Venue: Hybrid - Neuadd Cyngor Ceredigion, Penmorfa, Aberaeron / remotely via video conference
Contact: Dana Jones
No. | Item |
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Apologies Minutes: None. |
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Personal Matters Minutes: None. |
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Disclosures of Personal / Prejudicial interest Minutes: Councillor Keith Henson declared a personal and
prejudicial interest in item 15 on the agenda. |
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Minutes: It was AGREED to confirm as a true record the
Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held 21 June 2023. Matters Arising None. |
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Governance and Audit Committee Meetings Actions Log PDF 145 KB Minutes: Consideration was given to the
Governance and Audit Committee Meeting Actions Log. It was AGREED to note the content
as presented. Add to Action Log 27/9/23: 1)AGS/Local Code/ Governance Framework
2)Lay members wished to receive an invite to the Members 24/25 budget-setting workshops |
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Regulator & Inspectorate Reports and Updates PDF 3 MB Minutes: Consideration was given to the
Regulator & Inspectorate Reports and Updates which has 3
parts: a) Audit Wales quarterly update to Governance and Audit
Committee b) Any local risk work issued/published since the last
Governance and Audit Committee meeting c) Audit Wales National Reports Current Position a) Audit Wales
quarterly update to Governance and Audit Committee · Audit Wales – 23-24 Q1 Workplan and
Timetable – Ceredigion County Council b) Any local risk work issued/published since the last
Governance and Audit Committee meeting · Care Inspectorate Wales – Performance
Evaluation Inspection of Ceredigion County Council · Care Inspectorate Wales - CIW
Inspection Action Plan final · Audit Wales – Setting of Well-being
Objectives – Ceredigion County Council · Audit Wales – Planning Service
Follow-up review – Ceredigion County Council c) Audit Wales
National Reports ·
Audit Wales – Cracks in the Foundations – Building
Safety in Wales ·
Audit Wales – Consultation on Fee Scales 2024-25 ·
Audit Wales –Springing Forward - Lessons from our work on workforce and
assets in local government Following the presentation by
Audit Wales and questions from the floor, it was AGREED:- (i) to note the reports for
information; and (ii) that the Council response
report to each of the Regulator & Inspectorate Reports on future agendas
would be inserted after each report; in order for ease
of Members to consider both combined reports |
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Council Responses to Regulator & Inspectorate Reports PDF 340 KB Minutes: The Report sets out the Council’s responses
regarding Regulator and Inspectorate Reports and progress made regarding
proposals and recommendations. This Report had 2 parts: a) Council tracker of Regulator/Inspectorate
proposals for improvement and recommendations; and b) Other Council related matters. Current Position a) Council tracker of Regulator/Inspectorate proposals
for improvement and recommendations o
Council Management Response Forms 2020-2021 &
2021-2022 Update: · Audit Wales – Equality Impact
Assessments: More than a tick box exercise? · Audit Wales – Springing Forward –
Review of Strategic Workforce Management · Audit Wales – ‘Raising our Game’
Tackling Fraud in Wales – update due 2024 o Council Management Response Forms
2022-23: ·
Audit Wales – Cracks in the Foundations – Building
Safety in Wales ·
Audit Wales - Planning Service follow up review ·
Setting of Well-being Objectives b) Other Council
related matters It was AGREED : (i) to note the reports for information; and (ii) future Management Response Forms would be presented
alongside the corresponding Regulator & Inspectorate Reports (item 6 above) |
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Annual Governance Statement Update PDF 1 MB Minutes: A report on the Governance
Framework Document and Annual Governance Statement 2022-23 was presented to the
Governance and Audit Committee on the 17th of January 2023 and on the 9th of March 2023. The Draft Governance Framework Document 2022-23 had
been updated following the previous 9th of March 2023 report to ensure it
remains up to date and all the changes were highlighted accordingly in the
report in detail. The Draft Annual Governance Statement 2022-23 had
been prepared in accordance with the framework. It includes: •
An acknowledgement of responsibility for
ensuring good governance; •
Reference to the assessment; •
An opinion on the level of assurance
that the governance arrangements can provide; •
A progress report on how issues
identified last year have been resolved; •
An agreed action plan to deal with
governance issues over the next year; and •
A conclusion. On the 9th of March 2023 the Committee agreed to
recommend that Council endorses the Draft Annual Governance Statement 2022-23,
subject to including the following sentence in the executive summary: ‘The review confirmed that the Council’s governance
