Agenda item

The Policy and Performance Manager introduced the published Annual Improvement Report 2014-15, incorporating the Corporate Assessment. 

The headline finding of the report was “The Council demonstrates ambition in its vision, enthusiasm to deliver and commitment to working collaboratively, but this needs to be supported by a clearly joined-up strategic approach and effective delivery mechanisms.” The plan contained a number of proposals for improvement. Wales Audit Office had been invited Audit Committee to present the findings.

Following the presentation Members were invited to comment.

A Member referred to the analysis on performance and accountability in governance and challenged that the report did not provide sufficient detail in order for Members to scrutinise effectively.  It was noted that Internal Audited had been understaffed in recent years and how could we be reassured that the robustness of the data would be increased.  Wales Audit Office referred to the improvement plan and the quality of the targets and actions taken, and how they would contribute to the delivery of the improvements. In terms of quantifying the impact, unless there were clear targets and expectations set out, then Members and senior managers would not be able to hold officers to account.  It was noted that there had been concerns surrounding data quality, but this had been taken from a small sample.  WAO would be undertaking further work to check on the robustness of actions.

The Policy and Performance Manager explained that, in terms of Internal Audit, in the 2017/18 audit plan there would be a change in emphasis away from the paperwork aspect, and more towards helping with scrutiny of systems, which would be in line with the work done by WAO.  Audit Committee were advised that there were national and locally produced Performance indicators, both of which came with an internal control rating of good.

In terms of the Improvement Plan

The Chief Internal Auditor explained to Members that Internal Audit were involved with auditing performance indicators on an annual basis.  The remit to date was to ensure that the position per each indicator was correct, and to ensure that the collator of the information adhered to the criteria set out in the performance indicator.  Internal Audit worked closely with Policy and Performance team to ensure that the data was as robust as possible but could only work with a sample of data at any given time.

A Member raised concerns surrounding the recommendation to reconsider the Councils policy of not formally minuting Cabinet meetings, and it was considered important the meetings should be formally minuted.  The Cabinet Member highlighted that Cabinet meetings were live streamed and the agendas and background information were readily available.  We heard that Cabinets collective view was that the decision log would be published following the meeting and formal minutes were considered unnecessary. A Member expressed that the area of concern was not the decisions but rather announcements made which were not part of the agenda, which could be distributed widely through minutes.

A Member referred to the Corporate Assessment proposal for improvement P8, ‘Develop the Council’s workforce planning arrangements by including accurate data and key management information around workforce issues and statistics, reporting regularly to Senior Leadership and Management Teams to enable effective monitoring of progress and management of these issues on an ongoing basis. In response to a request of further clarification it was explained that there was no strategy for how the workforce, as a whole, would be taken forward. WAO would expect to see a clear picture of the workforce, profile of the organisations, alongside where the organisation was heading in order to identify future needs.  We heard that this would be important in terms of redundancies, in order to identify the correct positions were removed.  Without the workforce plan it would be difficult to identify the future needs of the organisation.

The Committee resolved to note the report.