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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
RESOLVED Lynne Hamilton was elected Chair for the ensuing year.
RESOLVED John Brautigam was elected Vice-Chair for the ensuing year.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED Lynne Hamilton was elected Chair for the ensuing year.
RESOLVED Lynne Hamilton was elected Chair for the ensuing year.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED John Brautigam was elected Vice-Chair for the ensuing year.
RESOLVED John Brautigam was elected Vice-Chair for the ensuing year.
Apologies for absence were received from Committee Member County Councillor William Powell and Officers Diane Reynolds, Matt Perry, Nina Davies, Anne Phillips and Yvette Kottaun.
There were no declarations of interest from members relating to items to be considered on the agenda.
05/03/2025 Committee reminded officers of the actions set out on page 10 of the minutes and asked the scrutiny officer to ensure these were discharged. 27/03/2025 Item 9 - The word ‘be’ should be replaced with the word ‘being’. Item 3 - The Chair noted that the Committee was responsible for approving the Annual Audit Plan and ought to be advised of any adjustments and be assured that changes were taken at an appropriate level. It was agreed that that the Director of Corporate Services would present an assurance paper regarding this to the committee within the next few months. ACTION
Background was presented by Gareth Jones, Audit Wales. • The report summarised the published Audit Wales outputs since the previous summary presented in February 2024. • The Committee had received all reports listed within the summary. • The report included links to all national reports issued by Audit Wales in 2024. Issues Raised by the Committee Responses Received A recent media report indicated that a local Senedd representative had written to the Auditor General, raising concerns about potential systemic issues within the planning service. Had this been resolved? Arrangements had been made to meet with the Senedd Member to understand their concerns and further consideration would be given to whether the concerns fell within Audit Wales’s remit and work programme. Information on Page 38 showed Powys as having 1% of the most deprived areas in Wales. What indices were used to reach that figure? The Welsh Index and Multiple Deprivation was the central source used as Welsh Government used it as the basis of funding allocations. Information on Page 38 described a 20% increase of people aged over 65 in Powys. Was Powys an outlier regarding this statistic? And how could the Welsh Index for Multiple Deprivation be utilised to justify a greater acknowledgement of the demands on Powys County Council? The Director of Corporate Services answered that the Council was acutely aware of the increasing number of over 65s in Powys and that this percentage was proportionately greater than that of other councils across Wales. Assurance was given that this was built into financial planning and service forward business plans. Comparative data was available, although all local authorities were seeing an increase in demand for adult services. Powys population had increased by 1200. Was the 20% increase of the 1200 or part of the overall figure? The Head of Corporate Services answered that the information came from Stats Wales. Although the overall population had increased by 1%, the number of young people had decreased and the 20% increase of the older population was within the overall 1%. The April 2024 report identified that performance information provided to senior leaders did not enable a comprehensive understanding of service user perspectives or outcomes. This limited the effectiveness of decision-making and strategic planning. Given the findings of the Financial Sustainability Audit and the strategic importance of the Sustainable Powys initiative, assurance was requested that these issues were being addressed to better reflect service user experience and outcomes. Assurance was provided that this had been considered as part of performance management reporting. A new way of reporting under the Corporate and Strategic Equality Plan Objectives was being investigated. When a good suit of data became available there would be a role for scrutiny. Committee noted the report.
Background presented by Gareth Jones, Audit Wales. • Unscheduled Care: Issued for clearance in June 2025. • Scrutiny Review: Clearance process was complete, the final report had been issued, and Audit Wales was awaiting completion of the management response form. • Commissioning Report: Issued for clearance and received clearance response from the Council. This would move through the management response process. • The scope of the Corporate Governance Review was being finalised. The resources plan was complete. The draft report was planned to be presented to the committee by the end of September 2025. The workforce thematic was being timetabled across Wales. • The risk management work and evidence gathering had been completed. The report was being drafted and would be ready to present shortly. • Work was in the final stages of clearance for the Temporary Accommodation Study, evidence from Powys would be used to inform the national report. • Work on Children’s Services was slightly delayed but was in the scoping stage. Issues Raised by the Committee Responses Received Committee thanked Audit Wales for the opportunity to contribute to the national study into the capital programme and constructive contributions to the work of Audit Wales could continue to be made. Assurance was provided that the views of relevant committee members would be sought for work. Regarding the Corporate Governance Review, the committee recognised that a lot of work had been done by Audit Wales in the broad governance space over the last year. How would the review be cognisant of all other work as it progressed with Corporate Governance Work in its own right? Audit Wales took account of all audit work completed to date to inform the scope of future work. It was acknowledged that Powys was implementing changes and Audit Wales would evaluate the progress of change to draw evidence and provide a perspective to the committee. Committee noted the report.
