The purpose of the report was to provide Members with the updated Forward Work Programme for 2023-24.

The Deputy Head of Finance noted that the Code of Corporate Governance would be added to the agenda of the September meeting, and the Corporate Fraud Report and the Draft Statement of Accounts (unaudited) would be added to the agenda for July’s meeting. It was noted that a Member Development Briefing on the Statement of Accounts had been organised for 13^th July. It was also noted that the issue of complaints would be added to the agenda for the November meeting.

The Chairperson commented that given the length of some agendas the meeting might need to be split into two, or there should be a discussion about organising a special meeting to deal with some issues.

A Member asked about doing additional deep dives into issues. The Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change responded by noting that what had been agreed was that deep dives into identified areas of risk could take place in meetings where the Corporate Risk Assessment is on the agenda.

Another Member asked if it could be possible to carry out a review of the Capital Programme, not its content but the governance issues around it. 

In particular, he stressed the issue of forecasting because there have been some high-profile projects with very last-minute increases. He stressed that he had concerns that delegated authority could tie the hands of the Council. He was looking for an assurance that we had a consistent and robust approach to identifying capital projects, forecasting them, and understanding risk. His issue was around the accuracy and timeliness of forecasting and how that informs the capital programme.

The Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change responded by indicating she did not know if Audit Wales were going to do work in this area but wondered whether RIAS could look at it first and report their findings to the Committee. A deep dive could follow when the issues are known.

With the agreement of Members, she noted that she would talk to the representatives of RIAS about drawing up a project brief to take this forward.

RESOLVED:

Subject to the amendments proposed in the meeting, the Committee considered and approved the updated Forward Work Programme for 2023-24.