Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Ifor Lloyd, Margaret Lyon and John Roberts.

None.

None.

The minutes of the meeting of the Audit and Governance Committee held on 26 September 2016 were submitted for approval.

RESOLVED-

        That the minutes of the Audit and Governance Committee held on 26 September 2016 be approved and signed as a correct record.

The Audit and Governance Committee Forward Work Programme was presented.

Gwilym Bury (WAO) advised that the report on the Strategic Approach of Councils to Income Generation and Charging for Services would be presented to the Audit and Governance Committee in February 2017.

A draft Annual Improvement Report (AIR) would be issued in March 2017, with the final being presented in July 2017.

A local Wales Audit Office (WAO) report on the Council’s financial resilience would be issued in draft format before Christmas 2016, with the final being presented to the Audit and Governance Committee in February 2017.

RESOLVED:-

That the Audit and Governance Committee Forward Work Programme be approved.

The Audit Manager (Systems and Compliance) advised Members that, in order to comply with the requirements of the new UK Public Sector Internal Audit Standards and the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) Local Government Application Note for the UK Standards, which came into force on 1 April 2013, the Head of Audit and Procurement was required to report periodically to the Audit and Governance Committee on the Internal Audit Service’s performance, relative to the Annual Audit Plan and consider Internal Audit performance measures on a quarterly basis.

The report analysed the performance of Internal Audit for the period 1 April 2016 to 30 September 2016 and was supported by Appendices A to H, detailing progress against the performance targets for 2016/2017 and the work undertaken by the service during the first quarter of the year.

The Audit Manager went on to highlight the following in relation to performance targets:-

·             The schedule of performance targets for the first half of the year to 30/9/16 (Appendix A) demonstrated that the service was performing well against planned targets. However, it should be noted that the performance indicator in respect of the number of audits performed during the first half of the year was reduced due to the redundancy of the Audit Manager – IT and Irregularities and the long-term sickness absence of an officer in the period.

·             There were 6 audits categorised as slippage in the first half of the year (Appendix B), which accounted for 65 days work.

·             The Service managed sickness absence in compliance with the Authority’s Sickness Absence Policy. Sickness accounted for 58.5 days absence during the first half of the year, against an annual target of 70 days. This was primarily due to the long term sickness absence of an officer, which accounted for 49.5 days absence.     

·             Definitions of the risk ratings of recommendations and the audit opinions were attached at Appendix C.

·             Appendix D provided a summary of the recommendations and audit opinions for the first quarter.  The internal audits of Corporate Safeguarding and Mobile Telephones had been assessed as providing only Limited Assurance.

·             A schedule of the eight follow-up audits conducted during the first quarter was shown in Appendix E; this demonstrated the number of recommendations accepted and implemented, together with the revised audit opinion, which had resulted in an improved audit opinion for all eight follow up reports.

·             The Marine Drive Toll follow up identified that of the 16 recommendations made in the audit report issued in June 2016; 3 recommendations had been implemented, 5 partially implemented, 2 were work in progress and 6 were still considered to be outstanding. 

·             The Service received 6 final accounts for review during the first quarter and these were detailed within Appendix F.

·             An analysis of the special investigations undertaken during the year to date was provided in Appendix G.

In relation to Corporate Safeguarding the Strategic Director - Social Care and Education provided the following update:-

·             The first Corporate Safeguarding Annual Report would be presented to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 495.

Members were advised that, in accordance with the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS) 2013, the Internal Audit Service must undertake periodic self-assessments to evaluate conformance with the Definition of Auditing, the Code of Ethics and the Standards. The Head of Audit and Procurement Services was required to report the results of the Quality Assurance and Improvement Programme (QAIP) and any instances of non-conformance with PSIAS to the Audit and Governance Committee.  

Members were requested to review the Internal Audit’s Checklist for Assessing Conformance with PSIAS and the Local Government Application Note (Appendix 1). The checklist list was developed to satisfy the requirements set out in PSAIS 1311 for periodic self-assessments as part of the QAIP.        

The report provided assurance that Conwy’s Internal Audit Service was now fully compliant against 97% of the 334 individual requirements. The self-assessment identified 9 areas of partial conformance and one area of non-conformance.

