Agenda and minutes

To elect a Chair for 2017/18.

RESOLVED to elect Councillor R. Medwyn Hughes as Chairman of the Committee for 2017/18.

To elect a Vice-chair for 2017/18.

RESOLVED to elect Councillor John Brynmor Hughes as Vice-chair of the Committee for 2017/18.

To receive apologies for absence.

Councillors Dewi Wyn Roberts, Anwen Davies, Anne Lloyd Jones, Eryl Jones-Williams, W. Roy Owen and Mair Rowlands (Local Members).

To receive any declaration of personal interest.

No declarations of personal interest were received from any members present.

To note any items which are urgent business in the opinion of the Chairman so they may be considered.

The Chairman shall propose that the minutes of the meeting of this committee, held on 9 February 2017, be signed as a true record.

The Chairman signed the minutes of the meeting of this Committee held on 9 February 2017, as a true record.

To submit the report of the Senior Manager Revenues and Risk.

The Senior Revenue and Risk Manager gave a presentation on the functions to be carried out by the Committee. He drew attention to the fact that the committee was now known as the Audit and Governance Committee and the change of name reflected the evolution of the committee's role and functions since establishing the Audit Committee in 1999. He noted, following the decision by the Council in its meeting on 2 March 2017, that the committee had the added function of scrutinising issues involving the Council's internal operations.

He mentioned that training for committee members about the committee's responsibilities would be held on 14 June. He explained that the members would, ideally, have received training before the first meeting, but that this would not be possible because of the need to arrange this meeting so that the Council could respond to the Boundaries Commission about the review of election boundaries in Gwynedd in good time.

He presented the Committee's draft Operational Arrangements for comment and adoption. He provided details on the new draft Operational Arrangements which are based on the requirements of the Local Government Measure (Wales) 2011 and the Statutory Guidelines which support it. He emphasised that the committee was not a scrutiny committee as was required by the act and that scrutiny was an additional role. He explained that the committee, in accordance with the measure, had been scrutinising financial matters but that the committee, henceforth, would also scrutinise matters involving the Council's internal operations such as corporate strategies, partnerships, consultation, business transformation, efficiency arrangements and the workforce. He mentioned that an informal workshop for committee members would be held, after the formal meeting of the Council on 22 June, to identify scrutiny matters for the year.

A member noted that she was glad that this committee would be undertaking the additional scrutiny role, and taking a high level overview of the Council's operations.

A member enquired as to the committee's requirement to raise awareness across the Council of matters involving risk management, internal management and corporate governance in order to fully carry out its function. In response, the Senior Revenue and Risk Manager noted that one way the committee could raise awareness was through the Controls Improvement Working Group, where officers were called before the committee if the committee was dissatisfied with the arrangements for managing risk, internal management or governance within the Council's departments.

In response to an observation by a member about the consistency of arrangements when preparing for scrutiny committees, and the arrangements of the Audit and Governance Committee as it undertook the additional scrutiny role, the Members Manager - Democracy Service stated that a workshop would be held to identify matters to be scrutinised by the committee for the forward work programme for the year in accordance with the arrangements for the scrutiny committees. It was noted that the arrangement of holding preparatory meetings five weeks in advance of the scrutiny committee meetings had ended and that a meeting to prepare for items  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To submit the report of the Senior Manager (Corporate Support).

Local Members affected by the proposals (that are not members of the Committee) receiving an invitation: Councillors Cai Larsen, Roy Owen, Jason Parry, Ioan Thomas, Steve Collings, Keith Jones, Nigel Pickavance, Mair Rowlands, Catrin Wager, Glyn Daniels, Linda Ann Jones, Anne Lloyd Jones, Dewi Owen, Mike Stevens, Simon Glyn, Sian Wyn Hughes, W. Gareth Roberts,  Gareth Williams, Freya Bentham, Eryl Jones-Williams, Annwen Hughes,  Elfed Roberts, Elwyn Jones, Peter Garlick, Edgar Wyn Owen, Craig ab Iago, Dilwyn Lloyd, Eric M. Jones, Owain Williams, Anwen Davies, Elwyn Edwards, Louise Hughes, Beth Lawton and Alwyn Gruffydd.

