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. Minutes: Councillors John Pughe Roberts and Gethin Glyn Williams. |
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DECLARATION OF PERSONAL INTEREST To receive any declaration of personal interest. 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. |
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The Chairman shall propose that the minutes of the meeting of this committee, held on 27 September 2018, be signed as a true record. Minutes: The Chair signed the minutes of the previous meeting of this Committee held on 27 September 2018, as a true record. |
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FRAUD AND CORRUPTION: EXPRESS MOTORS PDF 62 KB To submit the report of the Senior Manager Revenues and Risk. Minutes: The Senior Revenue and
Risk Manager set out the background and context of the report. It was reported that four defendants
had been found guilty at Caernarfon Crown Court on 2nd October
2018, on charges of fraud involving claims for subsidies
by Express Motors for running
the concessionary fares scheme in Gwynedd. A fifth defendant had pleaded guilty at an earlier
hearing. It was noted that on 31 October
2018, all defendants had been
sentenced at Mold Crown Court to prison for periods of between 12 months and seven and
a half years. It was noted, as the matter had been subject to court proceedings, it had not been possible until
now for the Committee to discuss the matter at a public meeting. It was noted that the matter had been referred to Internal Audit by the Regulatory Department in 2014, within a few weeks
of discovering fraud at the
Bws Padarn company. It was explained
that the matter had been referred due
to the Department's concerns
and furthermore they had received complaints from customers that bus travel cards
were being swiped more than once (when stepping onto
the bus and when leaving) for
journeys made with Express Motors. The Senior Manager explained that the Wayfarer system by Parkeon was the system used to
record concessionary fare
data for bus operators. It was noted that it was difficult to get the relevant data out of the system to gather evidence that could
be discussed with the Monitoring Officer to see if there
were grounds to refer the matter to the police. It was noted that it was not possible at the time to produce an exceptions report
from the system, however this was now possible.
It was noted that risks remained with a great deal
of money in question and the Council using the national system. The Cabinet Member for Environment
noted that he was not in his role at the time of the fraud, however, he was when the matter went to court. He emphasised what was important was what would be done
from now on. He suggested that the situation perhaps highlighted that there was an over dependency
on grants and Welsh Government understood this and was undertaking work to get to grips with the issue. The Head of Environment Department explained that following the fraud discovered at Bws Padarn company that it appeared there was over-claiming of concessionary tickets from Express Motors company. He noted that the Internal Audit had investigated Express Motors before fraud was found at Bws Padarn, but there was no evidence. The fraud at Bws Padarn had highlighted the over-claiming at Express Motors, due to the expectation that the subsidy level for both companies would be fairly similar. He explained that it was difficult to extract data from the national system and therefore the Council had to pay a company to seek the ... view the full minutes text for item 5. |
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REVENUE BUDGET 2018/19 - END OF AUGUST REVIEW PDF 218 KB To submit the report of the Head of Finance. Additional documents:
Minutes: The report
was submitted by the Senior Finance Manager, who gave
the context and elaborated on the contents of the report that had been submitted
to Cabinet on 16 October
2018. She noted that the end of August review of the budgets indicated a mixed picture, however, specific actions were required
for the Education Department, Children and Families Department
together with the Highways and Municipal Departments to ensure control of their budgets by 31 March 2019. Attention was drawn to the Cabinet's decision: "To accept
the report on the end of August 2018 review of the Revenue Budget and consider
the latest financial situation regarding the budgets of each
department/service. ·
To ask the Cabinet Members for Children, Education
and Highways and Municipal services to ensure that the departments have a clear
implementation plan to reduce the financial deficit and to discuss those plans
with me so that I can be confident that they are reasonable. ·
Reimburse the Economy and Community Department
£40k, which is the income loss resulting from the closure of the Arfon swimming pool over the summer. ·
Harvest (£1,904) of the net underspend on Corporate
budgets, with (£40k) to be used to reimburse the Economy and Community
Department for the income loss while the Arfon
swimming pool was closed. With the remaining (£1,864) to be transferred to the
Supporting the Financial Strategy Reserve to support the inevitable one-off
pressure on the Council's budget.” During the ensuing discussion, officers and
the Cabinet Member for Finance responded to members' enquiries as follows: ·
That the Arfon swimming
pool was closed for ten weeks over the summer to
enable adaptations to be undertaken. In fairness to Byw'n
Iach Cyf, who will be
responsible for the healthy living centres from April 2019 onwards, the Economy
and Community Department would be reimbursed for the income loss; ·
Agree with the members' observations, the overspend
position in terms of transport in the Education Department was unacceptable. A
meeting took place with the relevant officers together with the Chief Executive
to discuss this issue and it also received attention
at the Cabinet meeting on 16 October 2018. The overspend
in the departments linked to the services that are associated with the most
vulnerable people and in this case the overspend was for transporting children
to Ysgol Hafod Lon. The
department was asked to consider alternative ways of transporting pupils by
perhaps paying parents rather than using a taxi with a requirement for an
escort to be present; ·
That the Cabinet consider the
overspend in terms of transport in the Education Department and
challenge the Cabinet Member for Education and the officers. It was necessary
to change the system and it would be very difficult to solve the overspend by