arrangements are effective and fit for purpose’. This sentence had now been included On the 20th of April 2023 Council agreed to approve
the Draft Annual Governance Statement 2022-23. The Draft Annual Governance
Statement 2022-23 had also been updated following the previous 9th of March
2023 report to ensure it remains up to date. The changes were outlined in
detail in the report. The Committee was requested to recommend that
Council endorses the updated Draft Annual Governance Statement 2022-23. Governance Framework 2023-24 and Current Year Action
Plan A workshop would be held on the 06 of December 2023
for relevant Officers and Committee Members to consider progress on the actions
set out in the 2022-23 Annual Governance Statement. During this workshop, the Governance Framework
Document would be updated to reflect progress made towards completing these
actions. The draft Governance Framework Document 2023-24, updated document
would then be presented to the Committee at its 24 January 2024 meeting. It
was AGREED: (i)note the contents of this report;
(ii)
note the Draft Governance Framework Document 2022-23 and (iii)recommend that Council endorses the Draft
Annual Governance Statement 2022-23; and (iii) that further work on these documents would be
addressed in the near future following discussion with
the Chair; and that an overarching document would be presented to consider both
the Framework and Statement for 2023-2024 accordingly. |
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Minutes: Consideration was given to the
Self-Assessment of good practice and evaluating effectiveness of Governance and
Audit Committee. Following the circulation of a survey and workshop,
on 10 March 2022 a draft Self-assessment and Evaluation of Effectiveness Review
was considered by the Governance and Audit Committee. It was agreed that the
document would be reconsidered in order that a final review document could be
presented at the next Committee meeting. At the Committee’s 08 June 2022 meeting, it was
confirmed that the draft Self-assessment and Evaluation of Effectiveness Review
had been added to the Forward Work Programme under September’s 2022’s scheduled
meeting as it was hoped that a Workshop would be scheduled for the new
Committee in advance of this meeting in order to
reconsider the document and discuss the skills of the new Committee. It was
agreed that a workshop be held prior to the September meeting in order to collate skills of Committee Members. A workshop was held in November 2022. A further workshop was held on 13 June 2023 for the
Committee to consider the draft Self-assessment and Evaluation of Effectiveness
Review. The ‘Self-assessment of good practice’ document, as completed was
presented. The Committee did not complete the CIPFA tool
‘Evaluating the impact and effectiveness of the audit committee’) tool.
Currently, the Committee were needed to consider whether •
the self-assessment exercise for 2022-23
was complete •
going forward it wishes to use CIPFA’s
‘Self-assessment of good practice’ and ‘Evaluating the impact and effectiveness
of the audit committee’ tools, or use an alternative
method of self-assessment. It was AGREED to (i) note the contents of the draft ‘Self-assessment
of good practice’ document (ii) that the self-assessment exercise for 2022-23
was complete, however, further work was required for Question 28 on the
document; and (iii)that a revised self-assessment procedure for
the 2023-2024 self- assessment process would need to include governance assurance |
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Internal Audit Progress Report Q1 2023/24 PDF 731 KB Minutes: Consideration was given to the
report of the Corporate Manager-Internal Audit on The Internal Audit Progress
Report Quarter 1. It was reported that the Committee considered the annual
Internal Audit Strategy 2023/24 at its meeting in March 2023 which also
identified the main areas of work for the 2023/24 operational audit plan. The
Plan included reviews carried forward from the previous year’s audit plan,
routine audits eg grant
certifications and work prioritised dependant on risk, on which the Internal
Audit Section could form its assurance opinion. For 2023/24, a risk assessment was
undertaken in addition to information from the Council’s Corporate Risk
Register as new risks to the Council continue to emerge, which were constantly
changing. IA would therefore assess its work on an on-going basis, considering
the Council’s changing needs and priorities regularly. Any reactive work added
to the Operational Plan was reported within this report. This progress report notes the
steps made to date toward delivery of the audit strategy, by providing a
summary of the work undertaken. It also documents the current resource
position, and the Section’s improvement plan. It was AGREED:- (i) to note the work undertaken and current position of the Internal Audit Service; (ii) that the relevant Cabinet Members be aware of any
issues raised in Internal Audit reports; (iii) to note that a follow up meeting with the CLO and
