Venue: Siambr Hywel Dda, Council Offices, Caernarfon, Gwynedd. LL55 1SH
Contact: Bethan Adams 01286 679020
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APOLOGIES To receive apologies for absence. Additional documents: Minutes: Councillors E. Selwyn Griffiths, W. Tudor Owen, Gethin Glyn Williams and John Wyn Williams. |
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DECLARATION OF PERSONAL INTEREST To receive any declaration of personal interest. Additional documents: Minutes: No declarations of personal interest were received from any members present. |
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URGENT ITEMS To note any items which are urgent business in the opinion of the Chairman so they may be considered. Additional documents: |
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The Chairman shall propose that the minutes of the meeting of this committee, held on 29 September 2016, be signed as a true record. Additional documents: Minutes: The Chair signed the minutes of the meeting of this committee held on 29 September 2016, as a true record. |
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EXTERNAL AUDIT REPORTS PDF 66 KB To submit the report of the Head of Corporate Support. Additional documents:
Minutes: The Senior Policy
Officer set out the context, drawing the attention of members to responses
received to what had been raised by members at the meeting on 23 June 2016. Members
were reminded that the role of the Committee was to satisfy themselves with the
progress that had been made. Attention was drawn to the fact that 29 out of 69
recommendations had been completed. It was noted that
it was currently reported on all recommendations which noted that they had not
been completed from reports that went back many years. Members' opinion was
sought in terms of the contents of the latest report only, of those that were
published annually, for example the Annual Performance Appraisal of the Care
and Social Services Inspectorate for Wales, as it was assumed that anything
that had not been addressed in the previous report would be included in the
latest report. In terms of audit,
the Audit Manager noted that consideration should be given to keeping them on
the list as themes could change over the years and perhaps they would not
receive appropriate attention if they were removed from the list. The Senior
Manager - Revenue and Risk added that if there was repetition, including a
cross-reference between the latest/historical reports could be considered. Members noted
their wish to continue to include historical annual reports in the list to be
checked. Members were given
an opportunity to provide observations on the report and appendix which noted
the audits undertaken by external auditors in recent years together with their
proposals for improvement, their action plans and progress to date. During the discussion the following main points were noted: ·
Responses to points raised at the meeting on 23
June 2016 were received at this meeting, this period was far too long; ·
Page 35 Timeliness of looked after children’s
reviews - observations contradicted themselves as they referred to an
improvement on the one hand but on the other hand they stated that there had
not been an improvement. In terms of the lack of representation from other
agencies at the conferences, conferences should be able to continue via video
link. ·
Page 22 Raise
awareness of the implications and requirements of Deprivation of Liberty
Safeguards (DoLS) and operate the governance
arrangements for the operation of the procedures - noted as completed but they were aware that many people were on the waiting list therefore, it was questioned whether the true
picture was given. Matter should be referred to the Services Scrutiny
Committee. RESOLVED: (i)
to accept the report; (ii)
to continue including the historical annual reports
in the list to be checked; (iii) to ask for a
response from the Children and Supporting Families Department in relation to
the timeliness of looked after children's reviews; (iv) refer Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards' (DoLS) Arrangements to the Services Scrutiny Committee for
consideration. |
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REVENUE BUDGET 2016/17 - SECOND QUARTER REVIEW (SEPTEMBER 2016) PDF 120 KB To submit the report of the Head of Finance. Additional documents:
Minutes: Submitted - the report of the Head of Finance Department noting that in
accordance with the requirements of the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011, that
the Audit Committee was expected to scrutinise some financial matters including
budget monitoring reports, when appropriate. The Cabinet Member
for Resources set out the context and elaborated on the content of the report submitted to the Cabinet on 22 November 2016. Attention was drawn to
the following decisions for the attention of the committee to scrutinise - “To accept the report on the second quarter
review of the Revenue Budget (position as at 30 September 2016) and consider
the latest financial situation regarding the budgets of each department /
service, and ask the Cabinet Members and the relevant heads of department to
take the appropriate steps regarding matters under their leadership/management. ·
To
transfer (£135k) from a corporate budget to the Adults, Health and Well-being
Department to finance the additional costs resulting from the change in
charging for the first six weeks of residential and nursing care. ·
To allow
