The Interim Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change submitted a report, the purpose of which, was to submit to the Committee a number of updates and reports from Audit Wales (AW), including an update on the financial and performance audit work undertaken, and due to be undertaken, by Audit Wales, during 2020-21.

Members, by way of background, were reminded that Audit Wales undertakes a programme of work during the year to help the Auditor General discharge his duties under the Public Audit (Wales) Act 2004 (the 2004 Act) and the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2009. The Auditor General’s functions include auditing accounts and undertaking local performance audit work at a broad range of public bodies, alongside conducting a programme of national value for money examinations and studies. The Auditor General also assesses the extent to which public bodies are complying with the sustainable development principle when setting and taking steps to meet their well-being objectives.

The Local Government (Wales) Measure 2009 included a general duty that requires Welsh improvement authorities to make arrangements to secure continuous improvement in the exercise of their functions. It required the Auditor General to carry out an annual Improvement Assessment to determine whether the Council is likely to comply with the requirements of Part 1 of the Measure.

Audit Wales had produced a number of reports for the Governance and Audit Committee to consider. These were shown in paragraph 4.1 of the report and attached at appendices to the report, as follows:-

• The Audit Wales Governance and Audit Committee Update(Appendix A); 
• Annual Audit Summary (Appendix B);
• Financial Sustainability of Local Government as a Result of the Covid-19 Pandemic (Appendix C)

The Performance Audit Lead Officer, Audit Wales, referred Members to page 23 of the report and the audit of the Grants and Returns, which had been completed with just some minor works required in relation to this piece of work.

With regards to the Audit of the Statement of Accounts 2020/21, the planning work in respect of this had commenced and further information would therefore be detailed in the Audit Plan report, scheduled to be submitted to the Committee at its next meeting.

AW then advised that the Performance Audit Work Programme for 2019-20,  had been the subject of previous discussion and would be completed today. The Performance Audit Work programme for 2020-21 was ongoing and an Annual Audit summary would be concluded by November/December 2021 and not June/July, as stated in the report.

The Performance Audit Lead Officer, Audit Wales, advised that work on Assurance and Risk Assessments was near completion for 2020-21 and a meeting was going to be arranged with the Council’s Corporate Management Board on 10 February next, outcomes from which would inform the risks highlighted from work undertaken throughout the year, including any input from the Council’s inspectors such as Estyn and the CIW. Then arising from this,   an Audit Plan would be produced, together with an agreed programme of work going forward.

In terms of the audit work on the Council’s Recovery Plan, she advised that this was work that was in progress and also the next tranche of work on the Financial Sustainability of the Authority would commence after BCBC receives its Final Settlement from the WG. The Performance Audit Lead Officer, Audit Wales, added that work on both the Digital Review and the Covid-19 Learning Project was ongoing.

A Member asked with regard to the Financial Audit updates, when the Committee would receive final information on the work carried out in respect of Grants.

The Interim Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change, confirmed that grant claims had been completed and these would be signed off as such by BCBC, following which Audit Wales would complete an audit of these, with any outcomes then being shared in a report to be submitted to the Committee at its next meeting. There had been two such grant claims that had been qualified, she added, and gave some brief detail on those.

The Performance Audit Lead Officer, Audit Wales, then gave a resume of Appendix C to the report for Members, explaining that there was an ongoing programme of work on the Financial Sustainability of local authorities that had dated back to austerity some 11 or so years ago. This had therefore been a key risk for public bodies such as the Council for some considerable time, which had only been compounded further by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Chairperson closed debate on this item, by stating that it would be helpful for future reports of this nature, if there could be included in the detail further information upon the reports ‘findings and some added context.’ She felt that this would allow the public together with anyone else reading reports of this nature, to have more of an understanding of them.       

RESOLVED:                            That Committee noted the Audit Wales  Governance and Audit Committee Reports at Appendices A, B and C to the report.