Corporate Manager for the Museum service had been undertaken and that a further Internal Audit of
Financial Management & Income was due to be undertaken in October to ensure sufficient controls being addressed
by management; and (vi) to request that the relevant CLO responsible for the
Museum shop be present at a future meeting to address the issues raised in the
document |
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Internal Audit Self-Assessment 2022/23 PDF 627 KB Minutes: It was reported that the PSIAS
and CIPFA’s Local Government Application Note supersede the 2006 Code for
Internal Audit and came into force from April 2013. The PSIAS and Application
Note must be complied with in order to ensure proper
internal audit practices were applied. The Application Note contained a
checklist which had been developed to satisfy the requirements set out in PSIAS
1311 and 1312 for periodic self-assessments as part of the Quality Assurance
and Improvement Program (QAIP). It incorporates the requirements of the PSIAS
as well as the Application Note in order to give
comprehensive coverage of both documents. The completed self-assessment was
attached in full to consider, along with resulting improvement plan.To highlight the key areas of
change within the Self-Assessment for 2022-23, the areas identified for
improvement reported to you in the 2021-22 Self-Assessment had been addressed
and marked as ‘conforms’. The remaining area is Std 1210: 5.3.1 Does the CAE hold a
professional qualification, such as CMIIA/CCAB or equivalent? As was regularly reported to GAC,
the CMIA was currently studying for the IIA’s Certificate in Internal Audit. It was AGREED to note the content
of the report. |
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Annual compliments, Complaints and Freedom of Information Report PDF 2 MB Minutes: Introduction This report provides information relating to the
Council’s Compliments, Complaints and FOI activity between 1st April 2022 and
31st March 2023. The report itself
included specific information on the number and type of compliments received,
the different complaints stages, performance and outcomes relating to these and
information on compliance with FOI and EIR legislation. A report detailing the compliments and complaints
activity in relation to Social Services was also presented, and information
about the Lessons Learned as a consequence of
(corporate) complaints was also provided.
The main report consists of a section about the contact received from
the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales (“the Ombudsman”) during the reporting
period. The Ombudsman’s Annual Letter to
the Council was also presented and provided further details about all Ombudsman
activity for Ceredigion, as well as for other Council’s across Wales. This was the fourth consecutive report where there
had been no Ombudsman investigations commenced or formal reports issued in
relation to complaints made against the Council. Whilst there were fewer Ombudsman referrals
during this reporting year, the Council had a consistently high rate of Early
Resolution/Voluntary Settlements. It was therefore acknowledged that challenges remain
in relation to the complexity of complaints received, a general increase in
activity surrounding complaints, FOI, Ombudsman referrals and referrals to the
Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), as well as the challenges associated
with the delivery of the Complaints and FOI Team itself. These challenges had inevitably had an impact
on the Council’s ability to meet its performance objectives in relation to
prescribed timescales. In brief it was reported, that: 465
Compliments were received 403
Enquiries were processed by the Complaints & FOI Service 144
Complaints were received: Stage 1 = 96 Stage
2 = 48 35 ‘Contacts’ received via the Public
Services Ombudsman for Wales 882
FOI & EIR requests processed by the Complaints & FOI Service In summary, it was reported that:- •There were significantly more Compliments received
during this reporting period. Improving
the way that compliments were captured remains a piece of work that the
Complaints and FOI Team needs to undertake, but that was being delayed due to
capacity constraints. •The service received a greater number of enquiries
– many of which were either allocated back to the service areas to resolve
pro-actively, or formal responses were required in order to explain why such
matters could not be dealt with under the complaints
procedures. •It was worth noting that the number of complaints
received by the Council was the third lowest in Wales. •A great deal of work was needed to prevent Stage 1
complaints from escalating to Stage 2 unnecessarily on account that it had not
been possible to respond within the prescribed timescale of
ten-working-days. •Compliance with timescales under Stage 2 also
requires attention, as do the shortcomings in complaints handling that were
referred to the Ombudsman. The
Complaints and FOI Team continues to face challenges in meeting the demands of
rises in the numbers of compliments, complaints, and FOI activity. •there were fewer Ombudsman ... view the full minutes text for item 12. |
