Issue - meetings

That the Annual Governance Statement 2022/23 Mid-year Progress Report be accepted.

The Chief Executive presented a mid-year progress report on the areas of improvement set out in the Annual Governance Statement (AGS) for 2022/23.  Detailed analysis of progress against the significant Governance and Strategic issues identified in the AGS were appended to the report.

The Internal Audit, Performance & Risk Manager advised that the five significant Governance issues remained open as expected and that progress would be reflected in the AGS for 2023/24 along with the Corporate Self-Assessment.  Further progress on the significant Strategic issues would form part of the Risk Management update to be shared at the next meeting.

The Chair asked for clarity on the implications of risks relating to the Council’s statutory obligations on homelessness.  In highlighting the significant financial pressures and housing challenges nationwide, the Housing & Prevention Services Manager advised that a recent report to Cabinet had set out options for mitigating the risks for Flintshire.  He provided background on the reduction of grant funding and forthcoming legislation to reduce homelessness.  The findings from a recent review on homeless prevention services by Audit Wales would be shared at a future meeting.

Sally Ellis acknowledged the work being carried out by the Council on homelessness.  As suggested, future reports would incorporate an additional column on target risk scores and the impact of the scoring matrix would be reflected in the next Risk Management update.

Councillor Bernie Attridge welcomed the work being done to reduce the homeless risks as reported to Cabinet and Overview & Scrutiny.

As requested by Brian Harvey, the Chief Executive provided an update on various workstreams to help with ongoing recruitment challenges.

Suggestions by Councillor Glyn Banks on the dashboard overview were noted by officers for future reference.

The recommendation was moved and seconded by Councillor Ted Palmer and Brian Harvey.

RESOLVED:

That the Annual Governance Statement 2022/23 Mid-year Progress Report be accepted.