supporting the existing system; ·
Encourage members to attend one of the four
workshops at the start of December regarding savings and the financial
position; · It was estimated that there would be £2.9 million income in terms of the Council Tax Premium Scheme at ... view the full minutes text for item 6. |
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CAPITAL PROGRAMME 2018/19 - END OF AUGUST REVIEW PDF 215 KB To submit the report of the Head of Finance. Additional documents: Minutes: Submitted - the
report of the Head of Finance Department noting, in accordance with the
requirements of the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011, that the Audit and
Governance Committee was expected to scrutinise some financial matters
including budget monitoring reports, where
appropriate. The Senior Finance Manager set out the context and elaborated on the contents of the report submitted to Cabinet on 16 October 2018. She noted that
there was an increase of £25.227 million in the budget for the three-year
capital programme since the opening budget position. It was
explained that firm plans were in place to invest approximately £28.6m
in 2018/19, with £6.9m (24%) of it funded by attracting specific grants.
Attention was drawn to the Cabinet's decision. RESOLVED to note the situation and the relevant risks in the context of the Council’s capital programme. |
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SAVINGS OVERVIEW: PROGRESS REPORT ON REALISING SAVING SCHEMES PDF 199 KB To submit the report of the Head of Finance. Additional documents:
Minutes: The report of the Head of Finance Department was submitted which reported on the latest situation on realising the saving schemes. The Senior Finance Manager set the context and elaborated
on the contents of the report submitted to Cabinet on 16 October 2018. She noted that
it was heartening to report
that £23m of the total of over £24m of savings plans for the period
2015/16 - 2017/18, namely 95%, had been achieved with
only a little slippage with the rest. She drew attention
that 11 of the 26 savings schemes had been realised in full
or in part, and it was encouraging that only two
schemes were anticipated to slip. It was confirmed
that in financial
terms, the forecasts indicated that over 80% of the savings had been realised. In response to a question from a member regarding deferring the transfer of the leisure facilities provision to Byw'n Iach Cyf, the Senior Revenue
and Risk Manager stated that the original timetable for transfer
was too ambitious, considering the required detailed legal preparatory work. The intention to transfer the provision to Byw'n Iach Cyf on 1 April 2019 in accordance
with the timetable was confirmed. RESOLVED to note the situation and the relevant risks in the context of the savings overview. |
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TREASURY MANAGEMENT 2018/19 - MID YEAR REVIEW PDF 448 KB To submit, for information, the report of the Head of Finance on the Council’s actual borrowing and investment during the current financial year. Minutes: The Head
of Finance Department set out
the background and context of the report on treasury management
activitiy for the current year. He confirmed that
during the six months between 1 April and 30 September 2018, the Council’s
borrowing activity had remained within the restrictions originally set and
there were no banks where the Council had deposited money that failed to repay. He drew attention to the comparatively high
interest loans taken in the 1980s that were coming to an end. It was noted that
the Council for some time "self-borrowed", rather than borrowed from
others, and it was necessary to look at what loans to take in the mid or longer
term, however, it was intended to have loans for short terms until the start of
April 2019. It was noted that a training session for
Committee members would take place on 16 January 2019, where guidance would be
given by Arlingclose Company, the Council's Treasury
Management Consultants. It was noted that this would be a golden opportunity to
discuss and explain the Council's Treasury Management Strategy for 2019/20,
before the Committee recommend the Full Council to approve the strategy. A member noted that Manchester Council
invested in the community, rather than outside the area. The member added that
with three main rivers in Gwynedd there was an opportunity to invest in
electricity generating schemes, therefore why did the Council not invest in
such schemes. In response, the Head of Finance Department explained that
Manchester Council's Pension Fund had invested in the housing market, whilst it
was the treasury management that was in question here, and the Council's
situation was more limited. He elaborated that the regulations in England had
more freedom, and recently similar Welsh Government regulations had been
relaxed. He added that investment in infrastructure was more suitable for the
Pension Fund. It was noted that safe opportunities to invest in Gwynedd were
more limited. In response to a member’s observation
regarding the table ‘Principal Sums Invested for Periods Longer than 364 days’
on page 57 on the agenda, the Investment Manager explained that the table
indicated the maximum sums that can be invested. She elaborated that the
maximum sums in terms of investment for a period of two or three years was
less, compared to investments for a period of a year. RESOLVED to accept the report for information. |
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INTERNAL AUDIT OUTPUT 17/9/18 - 16/11/18 PDF 156 KB To submit the report of the Audit Manager. Minutes: Submitted - the report of the Audit Manager outlining the Internal Audit
section’s work for the period. It was noted that 8 reports on audits from the
action plan had been completed. Attention was drawn in terms of follow-up
audits, that acceptable action had been taken on 58.28% of the agreed steps,
namely 95 out of 163. Consideration was given to each individual report and during the
discussion reference was made to the following main matters – Council Tax Refunds In response to an enquiry by a member regarding the higher risk of fraud
under the new arrangements to pay refunds via BACS, the Audit Manager noted
that the audit had received a high level of assurance and officers were
investigating producing purposeful reports to undertake checks, and that
compensatory controls had been established. Leisure Centres A member asked if Internal Audit would continue to undertake audits of
leisure centres once the provision of leisure facilities had transferred to Byw'n Iach Cyf.