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Ceredigion County Council Draft Self-Assessment PDF 8 MB Minutes: Part 6 of the Local Government and
Elections (Wales) Act 2021 introduced a new Self-Assessment based performance
regime for Principal Councils. The new performance regime was
intended to build and support a culture in which councils continuously seek to
improve and do better in everything they do, regardless of how well they were
performing already. It was the expectation of the Act that councils would
always be striving to achieve more and seek to ensure best outcomes for local
people and communities. One way of doing this was to continuously challenge the
status quo and ask questions about how they were operating. There were 5 specific duties for
Councils introduced by the Act: •Duty to keep performance under
review •Duty to consult on performance •Duty to report on performance •Duty to arrange a Panel
Performance Assessment •Duty to respond to a Panel
Performance Assessment The Act sets also out the integral
role that the Governance and Audit Committee play in the Self-Assessment
Process. This role involves the Committee: •Receiving the Council’s draft
Self-Assessment Report •Reviewing the draft
Self-Assessment Report and making recommendations on the conclusions or actions
the Council intends to take •Receiving the final
Self-Assessment report when it was published, including commentary on why its
recommendations are accepted or not accepted.
Currently, the Draft
Self-Assessment Report had now been produced and was presented to the Committee
for consideration. The Report had been developed by
assessing a wide variety of evidence including internal reports and reviews,
external regulatory and inspection reports and crucially engagement and
consultation activities. The Council adopted a set of key questions or “Key
Lines of Enquiry” to ensure the process was focused on outcomes, the
organisation-wide view of performance and was evidence-based. Workshops were
run during April and May with Members and Officers of the Council to evaluate
current performance, the opportunities that exist for improvement and the
specific actions we intend to take. The findings were recorded in the
Self-Assessment Matrix document which was used to help produce the
Self-Assessment Report and Action plan, and was
available on request. Although the Self-Assessment
Report was the key output from the process the work on improving outcomes was
an ongoing year-round activity. Throughout the year we conduct consultation in
support of self-assessment, we collate evidence to inform the workshops,
deliver the actions in the Self-Assessment action plan and monitor the progress towards
completion. It is important to note that the
Report discharges the requirements of both: •The Local Government and
Elections (Wales) Act 2021 – the duty to report on performance •The Well-being of Future
Generations (Wales) Act 2015 – to set and review progress against our Corporate
Well-being Objectives Part of the new Self-Assessment
Performance Regime was the duty to undertake a Panel Performance Assessment
once in every election cycle. Panel Assessments were intended to provide an independent and external perspective of the extent to which the Council was meeting the performance requirements of the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021. The aim was to ... view the full minutes text for item 13. |
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Corporate Risk Register PDF 4 MB Minutes: Regular reports were provided to the Governance and Audit
Committee regarding the Council’s Corporate Risk Register to provide on-going
information and assurance that risks identified by senior managers were managed
appropriately. This reinforces the Governance and Audit Committee role of
providing independent assurance to Council of the appropriate management of the
Corporate Risk Register. A review of the latest risk status was conducted at the LG
meeting of 30 August 2023 where candidates for promotion / demotion to the
Corporate Risk Register were discussed and agreed. The risk register had now
been amended to include details of when and which committee last reviewed the
risk, as requested at the previous Governance and Audit Committee meeting
(21/06/2023). De-escalated
from corporate to service R006: Through Age Well-being Programme. The risk score has
decreased to 12 as the Through Age Well-being model was now more developed and
consolidated. Staff, service-users and the community
had a greater understanding and accept the model. The recent CIW inspection
supports the model. The model had been reviewed and some revision made to
enhance the effectiveness around Quality Assurance and Mental Wellbeing. The
risks had been mitigated and the level of perceived risk has abated. Leadership
Group agreed to de-escalate the risk to service level. R017: Safeguarding. The risk score has decreased to 12 as
the mitigating actions had been completed, and a corporate safeguarding group
has been re-established. The service participates fully in all regional and
