Issue - meetings

To consider the report

To approve the Statement, subject to amending the fourth clause in the 'Accountability' section to delete the reference to a lack of aspiration by the public to hold the Council accountable, and recommend that the Council Leader and the Chief Executive sign it.

The statement was presented by the Assistant Head - Revenue and Risk who explained that the statement, although not part of the accounts, was a statutory document which needed to be published with the accounts. In accordance with the Accounts and Audit (Wales) Regulations and the CIPFA Code of Practice, all Local Authorities must ensure that a statement of internal management is in place. It was reported that it was the Chief Executive and the Council Leader who were required to sign the document, although the Audit and Governance Committee's approval was needed.

Some background was given to the report, noting that all Local Authorities had a duty to present an annual statement, and that although the format or method had changed, that the content of these documents was very similar. In Gwynedd, it was the Governance Arrangement Assessment Group, led by the Chief Executive, who reviewed the risk register. The group would discuss risks within 22 different governance fields, noting the controls the Council had in place in order to mitigate the risks. This was done in response to the CIPFA framework which identified core principles for good governance.

It was reported that the group had concluded that there was no field of extremely high risk; and that there was one high risk field, 11 medium risk fields, and 10 low risk fields. It was noted that 'Culture' was the high risk field, the reasoning behind this being that an inappropriate culture within the Council could hinder all aspects of governance. Despite this, it was emphasised that the Ffordd Gwynedd Vision showed very good examples with generally significant progress; although this was not consistent across the Council as yet. It was added that the schedule had slipped somewhat due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but that there were examples of Ffordd Gwynedd culture helping matters in some areas during the response to the crisis.

Attention was drawn to the fact that only one risk score had changed over the year, namely Reviewing Outcomes, due to a failure to learn lessons from experience, and continuing to do the same things incorrectly.

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

·         Concern regarding the Council's accountability and a clause in the report which expressed that there was 'no great aspiration amongst the public to hold the Council accountable'. This wording was considered insulting, and it was considered that there was an aspiration amongst the public but that there was a lack of trust due to difficult decisions made in the past. Although it was Members who represented the public, regular members had no powers as they were not involved in discussions, and so it was possible that the public were losing their connection due to this.

·         Contact with Members had been poor during lockdown. A lack of communication with the Chairs of 'small' committees

·         Lack of input into decisions - had received information regarding decisions but it would have been good to have been aware of what was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5