The Senior Corporate Support Manager submitted the report, and noted that the Full Council at its meeting on 2 March had accepted a report on the review. He explained that the timetable for the Council to submit draft proposals to the Boundaries Commission had been extended to mid-June on account of the election period.

He noted that the committee had been asked to consider the draft proposals and the possible options noted in this report and propose recommendations to the Full Council in its meeting on 15 June, then the Council would submit proposals to the Boundaries Commission. Furthermore, to recommend to the Full Council that it, again, pressure the Boundaries Commission to pay attention to effective local representation needs and the impact of the population that was not on the electoral register when forming its proposals.

He highlighted that the Boundaries Commission had proposed that the average number of electors for each member in Gwynedd would be 1,243. He noted that every constituency was different and it was not practical to adhere too stringently to this figure in every case. The aim of the draft proposals was to allow for a variance of up to 25% above or below that figure, based on the type of variation the Commission had approved in the past.

Another principle at the core of these proposals was to seek to reduce the number of two -member constituencies in the county. He explained that the Council's opinion was, where geography and the nature of communities allowed, that single-member constituencies should be sought in order to simplify accountability for the electorate.

          He reported that the options had been discussed to varying degrees with the relevant Local Members and that Community Councils had also been consulted.

          He guided the members through the report and asked them to share their opinions on the proposals and the Local Members, who were present, were invited to comment.

          Dolbenmaen / Porthmadog (Tremadog)

          It was noted that both constituencies, although not being suggested for change at present, could be considered by the Boundaries Commission for change, if not this year, certainly by the review that would take place after the 2022 elections. Should the need for change arise, the only possibility that could be considered was to divide the ward of Porthmadog (Tremadog) so that some of the community wards in the area merged with the Dolbenmaen constituency and for others to be moved to one of two other constituencies in Porthmadog, thus leading to a reduction of one seat. Members were asked for their opinion about making recommendations for change or leaving it in the hands of the Commission.

          The local member for Dolbenmaen noted that any change considered would mean very little change in the number of electors. Extending the boundary toward Cwmstradllyn would perhaps balance out the numbers but extending the boundary to Pwllgoleulas would mean too much movement in one direction for the Dolbenmaen ward.

The local member for Porthmadog (Tremadog  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To submit the report of the Head of Finance.

The report of the Cabinet Member for Finance was submitted in which he noted that the final financial situation of the Council departments for 2016/17 was good given the challenging financial climate. He thanked the finance officers for their detailed work and their support for the departments.

The Senior Finance Manager focused on the content of the report which would be submitted to the Cabinet in its meeting that afternoon. Attention was drawn to the recommendation for the Cabinet:

"1.1.  To approve and note the final financial position of the Council’s departments

         for 2016/17.

1.2      To approve the amounts to be carried forward (the “Revised Over/ (Under) Spend” column of the summary in Appendix 1), namely:

1.3      To approve the following recommendations and virements (as outlined in Appendix 2)

·         Use (£46k), namely the underspend in excess of £100k in Adults, Health and Well-being to contribute towards the shortfall in another department.

·         Clear the overspend in the Children and Families Department so that they can move forward to face the challenges of 2017/18, and to finance this by re-directing the Adults, Health and Well-being Department underspend (£46k) and Corporate underspend (£151k).

·         Clear the overspend in the Highways and Municipal Department so that they can move forward to face the 2017/18 challenge, and to finance this by re-directing Corporate underspend (£88k).

·         Use the £939k underspend on Corporate Budgets for 2016/17 as follows:

- £151k to clear the overspend in the Children and Families Department

- £88k to clear the overspend in the Highways and Municipal Department

- £700k to be earmarked in a reserve to contribute towards the Financial Strategy for the future.   

1.4     Approve the virements from the specific reserves and release the provisions as outlined in Appendix 3 following a comprehensive review of reserves and provisions.