An Improvement Plan demonstrated the areas of non-conformance with the Standards, the recommendations made to address the issues, the actions proposed by the Head of Service and the timescale for completion.

In relation to the one area of non-compliance, (Standards 1100 – Independence and Objectivity), which related to the dual role of the Head of Audit and Procurement, the recommendation was not considered necessary as objectivity and independence was provided by the operational management of the Service being delegated to the Audit Managers.

With regard to the above, the Strategic Director – Finance and Efficiencies assured the Lay Member (Chris Drew), that the Strategic Leadership Team (SLT) considered the content of the report and were assured that the arrangement was appropriate.

RESOLVED-

That the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards Improvement Plan 2016/17 be approved.

Members were requested to authorise the Chairm of the Audit and Governance Committee to sign fresh sets of the Statements of Accounts for 2011/12, 2012/13 and 2013/14.

There has been a delay in certifying the accounts as a member of the public had made objections to the accounts.

As a result of this, the Wales Audit Office (WAO) could not formally conclude its audit responsibilities and issue the certificates of audit closure until the objections had been addressed.

A letter was presented, which confirmed that the WAO had completed its work on the objections to the  accounts and had responded to the elector stating that they were not going to propose any further action.

When the accounts had been re-signed the Auditor General for Wales would be able to certify the accounts and close the audit for 2011/12, 2012/13 and 2013/14.

RESOLVED-

That the Chair of the Audit and Governance Committee be given authority to sign fresh sets of the Statements of Accounts for 2011/12, 2012/13 and 2013/14.

The Corporate Performance and Improvement Manager presented the published regulatory reports, received from the Council’s external regulators during the last quarter, together with the action plans produced by the Council responding to the recommendations made within those reports.

Report on the Food Law Enforcement Services

The Authority was audited as part of a three year programme (2013 – 2016) of full audits of the 22 Local Authorities in Wales by the Food Standards Agency.  The audit covered Conwy’s arrangements for the delivery of food hygiene and food standards enforcement services.

Financial Resilience of Local Authorities – 2015 – 2016

A review of the current financial performance of the 22 Local Authorities in Wales was undertaken by Wales Audit Office, on behalf of the Auditor General, looking at the quality of financial management arrangements, in order to determine their level of resilience in meeting the challenges.

The work built upon earlier reports on the financial resilience of Local Authorities and assessed the robustness of management and planning arrangements to support financial resilience at each authority, focusing on how they planned and then delivered their budget commitments.

The final report was published in August 2016 and contained recommendations, which had been responded to within the action plan.

In relation to the recommendation directed at Welsh Government (Whilst the Welsh Government has established systems to provide oversight of performance and expenditure, these do not always provide adequate assurance on the sustainability of services), Gwilym Bury (WAO) advised that he would inquire on whether it would be implemented and report back.

With regard to the recommendation that Income Generation and Charging Policies should be produced, the Strategic Director – Finance and Efficiencies had not accepted this recommendation.  The Council levied a charged for many services, with charges either set nationally, locally or by the Welsh Government (WG).  Each Service had its own income policies, which suited that Service’s need.  It was not clear how an overall Charging Policy would add value to the charging policies already in place, many of which had been adopted by Members.  A local report on financial resilience was currently being produced by the WAO, and the recommendation would be reviewed again at that point.

Gwilym Bury (WAO) advised that 6 Local Authorities had introduced an overall Charging Policy.

The Lay Member (Chris Drew) sought reassurance that the Council reviewed its income source as part of the annual budget review.  The Strategic Director – Finance and Efficiencies assured Members that all income sources were reviewed as part of the Budget Planning Framework.  With the Welsh Government reinforcing the fact that the Council could charge for services, when a service charge was reviewed, or a new charge proposed, it was not always met with approval, either from Members or the public.  Ensuring robust charging policies were in place, and to comply with the WG’s objective, was challenging.  All Services reviewed, compared and benchmarked any introduction or increase in charges.

Objection to Accounts 2013-2014 - Emergency Shoreline Repairs

The Wales Audit Office  ...  view the full minutes text for item 498.