Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

The Chairperson welcomed all to the meeting.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on the 14^th January, 2025, were approved as a true and accurate account.

On page 6, under the heading Forward Work Programme, members highlighted that it should read programmed in and not programme in.

The Forward Work Programme was noted.

Members asked if there would be findings, outcomes and work from other second line assurance providers reported to Governance and Audit Committee.

Officers explained that the cycle for 2025/2026 was currently being looked at and the second line assurance will be added once confirmed. Officers also mentioned there was a quality practise and strategic group that covered second line assurance and that would be a potential theme coming through.

That the report be noted.

Members received an overview of the circulated report.

Audit Wales highlighted that the Council does not have a current vision and plan for managing its assets or timely and comprehensive monitoring arrangements. This conclusion was reached as the Council, at the time of the work, had not yet set out an updated vision and ambition for the strategic use of its assets.

The asset delivery action plan, should combine the scale of the poor condition and associated costs of maintaining its assets and  present significant risks.

Audit Wales highlighted they issued three recommendations to the Council to address some of these weaknesses that had been identified.

The first recommendation related to the strategic asset management vision and strategy. Audit Wales stated that in developing its new Corporate Asset Management Strategy, the Council should put the sustainable development principle at the heart of its considerations setting out its long-term vision and outcomes it wanted to achieve over the short, medium and longer term.

Recommendation two addressed strategic asset management planning and delivery, and once the Council had agreed its new Corporate Asset Management Strategy, it should develop the supporting arrangements to ensure that it has sufficient corporate oversight and a consistent approach to the delivery of its asset objective across the organisation.

The third recommendation made related to strategic asset management and governance.  Audit Wales stated that the Council needs to be able to understand the progress its asset management strategy and arrangements were making and how those were helping to deliver and achieve its well-being objectives, assuring itself that its current governance arrangements were sufficient to effectively monitor its progress.

The Council needs to develop and communicate regular progress monitoring reports, develop a broader set of asset related measures and look for opportunities to benchmark itself against other organisations.

Council Officers mentioned that in terms of recommendation one, officers completed the revised asset management plan in April 2024, it was a little delayed for several reasons, including Covid, where staff were diverted from the strategic work to undertaking a range of other tasks.

There have been some recruitment issues within the service area for the last several years, particularly around the difficulty of recruiting within the current salary bands, in terms of surveyors the capacity was 66%.  Work on the Strategy was completed in April 2024 and set for the next five years.

Officers mentioned in relation to Recommendation two, they currently run with an Organisational Development Board and that was looking at a holistic view, of the way that the authority manages all its assets, which includes property, Information Technology and Human Resources. Officers mentioned that the group meets quarterly and deals with the operational property issues. In addition, Officers mentioned that a group will be set up in relation to Strategic Asset Management. Officers highlighted in terms of the non-operational property, that would be reported through the property performance reports. The non-operational property reports would be produced around May 2025. Officers highlighted in terms of governance, all  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

That the report be noted.

Members received an overview of the circulated report.

Officers highlighted there were recommendations for which there had been a management response form from the Council.

Officers explained that brownfield land is previously developed land. Welsh Councils were supporting the repurposing and regeneration of vacant properties and brownfield sites into houses and other assets.

There were five recommendations set out in the report, three were for local Councils and two were for Welsh Government.

Members queried recommendation two, the Councils response was the Urbanists consultancy organisation had been engaged to provide place plans for the key town centres and will inform the regeneration strategy by road maps. Members asked for a timescale.

Officers stated the three main town centre place plans had been completed.

The reason they were delayed slightly was due to consultation with members and with stakeholders within the area to make sure that what we were looking at in terms of the work that was provided by the Urbanists was what was required, and what was wanted locally.

Some of the members had pointed out that there were some towns that haven't been included in that process and that is something that is seeking further funding for to bring forward.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

That the report be noted.

Members received an overview of the circulated report from Audit Wales.

Officers mentioned the report was a local government national study, not specific to Neath Port Talbot, but the recommendations apply to all local authorities in Wales.

Officers highlighted that all 22 councils were looked at a high level and the conclusions that were reached. Responsible bodies were yet to develop comprehensive plans that set out how the new and revised responsibilities introduced by the Building Safety Act will be addressed.

Resourcing issues make it unlikely that local authorities can successfully implement the new building safety regime or that services were fit for purpose. There was little evaluation of building control services across Wales and no national comprehensive system of building safety assurance.

