular given the fact that the Authority was currently under Estyn and Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW). Officers explained that the assessment of overall performance against the council plan priorities was a judgement which took into account a broad basket of individual performance indicators. There was no system which independently calculated an overall assessment as the reporting system was an Excel spreadsheet. Members were advised that the council was in the process of procuring a new performance reporting system which would be implemented in 2023. The new Council Plan performance indicators and targets, as agreed by Members at Council, would be input into the new system: if these were set up within the system with tolerances, there would be the potential for the system to allocate a rating automatically. · A Lay Member sought clarification regarding the management of risks and complaints and if these had been taken into account for the AGS. The Corporate Team Manager, Performance Improvement & Partnerships confirmed that they had. · A Lay Member enquired about what information was available regarding Member take up of training and what would happen if the take up was low Members of the Committee were assured that: a) A quarterly report went to the Democratic Services Committee that set out the aims of the Member Development Strategy and annual training plan. It reported on member take-up of training opportunities and the agreed processes for escalating any issues with individual members and / or group leaders. While most training and development was optional, some, such as Planning Committee training, was mandatory and this was stated within the Councils constitution. b) The Ombudsman would also make enquiries regarding Member code of conduct training should a conduct issue be reported regarding a Member. · The Chief Officer Finance and ICT will report back on how the Council selects independent persons to investigate complaints and confirmed the processes for Members to raise complaints as by contacting the relevant Chief Officer or Monitoring Officer or using the Whistleblowing Policy · Members were informed that the Local Government Election Wales Act 2021 will be introducing new duties for Group Leaders. Group Leaders will be meeting with the Chair and the Vice Chair of the Standards Committee in September 2022 that will focus on the duties involved with high standards for Member behaviour and how to involve political groups in this. RESOLVED – That the Governance & Audit Committee considered that the draft Annual Governance Statement (Appendix A) properly reflected governance within the council for publication with the council’s draft Statement of Accounts.
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.
The council hasn't recorded attendance for this meeting.
Lists the council's current councillors only. Co-opted members, officers and former councillors aren't shown.