Issue - meetings

That the Committee is assured by the Auditor General for Wales’ Annual Improvement Plan for 2016/17 and supports the executive response to the Annual Improvement Report.

The Chief Executive presented the Annual Improvement Report by the Wales Audit Office (WAO) which summarised the audit and regulatory work undertaken at the Council since the last report published in July 2016.  The report, which was considered alongside the WAO three Study Reports (above), concluded that the Council was meeting its statutory requirements in relation to continuous improvement and made no formal recommendations.  The Council’s executive response to the four proposals for improvement was also shared.

Mr. Paul Goodlad of WAO explained that a new format had been adopted for the report and that the first part of the document summarised performance audit work in Flintshire.  The second part applied to all Welsh councils and the combined findings would be published in a national report.  He gave a reminder that improvement was an ongoing journey and that the four proposals for improvement would further strengthen the Council’s existing arrangements.

The Chief Executive said that significant work had been undertaken on forthcoming budget challenges and gave a statement on the financial resilience of the future of the Council.  He said that WAO had recognised that the Council’s finances were being well managed and governed, with systems generally sound.  It was important to make a distinction between the quality of financial governance and management, and the financial quantum available to the Council to manage its affairs and services.  The latter was the cause of the challenge to the Council and the sustainability of the budget, and not the former.  The significance of the forthcoming budget statement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Local Government Provisional Settlement from the Welsh Government Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government were highlighted as key to the future.

RESOLVED:

That the Committee is assured by the Auditor General for Wales’ Annual Improvement Plan for 2016/17 and supports the executive response to the Annual Improvement Report.