the Regulatory Department to use (£200k) of their underspend
to finance specific plans to improve the condition of car parks. ·
To
transfer (£300k) from the Regulatory Department to the Corporate Redundancy
Fund to assist with the changes facing us as a Council. ·
To
harvest (£300k) from the favourable Council Tax collections, and (£290k) from
the Benefits underspend, together with (£200k) of the underspend included
within 'Other', and transfer as follows: - use (£20k) of the underspend as a financial
contribution to the independent Harlech Swimming Pool
as a one-off bridging payment for the period to 31 March 2017, in accordance
with the Cabinet decision on 4 October 2016. - use (£135k) to finance the financial
obligations of the change in the Care Act 2014 by the Adult, Health and
Well-being Department. - the remainder of (£635k) to
be set aside in the Transformation Fund” The Head of
Finance Department explained that finance harvested was used for Council
priorities. The Departments and Cabinet Members were thanked for their
budgetary management. During the ensuing
discussion officers responded to members' enquiries as follows: ·
In terms of the fact that closing tourist
information centres could affect the income received in car parks, a
substantial impact was not anticipated as there was a movement towards booking
accommodation on-line; ·
In terms of the Maritime Service's overspend of
£108,000, Hafan Pwllheli
had been taken in-house in 2007 prior to the financial crash in 2008, and it
could not be anticipated whether or not the financial position would have been
better if Hafan would have remained within the
management of a private company as there was less demand with more supply. The
Economy and Community Department could be asked to examine the option of externalising
Hafan, but the situation had become more complicated
since the time of transfer, as the management of Hafan
and the Harbour had been combined, and the emergence of Plas
Heli; · That parking fees made up most of ... view the full minutes text for item 6. |
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CAPITAL PROGRAMME 2016/17 - SECOND QUARTER REVIEW (SEPTEMBER 2016) PDF 118 KB To submit the report of the Head of Finance. Additional documents: Minutes: Submitted - the report of the Head of Finance Department noting that in
accordance with the requirements of the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011,
that the Audit Committee was expected to scrutinise some financial matters
including budget monitoring reports, when appropriate. The Cabinet Member
for Resources set out the context and elaborated on the content of the report submitted to the Cabinet on 22 November 2016. It was noted that
specific schemes were in place to invest approximately £34.493 million in
2016/17. It was confirmed that £2.442 million of proposed expenditure had been
re-profiled from 2016/17 to 2017/18, but no loss of funding was caused to the
Council where schemes had slipped. In response to a question by a member,
the Head of Finance Department explained that after transferring housing stock
to Cartrefi Cymunedol
Gwynedd, the Council continued to be responsible for the housing estates' water
pipes. A member asked for an explanation in
terms of what was meant by unsupported borrowing. The Head of Finance explained
that this meant that the Council was investing without the support of grant
funding. RESOLVED to note the situation and the relevant risks in the context of
the Council’s capital programme. |
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INTERNAL AUDIT OUTPUT 19/9/16 - 18/11/16 PDF 701 KB To submit the report of the Audit Manager. Additional documents: Minutes: Submitted - the report of the Audit Manager
outlining the Internal Audit section’s work for the period. It was noted that
21 reports on audits from the operational plan had been completed and 3
follow-up audits. Consideration was given to each individual
report and during the discussion reference was made to the following matters – Budgetary
Management - Primary Schools, Ysgol Talsarnau In
response to a member’s observation, the Audit Manager noted that she was
hopeful that there would be an improvement in terms of budgetary management
when the school would be re-visited. Verification
Limits The
Audit Manager noted that an opinion category had not been given for the audit
as the procedure of undertaking additional independent verifications in the
Central Coding Structure The Audit Manager noted that an opinion category
had not been given for the audit as there was no suitable action that would
lead to streamlining the account codes therefore, staff would be taught to use
the correct codes to reduce examples of miscoding. Leisure Centres A member noted that it was good to see an improvement and that gratitude
needed to be conveyed to the Economy and Community Department and leisure
centres. In response, the Audit Manager noted that she was pleased to report
that there had been an improvement. She referred to Duty Managers at Plas Silyn Leisure Centre noting
that they went above and beyond to ensure that the centre was attractive for
people to use it. MOT Fees In response to a member’s question regarding installing a card payment
machine in the workshops, the Audit Manager noted that there was a fee to buy
the machine as well as a monthly fee; there was no point investing in a machine
if the income received was not substantial. The Senior Manager - Revenue and
Risk added that it was a matter for the Highways and Municipal Department with