In response, the Senior Manager - Revenue and Risk noted that the transfer
agreement, that had not yet been signed, noted that Internal Audit would
provide the service to the company. In response to a
member’s observation, the Audit Manager explained that an action plan with a
timetable for the relevant service would be presented, with a follow-up being
completed to consider progress. She elaborated that a clear improvement had
been seen in leisure centre arrangements. Until recently, audit of leisure
centres would receive opinion C (under the previous system) with many action
points. It was noted that the action points were now 2 or 3 and Plas Silyn Leisure Centre had
received opinion A in 2017. In response to a
question from a member if it was possible for the company to select who would
undertake audits, the Senior Revenue and Risk Manager explained that there was
a break clause if the company was of the opinion that the service provided by
Internal Audit was not to the expected standard. It was noted that it would be
the company's Board of Governors who would receive audit reports from Internal
Audit from April 2019 onwards, as Byw'n Iach Cyf was a company at an
arm's length from the Council. The Council would continue to need assurance
about the company's governance arrangements, but the Head of Economy and
Community would be the main contact. He elaborated that Internal Audit was
seeking to ensure that the company started on a firm foundation and it would be
useful to complete the follow-up work on leisure centres before the end of
March 2019. A member noted that leisure centre audits highlighted the lack of
commercial thinking, in order for the new company to be successful staff would
have to be armed to enable them to operate commercially. A member asked if it was possible for the audits to continue to be presented to the Committee following transfer to Byw'n Iach Cyf. In response, a member noted that he was Chair ... view the full minutes text for item 10. |
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INTERNAL AUDIT PLAN 2018/19 PDF 118 KB To submit the report of the Audit Manager on the progress made on the 2018/19 Internal Audit Plan. Minutes: The report
of the Audit Manager was submitted, providing an update on
the current situation in terms of completing
the 2018/19 internal audit
plan. It was reported that the Internal Audit Service up to 16 November 2018 had completed 37.29% of the plan, with
22 of the 59 audits in the
2018/19 plan released in a finalised version. Attention was drawn to the amendments
to the Plan. RESOLVED to accept and note the contents of the report as an update of progress against the 2018/19 audit plan. |
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SELF-ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE AUDIT AND GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE PDF 97 KB To submit the report of the Senior Manager Revenues and Risk. Minutes: Submitted - the report of the Senior Manager
- Revenue and Risk stating the results of the Self-assessment of
Good Practice, using CIPFA assessment guidelines that took place in
a workshop on 5 November 2018, together with the action plan to improve compliance with statutory and good
practice requirements of professional bodies.
Members present at the workshop
were asked to confirm that the report was a fair reflection of the discussion that took place.
In response
to a comment by a member regarding the Committee submitting a formal annual report to the Full Council rather than an exceptions report
only, the Head of Finance explained, that the conclusion in the workshop was that the work of the Committee would be included in the Annual Scrutiny
Report and an exceptions report
would be submitted by the Committee to the Full Council, if required. A member referred to
the Annual Governance Statement and noted
that there should be a reference to the work of the Committee and its role
in terms of governance. In response, the Senior Manager - Revenue and Risk
noted that it was intended to strengthen the link with the Governance
Arrangements Assessment
Group and to submit more regular reports on the Group's work to the Committee. RESOLVED to accept the contents of the report as a basis for an action plan for the further development of the Committee and request an update in follow-up meetings on the progress against the actions. |