Background presented by Emma Woodcock, Audit Wales. • The report covered areas that Audit Wales would be covering within the 2025-26 year. • Financial statement work would cover 2024-25 with a materiality of £5.68million. • Anything over £0.239million would be presented back to the Committee. • Areas classed as material by nature were the renumeration report elements, at £1k, covered by the staff cost element and related party disclosures set a lower materiality level of £10k where there was a related party between the council and individuals. • Risk areas found included management override, which was a standard risk prescribed by the ISA. • Other areas of focus included the Valuation of Pension, which may be different for Powys this year due to pension being in surplus. • Fixed asset valuation assessed how the council had addressed last year’s findings. • Senior officer renumeration was important to the reader of the accounts, so work would ensure that this met the lower materiality of 1k. • IFRS 16, covering the leases standard would be covered. • Standard timetable of work from July to October set out on page 91 of the report. Hope to bring the accounts to committee in October 2025. • Estimated audit fee £428,050. Further background provided by Gareth Jones, Audit Wales. • Thematic Audit on workforce pressures across all of Wales, local output would come from this and be presented the Committee. • Performance Audit Work for 2025-26: • Cyber security and economic development. • Aimed to complete above three pieces of work by the end of June 2026. Issues Raised by the Committee Responses Received Could the materiality limit be amended? Every £1million would be a 1% increase in council tax for residents. The materiality limit was determined by auditors’ professional judgement. A risk assessment process was undertaken, and if any anomalies had been identified, the standard percentage would have been adjusted accordingly. As no unusual matters were identified in Powys’s financial statement processes, the standard 1% methodology was applied. Could the materiality level be lowered to flag issues sooner? Nothing in Powys had been flagged as an outlier when compared to other local authorities, therefore the standard 1% was used. Audit Wales would test that Powys had adhered to its revaluation policy. Would an opinion be passed on the adequacy of the policy? Assurance was given that as part of a standard audit, Audit Wales would use the CIPFA Code, which stipulated that policies must be revalued within 5 years. Powys had changed its policy to every 3 years, so this would be covered. Assurance was sought around whether Terms of Reference were adjustable. How was Powys benchmarked against other local authorities regarding spending on Cyber Security? The team had been conducting cybersecurity reviews across various authorities using a standardised set of questions and audit criteria to define best practice. The review included some cost elements related to cybersecurity. However, cybersecurity can be embedded throughout the organisation, making it difficult to isolate exact spending. This discussion would be taken into consideration but a benchmarking figure in the final report was not guaranteed. The Director of Corporate Services added that a cost comparison would be difficult to conduct because each authority’s arrangements would depend upon the perceived level of risk. An explanation was requested regarding the £50k being spent on grants certification work. This work was carried out on all grants that Welsh Government had requested Audit Wales to perform certification for. The indicative figure was based upon the necessary skill mix required to undertake the audit. Did the wording under ‘Valuation of pension fund net liability or surplus’ relate to March 2024 or the work to be conducted for March 2025? This was an attempt to provide context of what happened in the 2023-24 financial year. Due to it taking place last year, it was anticipated that it could happen in 2025. Audit Wales did not think that the accounts were materially misstated, but that was a risk for 2024-25 accounts. Would the work of Audit Wales be informed by the actuary’s valuation? Actuaries were regarded as management experts in accounting terms. An independent party would be engaged to review work as the auditor’s expert. Significant work was done to assess the inputs and assumptions used for the pension fund. Committee noted the report.
