Venue: Siambr Hywel Dda, Council Offices, Caernarfon, Gwynedd. LL55 1SH
Contact: Bethan Adams 01286 679020
No. | Item |
---|---|
APOLOGIES To receive apologies for
absence. Minutes: Councillors Anwen J. Davies, Trevor Edwards and E.
Selwyn Griffiths. |
|
DECLARATION OF PERSONAL INTEREST To receive
any declaration of personal interest. Minutes: No
declarations of personal interest were received from any members present. |
|
URGENT ITEMS To
note any items which are urgent business in the opinion of the Chairman so they
may be considered. |
|
EXTERNAL AUDIT REPORTS PDF 99 KB To submit the report of the
Head of Corporate Support. Additional documents: Minutes: Discussion on this report was postponed at the
previous meeting of the Committee on 1 December 2015 due to the volume of
information in order to allow members to give due attention to the report. The Senior Manager -
Revenue and Risk set out the context, and noted that a more thorough procedure
had been set in order to allow the Committee to satisfy itself that the actions
to respond to the improvement proposals contained in external auditors' reports
had been implemented. It was noted that a report in terms of external
audits was submitted to the Committee every six months. It was explained that
the intention under the new procedure was to consider every
proposal/recommendation individually and when the Committee was satisfied that
a proposal/recommendation had been completed or that it was no longer relevant
it could be removed from the list. In
response to members' concerns in terms of seeking actual assurance that the
actions in response to improvement proposals had been implemented, the Senior
Manager - Revenue and Risk noted that the work of the Heads of Department and
officers must be relied upon but if the Committee was of the opinion that there
was a need for further explanation a Cabinet Member or officers could called
before them. The
Chief Executive noted that the role of the Committee, as the body responsible
for governance, was to keep track of the actions and to decide whether it was
satisfied that they had been completed or with the progress to date and not to
redo the work of the Scrutiny Committees. The
Strategic Planning and Performance Manager guided the members through the
appendix which noted the audits undertaken by external auditors during the last
three years together with their proposals for improvement, the action plans to
respond to the proposals by the auditors as well as progress to date. Specific
attention was given to the recommendations where it was noted that they had
been completed. During the discussion the following main points were
noted: ·
That some observations were very lengthy and
therefore more concise information was requested in future with reference to a
project in the Council's strategic plan when relevant e.g. Estyn Inspection; ·
Consideration
should be given to including the links to the reports in the table; ·
Page 15 1.2.1 4i. Ensure that services
promote independence for older people.
- need confirmation that this work was only completed in relation to telecare; ·
Page 20 1.2.2 ii. Strategic planning with
BCUHB in the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS). - need confirmation that monitoring of the
therapeutic service for children/young people placed outside the authority's
area was undertaken; ·
That there was a
need for clarity in terms of leader/responsibility where it was not noted; ·
Page 20 1.2.2 iii. Awareness and use of
advocacy services - that further
information should be received as the observations did not confirm that the
quality of the care plans was consistent; · Page 23 1.2.2 iia. Opportunities to take advantage of health care ... view the full minutes text for item 4. |
|
THE COUNCIL'S SCRUTINY ARRANGEMENTS PDF 234 KB To submit
the report of the Senior Manager, Democracy and Delivery. Additional documents: Minutes: The Senior Manager
– Democracy and Delivery submitted the report and noted that, following a
discussion on the matter at the Committee on 1 December 2015, the final version
of the report of the Wales Audit Office (WAO) had been received which had been
included as Appendix 1. He guided the members through Appendix
2 which noted the recommendations with some considerations for the Committee to
consider when creating an action plan to respond to the recommendations and
drew attention to the fact that the Committee was asked to elect members to a
Sub-group which would also include members of the Scrutiny Forum and the Deputy
Leader. It was explained that the Sub-group would create recommendations for
consideration before the Council commenced its new year in May 2016. During the discussion the following
main points were noted: ·
That scrutiny in its current form was ineffective; ·
That, since changing to the Cabinet system, some
members were unwilling to take part in scrutiny and the need to deal with this; ·
That one weakness in the current procedure was that
too many items were being considered because of the inadequacy of challenging
why a matter was being considered and consequently the standard of scrutiny
deteriorated; ·
That it was difficult to keep up the momentum with
scrutiny investigations; ·
That there was a need for assurances regarding the
purpose of scrutiny; ·
That scrutiny could add value to the process if the
scrutiny procedure was remodelled; ·
That member training was extremely important; ·
That consideration should be given to establishing
a procedure whereby a Scrutiny Committee could select membership from amongst
all Council members (with the exception of Cabinet Members) in terms of their
expertise to take part in a scrutiny investigation; ·
The recommendations were welcomed. RESOLVED: (i)
To approve the
draft action points; (ii)
To elect the Chair, Vice-chair and Councillor John
Wyn Williams on the Sub-group. |