Issue - meetings

As detailed in the recommendation.

Councillor Billy Mullin welcomed Mr Paul Goodlad from the Wales Audit Office (WAO) to the meeting who was in attendance to present the WAO Annual Improvement Report of the Audit General for Wales.

            Mr Goodlad commented that it was a very positive report with no new proposals for improvement.  The Auditor General had reached that conclusion as outlined in the report based on:

Performance

(a)       Despite increasing budget pressures the Council continues to make good progress against its priority areas and maintains compliance with the Local Government Measure 2009;

Use of Resources

(b)       The Council is strengthening its management of financial resources, but has made less consistent progress revising other resource management strategies; and

Governance

(c)        The Council has made good progress in addressing the governance-related proposals for improvement arising from our 2015 corporate assessment report.

            Members welcomed the recognition by WAO that the Council was continuing to make good progress in the current financial climate.  Following a comment from Councillor Kevin Jones, Mr Goodlad explained that in previous years WAO expected continuous improvement from the Authority but as they recognised the climate in which the Council was operating, it was now on what could be achieved within the allocated budget and maintaining the status quo.

            Councillor Butler queried the Proposal for Improvement P3 on revised strategies for People, ICT and Asset Management.  Mr Goodlad explained that the conclusion of those strategies would complete the framework that would help the Council in moving forward.  However, he recognised that progress had commenced in those areas citing the completion of restructures and the conclusion of Single Status as examples.  The Chief Executive commented that despite the formal strategies not being complete in published form, the corporate services had effectively prioritised their resources to support organisational change in key priority areas such as service reviews and alternative delivery models.

            The Chief Executive provided updates on the progress of the action plan agreed in 2015 which was appended to the report.

            RESOLVED:

That the Annual Improvement Report be accepted and the updated response to the Proposals for Improvement from the 2015 report be noted.