Agenda item

To consider the report

DECISION:

• To accept and note that the arrangements and processes were in place to ensure that the improvement proposals were being implemented.

Note:

·         Response to Recommendation 5 'Time for Change - Poverty in Wales' - To provide a number of those the Council had engaged with.

·         To adapt the report's format in the future so that the recommendations are consistently included.

The report was submitted by the Corporate Director. The Members were reminded that they had a responsibility to consider external audit reports (national, and those local to Gwynedd), the recommendations contained in them, the implications to governance, risk management or control, and to ensure that improvement proposals that arose from the audits were implemented.

⁠The Council Business Support Service Manager highlighted that a response form was now completed by the managers as part of the response process, with the progress measured against improvement recommendations. He noted that the work of responding to most of the improvement proposals was continuous work and that the Governance Group chaired by the Corporate Director had been addressing the improvement proposals and the progress of the recommendations. He reiterated that those proposals where the conclusion stated 'completed – continuous work' and 'completed – recommendations have been realised' would not receive further attention from the Committee; an update against those with a conclusion of 'preparatory work' and 'ongoing' would be presented to the Committee in six months' time, and work would be done in future to revise the format of the report so that the content of the recommendations was consistent.

The members expressed their thanks for the report. Each audit was referred to in turn.

In response to a question regarding what kind of background auditing was completed, and also whether the Auditors were satisfied that adequate steps had been taken to address the recommendations, it was noted that Cyngor Gwynedd's expectation was for this information to be included on the response form and that a six-monthly update would be presented to the Committee until the recommendations had been addressed fully. It was added that progress was also expected to be discussed internally in performance challenge and support meetings.

The Audit Wales Official added that recommendations were not tracked, but that many of the matters that arose tended to arise in aspects of different work which then created a picture of the response.

In response to the observations, the Member noted that some level of objectivity and assurance was needed, which would add value when self-assessing. It was asked whether Internal Audit could undertake this work. In response to the question, the Head of Finance stated that in respect of Internal Audit work, it would depend on the type of recommendation made and whether it merited being addressed. He added that this did not come under Internal Audit arrangements, but it could be included as part of the Internal Audit Plan. The Corporate Director added that the performance challenge and support meetings were challenging, and in line with the Auditors' comments, if there was something that had not been addressed adequately, this would become evident through a combination of these things.

In response to a question regarding how many people the Council had engaged with ('Time for Change – Poverty in Wales' – response to recommendation 5 which stated, 'over the past 18 months we have engaged with a large number of people who are in poverty...'), the Council Business Support Service Manager noted that he would find the information and provide a number for how many people the Council had engaged with.

RESOLVED:

·         To accept and note that arrangements and processes were in place to ensure that the improvement proposals were being implemented.

Note:

·         To respond to Recommendation 5  'Time for Change – Poverty in Wales' – Provide a number for how many people the Council has engaged with

·         To revise the report's format in future so that the content of the recommendations was consistent