appropriate national meetings and boards in the safeguarding arena. The
safeguarding service was fully staffed following the appointment of the agency
recruited Innovate team, this has resulted in a more responsive service with
capacity to cope with demand. Safeguarding procedures were better embedded and
have made the service more responsive. Overall, there were less concerns about the safeguarding risks as risks were being
managed appropriately. Leadership Group agreed to de-escalate the risk to
service level. Escalated
from service to corporate None The risk score for R006: Through Age Well-being Programme,
had decreased to 12. The
risk score for R017: Safeguarding had decreased to 12. All other risks had been reviewed and included the revised
RAG status of mitigating actions and updated commentary. It was noted that Ceredigion was one of the leading Local
Authorities in Wales on this issue, with an Officer from Ceredigion being a
chair of the All Wales Cyber group organised by Welsh
Government. It was
AGREED: (i) to
note the updated register as presented; and (ii) in relation to R009: Information Management &
Cyber Security Resilience the Committee requested that they would be considered
as two separate risks due to the severity of
Cyber-attack, this recommendation would be presented to Leadership Group for consideration; |
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Draft Corporate Risk Management Policy, Strategy and Framework PDF 2 MB Minutes: The Council’s Risk Management
Policy, Strategy and Framework were reviewed every three years to ensure they
remain up to date and fit for purpose. The latest review was conducted between
December 2022 to January 2023. The findings from the review had
already been considered by Leadership Group and resulted in a
number of updates to the Draft Risk Management Policy, Strategy and
Framework. Currently, the Risk Management Policy,
Strategy and Framework had been updated to reflect the findings of the review
and current trends in best practice. The main updates were listed in the report
as follows:- •
Strengthening the
monitoring of service risks – service risks scoring 15 or above would be
assessed quarterly by Leadership Group for escalation to the Corporate Risk
Register and vice versa. •
Service risks would be
added to the Teifi Performance Management System so that they could be updated
and managed through the system. •
Clarified that the
threshold for risks to be considered by Leadership Group to be escalated /
de-escalated is 15. •
Clarified that
Leadership Group were responsible for deciding if risks should be escalated or de-escalated •
Clarified the role of
Internal Audit in the Policy and Framework, which was to assess and evaluate
the effectiveness of actions in place to mitigate risk and provide objective
assurance that risks were being managed appropriately. Additionally, Internal
Audit would also provide objective assurance to Leadership Group, Governance
& Audit Committee and Council on the robustness and effectiveness of the
risk management procedures by including periodic reviews of the Corporate Risk
Register, Service Risk Register and Corporate Risk Management procedures. •
Clarify that “target
risk” scores should be provided to accompany the mitigating actions for risk, i.e. what score should the risk be reduced to by delivering
the mitigating actions identified. Following approval of the draft
Risk Management document, Leadership Group decided that a consultation exercise
limited to key stakeholders would take place to include members of the
Governance and Audit Committee (GAC) and Zurich Insurance. Following the
consultation, the final documents would be taken through the democratic process
for final approval. A consultation letter was sent to
all members of the Governance and Audit Committee on the 30th of June, inviting
written comments by the 25th August. A detailed and useful response has been
received from the Deputy Chair of GAC and was currently being considered.
Zurich`s response had also been received and they offer no changes to the
draft. Following consideration of
response/s, the risk management documents would be amended to include any
required changes. The updated risk management documents would be shared with
GAC at its next meeting and would then be taken through the Democratic process
for approval. Any further feedback from GAC on the risk Management Policy,
Strategy and Framework at that stage would be included in subsequent reports Following discussion, Leadership Group do not consider that a workshop for GAC on this topic was necessary, as all members of GAC have had the opportunity to engage with ... view the full minutes text for item 15. |
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Forward Work Programme PDF 80 KB Minutes: It
was AGREED to note the content of the Forward Work Programme subject to noting
that the new Governance Officer would not be in post until the beginning of
November, which could impact on the reports presented at the January 2024
meeting. All
Members thanked Ms Hannah Rees for her work during her time as a Governance
Officer and wished her well for the future. |