Officers mentioned there were eight recommendations issued in the report, of those recommendations, four were for Welsh Government and four were for local authorities.

Officers mentioned that the first recommendation related to the developing of an action plan, and whilst there wasn’t a bespoke action plan in place, there was a lot of work that was going on in parallel in addition to systems in place which could essentially be pulled into an action plan.

Officers had reviewed the structure that Building Control has in place and were content that the structure was fit for purpose, albeit it was noted there were significant challenges with recruitment.

Officers highlighted the second recommendation that links to local authorities needing to review their financial management to ensure that the building control function is compliant with the regulations. Officers mentioned they regularly review the fee structures looking at hourly rates of Officers and the Council already publishes on an annual basis its financial statements.

The third recommendation related to local authorities needing to explore the need to potentially collaborate and to regionalise to strengthen that resilience in terms of the challenges that the profession has overall.

Officers mentioned Carmarthenshire Council has a team in place, which under service level agreements with authorities, who provide the planning service for minerals and waste which is a specialist function within the planning sphere. Moving forward it may be that local authorities will need to look at a similar potential regionalisation model as options to consider going forward.

Officers also explained that we are working with LABC in developing a model for cross boundary and collaborative working.

The fourth recommendation relates to the need for local authorities to continue to review their risk management processes and looking at particularly mitigation. Officers mentioned that risks were already captured within the directorate risk register. If it needed to escalate further, then the Council has a wider strategic risk register, which could be added to going forward.

The Chair asked in relation to the hourly rates situation with regards to financial management. Officers stated that it had not been possible to uplift the hourly rate due to efficiency savings within the section and on costs.

Members asked in relation to keeping up with the costs for people  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

That the report be noted.

Members received an overview of the circulated report.

Officers mentioned that they were reviewing the Audit Wales NFI self-appraisal checklist and the outcome of that will come back to Governance and Audit Committee.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted

That the report be noted.

Members received an overview of the circulated report.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted

That the report be noted.

Members received an overview of the circulated report.

Officers noted that there was an error on page 271 and that lists the breakdown between directorates on the upheld and partially upheld complaints rather than the total number. Officers stated they would circulate the amended tables which show the correct breakdown across the directorates, to Members.

Members were pleased to see that there were a lot of compliments sent to the Council.

In relation to page 269, it stated Neath Port Talbot were currently the third lowest reporting authority across Wales, Members asked was that in relation to complaints.

In relation to the data for 2023, Officers explained that Neath Port Talbot were 21st on the list. In 2024, Neath Port Talbot were the third lowest. Officers highlighted there would be a review undertaken by internal audit, of which there would be recommendations coming forward to strengthen the ability to capture the complaints correctly.

Members asked what the difference was between partially upheld and upheld.

Officers explained that partially upheld means Officers have taken responsibility for part of the complaint that they’ve received, but do not fully accept the whole of the complaint.

Members highlighted they would like Officers to signpost the headlines in terms of performance, compliments and complaints, so it directs members to look into more detail.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted

That members of the Governance and Audit Committee endorse the proposals included in the report at steps 1 to 4.

Members received an overview of the circulated report.

Members highlighted the paragraph on page 279 - Shared Training and Development, organise joint training sessions for members of both committees to enhance understanding of their roles and interdependencies.

Members mentioned was there training available for both Appeals Panel and Governance and Audit Committee.

Officers mentioned that training would be looked at and organised for the committee to attend.

RESOLVED:

That members of the Governance and Audit Committee endorsed the proposals included in this report at steps 1 to 4.

That the report be noted.

Members received an overview of the circulated report.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

That the report be noted.

Members received an overview of the circulated report.

Members asked how confident were Officers that the full body of work would be completed and have a meaningful body to provide an annual assurance opinion.

Officers confirmed that the Internal Audit Plan was risk based & agile with plan changes occurring within the year, as reported to committee to date. Officers explained the service's target was to achieve approximately 85% of the revised Plan by year end. The Audit Manager stated that the work delivered within 2024/25 should support and enable the Audit Manager annual opinion for 2024/25.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

That pursuant to Section 100A(4) and (5) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded for the following items of business which involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 12 and 15 of Part 4 of Schedule 12A of the above Act.

RESOLVED:                 that pursuant to Section 100A(4) and (5) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded for the following items of business which involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 12, 13 and 14 of Part 4 of Schedule 12A to the above Act.

Members received an overview of the private circulated report.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

That the report be noted.

Members received an overview of the private circulated report.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.