Agenda item

That the content of the Grant Claim Certification for 2014/15 be noted.

The Corporate Finance Manager introduced the grant claim certification from Wales Audit Office (WAO) for the year ending 31 March 2015.  To address the findings of the report, the Finance team had developed an action plan.  This included the continuation of work on the grant completion checklist to incorporate service manager authorisation, which was an area outside the control of the Finance team.  The £0.128m net adjustment to claims mainly related to a one-off issue which had been resolved; this was a small proportion of the overall grants total and resulted in no financial loss to the Council.  There had been improvement to grant claims year on year, with some work still to do alongside WAO colleagues.

Ms. Amanda Hughes recalled the concerns raised by the Committee on the report of the previous year which had led to training sessions with those involved in grant claims.  Out of the 16 grant claims certified, seven were unqualified and nine were subject to either qualification or amendment or both.  Whilst acknowledging that some improvements had been made, Ms. Hughes remained disappointed, particularly as the number of claims was reducing year on year.  She drew attention to the recommendations listed within the report to address these concerns.

Mr. Paul Williams referred to the checklist and workforce training which had taken place, stating his disappointment that issues of non-compliance with the Contract Procedure Rules (CPRs) remained ongoing.  The Chief Executive shared these frustrations but gave assurances that work was underway to identify the main issues to target specific training and reinforce controls.  Risks were being highlighted with senior managers and Chief Officers, and an interim report indicating levels of confidence on progress with actions would be received in the Autumn.

When asked by Councillor Glyn Banks about follow-up action from WAO, Ms. Hughes said it should be recognised that responsibility for the errors was spread across the Council.  She said that compliance with CPRs was also an issue in other Authorities and welcomed the approach to target specific areas with individual training.

The Chief Officer (Governance) advised that the Joint Procurement Unit was working to simplify the new set of CPRs and that training would be given to raise awareness.  Discussions would take place on refreshing the approvals process, involving a range of key officers and Members including the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Committee.  The formal approvals process for CPRs would be shared with the Committee in September, prior to final approval at Council in October.

Following concern by Mr. Williams that the current process was not being followed, the Chief Executive said that an update on progress with compliance would be given at the September meeting, with periodic updates shared with WAO colleagues to give reassurance.

Councillor Arnold Woolley commented on the need to view comparative information on grant claim outcomes of other Authorities, to give a greater understanding of the situation.  Ms. Hughes agreed to follow up this request and provide a response, stating it was likely that Flintshire’s statistics were amongst the lowest.

Councillor Woolley suggested that some of the issues may be due to lack of capacity or adequate support to enable employees to carry out their tasks.  The Chief Executive said that this was not a valid reason for non-compliance of processes and that the refresher work with managers on CPRs would help to address the problem.

RESOLVED:

That the content of the Grant Claim Certification for 2014/15 be noted.