Minutes:
Rod
Alcott, external reviewer gave an overview of the conclusion and findings of
the circulated report, and explained that he and Jack Straw were tasked with
investigating the Council’s governance arrangements that were operating at the
time and not conduct issues.
It
was explained that there were there governance processes in place across the
three reports which included School Reorganisation, Allt
y Grug Cemetery and Cefn Coed Museum. The findings were that there were governance
process in place and they were followed.
Rod
Alcott went onto explain that across all three areas there were some flaws in
the processes which were highlighted in the circulated reports. These flaws had
been addressed in a series of recommendations attached to each report. In summary, flaws were found but not failures
in governance terms, and the flaws found in the governance systems and process
could be addressed. It was explained
that based on extensive experience across Councils in Wales finding flaws in
governance processes when you undertook reviews was not unexpected. If there was a theme to what was uncovered in
terms of flaws it was around the recording of decision making, as good
governance required the decisions to be recorded. If there was no documentary
evidence then it was not transparent. It
was highlighted that it was important that the Council learnt from this and
addressed the issues through transparency of the recording of decisions.
The
Chief Executive gave Members an overview of the Action Plan and recommendations
as detailed in the circulated report.
Allt Y Grug Cemetery
and the Highways and Engineering Works Programme
It
was explained that the Director of Finance and Corporate Services would revise
the decision making processes around the Council’s Capital Works Programmes so
it would be clearer how the Council prioritises schemes and that would be
regularly tested by the Internal Audit Service. This would mean the Governance
and Audit Committee would be able to take a regular assurance that the Council
was operating in accordance with the revised process that the Director of
Finance and Corporate Services would be developing by the 30th
September 2021.
It
was noted that the role of the Capital Programme Steering Group (CPSG) would be
documented in Terms of Reference. These had been drafted and would come forward
to the Corporate Directors’ Group (CDG) for consideration and sign off. The
points made by the reviewers regarding recording decisions appropriately were
incorporated. It was highlighted that
the CPSG did have notes of its meetings but did not have a comprehensive minute
which set out what information had been considered at the meeting and the
actions that had been agreed. It would be made clear in the new Terms of
Reference that a fuller minute of those meetings was required and the CPSG
would need to report to CDG regularly.
It
was highlighted that the Report and all documentation would be forwarded to the
Public Services Ombudsman and the Auditor General.
School Reorganisation
Action had already been
taken around recording of meetings. The Terms of Reference for the Cabinet Members’ Briefing meetings would be
refreshed. The terms of reference had not yet been presented to the meeting as yet but
is scheduled in the next couple of weeks.
Refresher training for all Members and Officers would be put in place to
ensure everyone was clear of their roles and responsibilities.
The
Chief Executive explained that in relation to Godre’rgraig
the options appraisal around the risk of the spoil around the back of Godre’graig not having being done at the time this review
was commissioned had been addressed. There had been a report to the Streetscene and Engineering Cabinet Board on 21st
May where the Council commissioned specialist Civil Engineering advice on those
options and once that report had been received it would go back to the Streetscene and Engineering Cabinet Board for a decision to
be taken on what the next course of action would be in relation to that site.
Cefn Coed Museum
Cabinet
had already been provided by a full position statement to ensure there was no
confusion about what had happened to the Welsh Government Grant for the Cefn Coed Museum. There had been
lengthy scrutiny of the report and the local member had participated in the
meeting. A Steering Group had now been set up under the Chairmanship of the
Director of Education, Leisure and Lifelong Learning to look at further options
that could be brought forward in respect of Cefn Coed Museum.
The
Chief Executive emphasised that in all three cases the documentation produced
by the external reviewers had been shared with the Public Services Ombudsman
and the Auditor General.
The
Chief Executive explained that the external reviewers had also been asked to
look at Member and Officer relationships. Refresher
training had been arranged, funded by the Welsh Local Government Association to
ensure the Member-Officer protocol is clearly understood and applied in
practice. Members noted that the Auditor General had suggested that the
Internal Audit Service make provision within their Internal Audit Programme to
test the new arrangements that had been put in place once they had bedded in. The Chief Executive highlighted that there
would be a Progress Report on how these actions had progressed and the testing
done by the Internal Audit Service would come back to Governance and Audit
Committee for assurance purposes.
Members
questioned how the audit process would test procedures. The Chief Executive explained that the
Council’s Internal Audit Service would have an input into the way in which we
were proposing to change the current arrangements, so they could comment,
challenge and test the changes before putting them in place. Audit Wales
colleagues would also be asked to comment on the changes we are proposing to
make before implementation. It was noted
that after changes had some time to bed in they would take a number of
transactions and test them against the processes to check the Council were
working in accordance with the processes that had been designed. A report would
be developed which would show the findings and whether there were any further
recommendations that needed to be made. This would be expressed in the reports
at Governance and Audit Committee.
The
Audit Manager explained that audit would be involved in reviewing the new
protocols going forward and challenging them as they needed to be measurable.
The Audit Manager would attend CPSG meetings as an observer to issue any
guidance and recommendations from an audit perspective and follow up reports
would be issued, therefore it would be a combination of reviewing the
documentation, attending the meetings, issuing reports and recommendations,
this would be a rolling programme.
The
Chair thanked the external reviewers for their reports and presenting at
today’s committee and also thanked the Chief Executive and the external
reviewers for their work.
RESOLVED:
1. That the reports provided by the external
reviewers, be noted.
2. That the action plan that has been
developed to respond to the findings and recommendations presented in the
review reports, be noted.
2.
That the Internal Audit Service will be asked
to include provision within the forward audit programme to periodically test
how the changes described in the action plan are being implemented and to
support the Governance and Audit Committee in monitoring the progress being
made, be noted.