Issue - meetings

Annual Audit Summary for Flintshire County Council 2019/20

Meeting: 27/01/2021 - Audit Committee (Item 21)

21 Annual Audit Summary for Flintshire County Council 2019/20 pdf icon PDF 103 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

That the Committee is assured by the Auditor General for Wales’ Annual Audit Summary report for 2019/20.

Minutes:

The Chief Executive presented the Annual Audit Summary for 2019/20 (formerly the Annual Improvement Report and Annual Audit Letter) which summarised the findings of audit and regulatory work previously undertaken at the Council by Audit Wales (AW).  Overall this was a positive report with no formal recommendations made during the year.  There were new proposals for improvement and proposals for development arising from three of the reviews.

 

Matt Edwards and Gwilym Bury from AW provided explanation on the new format and thanked officers and Members for their positive feedback.

 

Sally Ellis and Allan Rainford raised questions about reference to the Council’s ‘high risk’ financial strategy within the findings of the AW report on financial sustainability across Wales.  The Chief Executive agreed that the wording of AW was fair and reasonable.  He said that the strategy had been successful in balancing the budget and protecting the resilience of services, despite the additional spend and lost income from the emergency situation.  Given that the Council had demonstrated modernisation with no efficiencies of scale remaining, the expectation was to share risks with Welsh Government and seek adequate funding to meet requirements.  The recommended approach for 2021/22 would be to balance the budget without use of reserves, with a small supplement allocated to reinstate reserves used during the emergency situation.

 

As Leader of the Council, Councillor Roberts outlined the key principles in setting the Council’s budget without compromising reserves or spend on services.

 

On the findings of the AW report on financial sustainability, Councillor Johnson raised concerns about consistency across all Welsh councils.  The Chief Executive said that officers worked with AW colleagues on the content of draft reports and that the wording used for Flintshire reflected its low funded position in Wales and its commitment to protect the resilience of services.  Services would have been at risk if the Council had not followed the path of this high-risk strategy.

 

This was acknowledged by Matt Edwards who said that the report recognised the different approach adopted by the Council and the challenging position in balancing the budget whilst maintaining the quality of services.  In noting the comments, he and Gwilym Bury gave assurance on a consistent method of preparing reports for all councils in Wales.

 

Councillor Banks spoke in support of the terminology which acknowledged that the Council would not compromise services in the context of its low funded position.

 

The recommendation was moved and seconded by Councillors Axworthy and Dunbobbin.

 

RESOLVED:

 

That the Committee is assured by the Auditor General for Wales’ Annual Audit Summary report for 2019/20.