1.5     Convey to the Departments that the Cabinet will only clear overspend in very exceptional circumstances in the future, and that departments will be expected to carry forward any future overspend (in line with the procedure for carrying underspend forward)."

The Head of Finance Department stated that the revised statutory financial statements for 2016/17 would be submitted for approval by the Committee on 13 July but that this outturn report provided a clearer financial picture. He noted that there was some uncertainty about the level of Welsh Government grant funding for 2018/19 and beyond. He reported that a review of all the Council's funds had been made at the close of this year's accounts and £1,060m of resources had been collected. He explained that setting aside £1.76m in a specific fund would give the Council time to plan in order to respond appropriately in the autumn following confirmation of the level of Welsh Government grand funding.

During the ensuing discussion, the following main observations were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

To submit the report of the Head of Finance.

Submitted - the report of the Head of Finance Department, providing details of the end of year review of the capital programme.

The Cabinet Member for Resources set out the context and elaborated on the content of the report that would be submitted to the Cabinet in the afternoon. It was noted that the Council had succeeded in spending over £29m in 2016/17 on capital programmes; £11m had been funded through attracting specific grants, namely 77% of the total expenditure. It was confirmed that £9.4m of the expense budget would slip from 2016/17, compared to a slippage of £9.5m at the end of 2015/16. The Council did not lose any grant funding as a result of programmes slipping.

He drew attention to the fact that the Cabinet would be asked to approve an allocation of £100,000 for preparation and planning work to review the education provision in the Bangor area as a result of the Welsh Government's strict timetable as part of the Schools for the Twenty Fist Century plan. The Head of Finance Department reported that the report would be submitted in conjunction with the Council's long term capital programme after the summer.

RESOLVED:

(i)     To take note of the situation and the relevant risks in relation to the Council’s capital programme.

(ii)    Recommend that the Cabinet accept the report and approve the recommendations.

To submit the report of the Audit Manager.

Submitted - the report of the Audit Manager outlining the Internal Audit section’s work for the period. It was noted that 13 audit reports of the operational plan had been completed, along with three other reports (memoranda etc.) and three follow-up reports.

Each individual report was considered and, during the discussion, reference was made to the following matters –

Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards

In response to a member’s observation about the risks linked with this field, the Audit Manager noted that it was a sensitive and difficult field and that she had also attended training on the field where great risks were highlighted for the Council. She noted that the bid to employ officers to deal with applications had been approved. The workload was increasing and the Council needed to provide training on the field for the Council's residential homes as well as private ones. She noted, since the report had received a 'C' grading, the audit would appear before the Controls Improvement Working Group where progress to date could be considered.

Social Services Complaints Procedure

A member noted, although the report had received a 'B' Grading, she wished to consider the audit at the Controls Improvement Working Group. In response, the Audit Manager stated that the audit could be considered at the task group if the Committee so wished.

In response to a member’s observation in which he expressed his concern about the audit as he was under the impression that the matters raised in the past had been solved, the Audit Manager noted that an officer was responsible for coordinating a response to complaints, and the Customer Service Unit for the Adults, Health and Well-being Department would put action steps in place to respond to the audit and she hoped things would improve.

RESOLVED:

(i)     to accept the report on the work of the Internal Audit for the period of 30 January 2017 to 31 March 2017 and to support the agreed actions that have already been submitted to the managers of the relevant services;

(ii)    that the Chairman and Vice-chairman of the committee, along with Councillors Stephen Churchman, Angela Russell and Cemlyn Williams serve on the Working Group to consider the audits that have received a category ‘C’ grading along with the 'Social Services Complaints Procedure' audit that had received a category 'B' grading;

(iii)  that it was the responsibility of any member unable to attend the Working Group to arrange a substitute.

To submit the report of the Audit Manager.

The Chairman stated, because of time restrictions, that the item should be deferred until the next meeting on 22 June.

RESOLVED to defer the application.

To submit the report of the Senior Manager Revenues and Risk.

Submitted - the report of the Senior Revenue and Risk Manager outlining the work programme for the Committee for the period up to May 2018.

RESOLVED to note the information.