Decision details

It was reported that the Governance and Audit Committee had a duty to review and assess the risk management arrangements, internal control, performance management and the Council's corporate governance and as part of that duty, there was an expectation to consider the reports of external review bodies such as Audit Wales, Estyn and Care Inspectorate Wales. In addition, committees were expected to assure themselves that arrangements were in place to monitor and evaluate progress against any recommendations in those reports.

The 'Missed opportunity? - Social Enterprises' report was submitted, along with the response of managers who outlined what the Council intended to do to respond to the recommendations within the report.

It was explained that the work of developing a strategy and vision had commenced by holding a joint face-to-face meeting with representatives from the Third Sector Liaison Group in Gwynedd. A workshop had been held where attendees (Third Sector, Officers and Councillors) were given an opportunity to contribute towards the development and co-production of priorities for action. The next step would be to analyse the observations gathered, to hold another meeting in October to develop the vision in full and to share a further update with the Committee within 6 months.

Gratitude was expressed for the report.

In response to a question regarding what a social enterprise was, it was noted that a recent meeting was held with third sector organisations that are part of the Gwynedd Third Sector Liaison Group who represent people in society - examples in Gwynedd would be Mantell Gwynedd, GISDA, Menter Fachwen. In an additional observation, a suggestion was made to list examples of social enterprises in the managers' response document in order to understand the broader context. The Audit Wales Officer added that it was difficult to set a definition of the term, but that it was a not-for-profit body to ensure social value. Reference was made to 1.24 of the report where it was noted that the best websites by local authorities included a 'clear definition noting what is a Social Enterprise'.

In response to an observation that the report was generic and that it was not suggested that an opportunity had been missed, it was noted that there was conflict between local and national work, and although the report seemed generic, that recommendations led to local opportunities.

During the ensuing discussion, the following observations were made by members:

·         That the work of social enterprises was very commendable; however, as Local Authorities disposed of assets and lost control, this could lead to enterprises dismantling the work of Local Authorities.

·         That there were good examples of social enterprises in the county and if they were managed correctly, the social benefit was a positive one.

RESOLVED to accept the report.

Note: 11b - suggestion to include names / examples of Gwynedd Social Enterprises in the response in order to understand the broader context