support from the Income Unit. He drew attention to the fact that work was
undertaken with companies by means of an invoicing procedure. A member noted that using a computerised
payment system should be considered. In response, the Senior Manager - Revenue
and Risk noted that the Council had a similar system, and offering it to
workshops could be considered, if it was practically possible. RESOLVED: (i) to accept the report on
the work of the Internal Audit section for the period 19 September 2016 to 18
November 2016 and to support the agreed actions that had already been submitted
to the managers of the relevant services for implementation; (ii)
to convey the Committee's gratitude to the Economy
and Community Department, Bangor Aquatics and Healthy Lifestyle Centre, Plas Silyn Leisure Centre, Dwyfor Leisure Centre and Bro Dysynni
Leisure Centre for their work in raising standard of controls; (iii) that the Chair and Vice-chair of the committee, along with Councillors John Brynmor Hughes, Dilwyn Morgan and Michael Sol Owen serve on the Working ... view the full minutes text for item 8. |
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INTERNAL AUDIT PLAN 2016/17 PDF 379 KB To submit the report of the Audit Manager on the progress made on the 2016/17 Internal Audit Plan. Additional documents: Minutes: Submitted - the
report of the Audit Manager providing an update on the current situation in terms
of completing the 2016/17 internal audit plan. It was reported
that the Internal Audit Unit up to 18 November 2016 had completed 52.44% of the
plan, with 43 of the 82 audits in the 2016/17 plan released in a finalised
version. Attention was
drawn to amendments to the plan noting that one team member had left the
Council's employment at the end of October 2016 and following a review, it had
been decided to cancel the 'Managing Early Departures' Arrangements' audit. It
was reported that there was a high probability that the cancellations of other
audits would be inevitable if the present situation continued especially as
another team member would leave the Council's employment at the beginning of
2017. In response to a
question by a member regarding the risk as a result of cancelling the 'Managing
Early Departures' Arrangements' audit, the Audit Manager noted that things were
prioritised on risk basis and as Wales Audit Office had recently examined the
matter it had been decided to cancel this audit. In response to
observations, the Head of Department noted that the post becoming vacant at the
beginning of the year would be filled. He suggested that the Audit Manager
should re-prioritise matters in the 2016/17 internal audit plan and discuss
with the Chair and Vice-chair. A member noted
that noting deferring rather than cancelling should be considered. In response,
the Audit Manager noted that noting deferring would give the impression that
the matter would be examined again. RESOLVED: (i)
to accept and note
the contents of the report as an update of progress against the 2016/17 audit
plan; (ii)
that the Audit Manager re-prioritises matters in the
2016/17 internal audit plan and discusses with the Chair and Vice-chair. |
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REVIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION PDF 193 KB To submit the report of the Monitoring Officer. Additional documents: Minutes: Submitted – the report of the Monitoring Officer in relation to
reviewing the constitution. It was reported that the amended Constitution had
been adopted by the Council in July 2014 which was based on a model
constitution developed nationally. It was noted that changes to the
Constitution had been reported upon to the Council from time to time since it
had been adopted. He was of the opinion that it was timely to take an overview
of its implementation in order to ensure that it worked for the Council and to
identify fields where better clarity or amendments were required. The Committee was
asked to consider re-establishing a working group to assist with the work of
reviewing the Constitution, which would include the Deputy Leader who was
responsible for governance, or to ask the Scrutiny Review Group to undertake
the work. A member noted
that it was timely to re-examine the Constitution given the technological
changes of webcasting meetings and voting electronically. It was reported
that a report would be submitted to the Council on 8 December 2016 reporting on
amendments to officers' delegated powers which reflected departmental and
legislative changes as well as the requirement to amend the Financial Procedure
Rules. Committee members’ opinions were sought regarding amending the capital
receipts procedure following disposal of property so that an arrangement was
created allowing a Department to make an application to keep a proportion of
the capital receipt rather than automatically keep 20% of every capital
receipt. With the Council facing serious cuts in capital funding that would be
available to realise the capital programme's priorities in future, it was noted
that the opportunity was taken to ensure that capital available to realise
Council priorities following the sale of assets, was maximised. RESOLVED: (i) to note the report; (ii)
to appoint the Chair and Vice-chair of the
Committee, Councillors Gareth Wyn Griffith, Aeron M.
Jones, Dilwyn Morgan, Michael Sol Owen and John Pughe Roberts as well as the Deputy Leader to serve on the
Working Group to consider the findings of the Review of the Constitution; (iii) recommend the change in the Financial Rules to the Council. |