Issue - meetings

To accept the Annual Improvement Plan and endorse the response action plan. 

The Chief Executive introduced a report to receive the Annual Improvement Report of the Auditor General, which for 2015 incorporated the first Corporate Assessment, and to endorse the executive action plan response. 

He invited Mr. Huw Lloyd Jones from the Wales Audit Office (WAO) to make the presentation and added that the report had been considered by Cabinet and Audit Committee and would be submitted to the Corporate Resources Overview & Scrutiny Committee on 16 April 2015.  He explained that a summary report was included but that the full report had been sent to Members in advance of the meeting. 

Mr. Lloyd Jones detailed the background to the report and provided a detailed presentation which included the following key areas:-

·         What’s in the report?

·         Arrangements

·         Use of resources

·         Service performance

·         Likelihood conclusion

·         Overall conclusion

Mr. Lloyd Jones explained the arrangements for Corporate Assessments to be undertaken on a four year cycle across all Welsh Councils.  The fieldwork had been undertaken in September 2014 but was not exclusively based on events in that week.  It included events both before 15 September and after 19 September partly due to the implementation of a new operating model at that time.  The main findings were detailed in the summary report and whilst seven proposals had been identified, there were no statutory recommendations.  An action plan had been prepared to address the proposals and ensure they were followed up.

            The Leader of the Council indicated that it had initially been felt that September was not the best time due to the introduction of the new Chief Officer team.  However, he welcomed the report and he felt that it was pleasing that there were no formal recommendations.  The report gave great credit to those who had made contributions and he felt that the report should give the Council confidence. 

            Councillor Alison Halford raised concerns about the serious issue of the Council not preparing decent reports to Overview & Scrutiny committees, which had been discussed previously.  Another worry was that Human Resources were overstretched and she highlighted staff appraisals in particular.  She also raised the issue of AD Waste and the length of time it had taken to complete investigations. 

            Mr. Lloyd Jones explained that he had not raised the issue of Overview & Scrutiny reports in the past but added that some reports could be clearer.  He added that Members could also ask for improvements in reports if they did not feel that they were appropriate.  The Chief Executive referred to the change in format of Overview & Scrutiny Committees that was to be submitted to the Annual Meeting of the Council in May 2015.  He hoped that Members would welcome the idea of updating the format of reports and the style off meetings to make them more purposeful.  Demands on Human Resources  had been high for some time but the team did perform well in comparison to others in Wales.  Officers were committed to undertaking a new model of appraisals and were on target to achieve this.  He advised  ...  view the full minutes text for item 126