Background presented by Emma Woodcock, Audit Wales. • Materiality for the Pension Fund was set at £8.143million. • Reporting threshold was set at £0.417million. • Inaccuracies of related party transactions of £10k or more would be reported. • Significant risk in the Council Plan due to management override was also a risk within the Pension Fund Plan. • Estimated audit fee for the year was £49,752. No comments or questions raised by the committee. Committee noted the report.
Background presented by the Assistant Director of SWAP. • The report was requested by the Governance and Audit Committee. • The scope of the work focussed on arrangements, controls and processes in place on the whole delivery approach. • This work was around the framework itself and was not around the delivery and performance of Sustainable Powys. • Sustainable Powys was the Council’s response to create a sustainable and resilient service to deliver a stronger, greener and fairer future to the citizens of Powys. • The work of SWAP in this report covered 6 key areas: • 1. Strategic alignment • 2. Development Plan and Approach • 3. Engagement and Involvement • 4. Governance and Leadership • 5. Reporting • 6. Financial Resilience • Auditor had given a high reasonable opinion, meaning there were sound systems of control in place. • Two main areas of improvement were identified around communication approach. 1. to make sure that all parties had a realistic understanding and expectation of the development of sustainable Powys from concept through to delivery. • Consistency, quality and timeliness of each service’s integrated business plans. Issues Raised by the Committee Responses Received Integrated business planning (IBP) was fundamental to the report, highlighting the crucial link between the council’s strategic goals and the operational details of service delivery. Services would be challenged as planning extended from a one-year to a five-year, and eventually to 15–20 years, aligning with Audit Wales’s recommendations for capital programme planning. The importance of understanding how outputs would drive future impact was stressed. Success depended not only on individual service performance but also on sustainable, cross-service integration. It was acknowledged that achieving sustainable outcomes required collaboration beyond council services, involving external partners. The Director for Corporate Services acknowledged that improvement was needed for some IBPs. The service was working on developing measures and performance data to have an improved suite of performance indicators to sit alongside the Corporate and Equality Strategic Plan. The work of Sustainable Powys was expected to unfold over an extended period. Long-term planning was fundamental to the programme’s success. Close collaboration continued with managers and directors who played a key role in leading the development of five-year service plans, but it was recognised that further progress was necessary. There was hope that the spending review and information from the Welsh Government would provide greater clarity on future funding, which was essential for understanding the budgetary framework over the coming years. The Assistant Director of SWAP added that the challenge around Sustainable Powys was around process and culture. How would the effectiveness of community involvement be assessed against the scope outlined on page 163? The team reviewed the engagement process, throughout the report. This included examining the various stages of engagement the council undertook, the opportunities provided, and the communication strategies employed. Active listening and clear communication were assessed which served as key indicators in evaluating the effectiveness of the engagement process. It was acknowledged that some outcomes still had room for improvement, although the process itself was considered robust and reasonable. What was the reasoning behind this being considered crucial, despite it not being identified as a top three risk in section 5.1 of the report? The Director for Corporate Services acknowledged that a specific risk around engagement was not noted, therefore consideration would be given as to the appropriateness of scoring and its position on the risk register. How would community knowledge, feeling and engagement with Sustainable Powys be measured? Concern was raised regarding the understanding and engagement of Sustainable Powys by expected stakeholders. An analysis of how the co-production principles had been met was requested. The Director of Corporate Services answered that this information could be shared in a different way but was not an aspect of the Internal Audit. The entire organisation was required to respond to this, with engagement and collaboration needed from officers at all levels. Good practice identified in some service areas had been shared with others. The Local Authority was working with Partners such as Powys Teaching Health Board (PTHB) and two tranches of engagement with town and community councils had been completed, with Cabinet members and directors having reviewed the effectiveness of this. How could community resilience be addressed and what would resilient communities look like? Committee welcomed the report and requested that to have an ongoing role in seeking assurance and examining the ongoing risk profile in connection with the programmes and projects underpinning the ambitions of Sustainable Powys. [LH1] [CL2] [LH1]Carrianne, I'm noticing that many of the Answer boxes are blank - I assume this means officers were unable to answer during the meeting. [CL2]Yes, the questions weren’t answered in the meeting. As the minutes are a reflection of the meeting officers can’t add information that wasn’t discussed. But officer can provide an update at a future meeting or via email if necessary.
