Agenda and draft minutes

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Items
No. Item

1.

APOLOGIES

To receive apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from County Councillors

2.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

To receive declarations of interest from Members.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

3.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 242 KB

To authorise the Chair to sign the minutes of the previous meeting held on 30 July 2021 as a correct record.

Minutes:

The Chair was authorised to sign the minutes of the previous meeting, held on 30 July 2021, as a correct record subject to County Councillor G Breeze being included as present.

 

Arising thereon:

 

WCCIS

The update prepared for the Chief Executive had not yet been circulated.  An update would be requested.

 

HOWPS

The Chair had not yet spoken to the Chair of the Economy, Residents and Communities Committee

4.

Internal Audit Report - Children's Budget Management pdf icon PDF 524 KB

To receive and consider the Children's Services Financial Management Audit – Final Report.

Minutes:

Documents:

·         SWAP Final Report – Children’s Services Budget Management

 

Discussion:

·         The audit had commenced before the pandemic, was subsequently put on hold but completed in 2021

·         The Assistant Director, SWAP informed the Committee that nine recommendations to tighten up financial controls had been suggested. In the past there had been a mismatch between available resources and required resourced but in 2020/21 an underspend had been recorded.  Whilst this was positive there were concerns that this was a misleading picture which had been affected by the pandemic and Welsh Government Grants and end of year housekeeping.  The Assistant Director was of the opinion that the Committee needed more assurance that the Children’s Service budget was being managed effectively.

·         A general improvement in budget setting was acknowledged

·         Effective impact assessments were in place

·         No specific budget had been set aside for agency staff and therefore this was not being corporately monitored

·         Budget management maintenance was key to enable commitments to be managed and ensure that an accurate position could be given at any point in time

·         The budget gap was closing albeit slowly although a surplus had been generated in 2020/21 due in part to additional grant funding arising from to the pandemic and housekeeping undertaken late in the year

·         Budget pressures are now embedded into the baseline budget

·         Work has restarted on improving process to ensure effective housekeeping

·         The audit identified that there was a lack of mitigating action in addressing projected overspends identified in reports being submitted to Cabinet

·         There was a lack of consistency in budget monitoring making it difficult for the Cabinet and Scrutiny to monitor assurance

·         A questionnaire showed conflicting opinions but demonstrated some awareness of the issues

·         A reasonable assurance had been given with 6 priority 2 recommendations and 3 priority 3 recommendations.  Whilst it was generally a positive report, further assurance was needed.

·         The Chair noted that the audit had been conducted at a difficult time for the authority and the service.  The Committee was seeking assurance that budget management was sound.  All services must be financially efficient and show good governance.

·         The Vice Chair noted the difficulties that the service had faced.  The current Chief Executive, Director, Heads of Service and Head of Finance were all relatively new to their posts.  For some time, the service had lacked strategic direction and a large deficit had been reported in 2018/19.  This deficit had reduced to £4M in 2019/20 followed by an underspend in the last financial year.

·         The Committee asked who was responsible for budget management within the service.  The Head of Service responded that she had that responsibility.

·         The issue of housekeeping was causing some concern as last minute changes may not have led to a favourable outcome on the budget.  the Head of Service informed the Committee that the pandemic had exposed strengths and weaknesses in both operations and administration.  The pressures were clear, and the service was, with the support of business partners, effectively managing those pressures.  However, work to improve housekeeping  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.

Capital Programme Governance and Assurance

To receive a verbal update by the Head of Finance.

Minutes:

The Head of Finance updated the Committee on work being undertaken to provide governance and assurance around the capital programme.

 

·         A peer review of the cost plan of one project is being undertaken

·         The Education Service is developing a Programme Finance Management Plan which sets out the approach to financial management on the 21st Century Schools programme, and the various roles and responsibilities etc

·         A review is being undertaken of the Council’s 21st Century Schools Programme through the Welsh Government Gateway Assurance Process: Gate 0 Programme Strategic Assessment this will be undertaken through October.

·         These pieces of work will provide the Committee with greater visibility of the Governance arrangements in place and will enable them to assess their effectiveness.

 

6.

Governance and Audit Committee - Constitution pdf icon PDF 122 KB

To receive and consider the joint report of the Chair of the Governance and Audit Committee, the Head of Finance and the Head of Legal and Democratic Services.

Minutes:

Documents:

·         Report of the Chair of Governance and Audit Committee, Head of Finance and Head of Legal, Scrutiny and Democratic Services

 

Discussion:

·         The Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act will lead to one third of the membership of the Governance and Audit Committee being lay members with one of those lay members chairing the committee

·         County Council will be asked to approve proposals on 23 September 2021

·         A number of options had been considered with the preferred option being 9 members, 6 county councillors and 3 lay members

·         The Chair of the Committee was concerned regarding continuity of work and suggested adding a third recommendation to the report to ensure the three lay members were appointed before January 2022 to enable training and transition arrangements to be put in place.

·         Members asked for a breakdown of the political make up of the Committee – this would of course depend on the political arrangements following the election, but, under current arrangements this would be 2 Independent members, 1 Conservative, 1 Liberal Democrat, 1 Labour and 1 Action for Powys

 

Outcomes:

·         An additional recommendation be included to ensure the lay members are appointed before January 2022 to enable training and transition to take place

 

7.

WORK PROGRAMME pdf icon PDF 332 KB

To consider the forward work programme and whether any additional items should be included.

Minutes:

Documents:

·         Work Programme

 

Discussion:

·         Several Internal Audit Reports were due to be considered at today’s meeting but had been deferred.  The proposed timescales were as follows:

o   Y Gaer – special meeting to consider in early October (subsequently arranged for 8 October 2021)

o   Ysgol Calon Cymru – late October

o   Covid Business Grants – late October

o   Highways – end of 2021

8.

Exempt Items

To consider passing the following Resolution:

 

RESOLVED to exclude the public for the following items of business on the grounds that there would be disclosure to them of exempt information under category 3 of The Local Authorities (Access to Information) (Variation) (Wales) Order 2007).

 

The Monitoring Officer has determined that category 3 of the Access to Information Procedure Rules applies to the following items. His view on the public interest test (having taken account of the provisions of Rule 14.8 of the Council's Access to Information Rules) was that to make this information public would disclose information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

 

These factors in his view outweigh the public interest in disclosing this information. Members are asked to consider these factors when determining the public interest test, which they must decide when considering excluding the public from this part of the meeting.

 

Minutes:

RESOLVED to exclude the public for the following item of business on the grounds that there would be disclosure to them of exempt information under category 1 of The Local Authorities (Access to Information) (Variation) (Wales) Order 2007).

 

9.

General Centre for Rail Excellence (GCRE)

To receive a verbal update from the Corporate Director (Economy and Environment)

Minutes:

The Corporate Director Economy and Environment provided an update on the Project to the Committee.