Background provided by SWAP Principal Auditor SWAP. • The school received a Limited Audit Opinion in October 2024. • 6 of the 8 areas reviewed were agreed to be working properly. • It was determined that governance needed improvement as at the time of the audit there were 6 vacant governance posts. This had a significant impact on the school’s governance, management and overall effectiveness. Assurance was provided from the Head of School Improvement and Learning that to date most of these vacancies had been filled. • The school received a warning notice issue in July 2019 which was still in place at the time of the audit. • The school was projected to have a deficit of £589k by the end of the 2024-25 financial year and this was expected to increase to a £1.45million deficit by the end of 2026-27 financial year. • The school was operating with an unlicensed budget and had no formalised deficit recovery plan in place. The Head of School Improvement and Learning added that: • The school had worked well with Powys County Council, having met with finance colleagues, the Director of Education and the Section 151 Officer, to discuss recovery plans and the renewal of their warning notice. • Although a cumulative deficit remained, it had significantly decreased since the audit. As of the 1st of May 2025, the in-year deficit for the 2024–25 financial year stood at £141k, with a cumulative deficit of £366k. • In-year surpluses were projected for future years, but remained on a warning notice until sufficient assurance was provided that the cumulative deficit would be addressed. Issues Raised by the Committee Responses Received How did school reports tie in with Estyn inspections and reports? And how did this work tie in with the Accelerated Improvement Board (ABP)? The Head of School Improvement and Learning answered that finances came up well in the Local Authority Estyn inspection and it was not a recommendation. However, ensuring strong financial management of schools remained a key focus and featured highly in the ABP. An explanation was requested regarding why 90% of payments from the school were made without purchase orders. The Director for Corporate Services answered that this was anticipated to be a recommendation raised in the audit. The Head of Finance added that improvement would be needed on this. Committee requested to add an item onto the forward work programme to seek assurance around school financial management and purchase orders. ACTION
Background provided by SWAP Principal Auditor · 7 of the 8 areas reviewed were deemed to be working effectively. · Procurement procedures were generally good, with some purchase orders being raised after receipt of goods and services. · School budget was the main area of concern with a projected deficit of £157k by the end of the financial year, which was expected to rise to £407k by the end of 2026-27. · School was operating with an unlicensed budget and had no formalised deficit recovery plan in place. The Head of School Improvement and Learning added: · The school had worked closely with Powys and provided a recovery plan. · Submittal on 1st May 2025 left the school with an in-year deficit of £17k. · In year surplus budgets were anticipated for future years. With the cumulative deficit projected to be £24k for the year 2028-29. Issues Raised by the Committee Responses Received Concern was raised regarding the timing of the report’s publication prior to the committee meeting, and the impact on the school’s reputation. It was questioned whether it was appropriate to release the report ahead of the budget deadline and whether the authors should have deferred publication until the final figures were confirmed. Assurance was requested that consideration be given to the publication dates of such reports in the future. The Director of Corporate Services and Section 151 Officer answered that it was an obligation to scrutinise schools and publish the data. Audit reviews were a snapshot of schools’ positions at the point of audit. The report was an accurate reflection of the school’s position at that time, and it was pleasing to see the issues had been addressed. Had the effort taken to reduce the school’s deficit had an impact on the education of the pupils? The Head of School Improvement and Learning offered assurance that Powys County Council worked alongside the school’s governing body and senior leadership team to understand what could be done. Future work would look at grants. The Cabinet Member for a Learning Powys suggested it may be helpful for the service to provide an update paper on audit recommendation progress alongside the Audit Papers in future. The Head of School Improvement and Learning added that a paper was being presented to Scrutiny and Cabinet on the theme of schools’ balances and the support that the service had undertaken to support all Powys schools with their budgets. ACTION It was suggested that the Chair of the committee, the Deputy Head of SWAP and the Director for Corporate Services would meet to consider the timing of publishing schools internal audit reports in future, particularly when more up to date financial information could be forthcoming in a relatively short order. ACTION Committee thanked schools’ senior teams, governing bodies and the Powys education service for working collaboratively to improve the financial resilience and sustainability of schools.
This item was postponed due to the rescheduling of the meeting.
Part of an issue followed across 2 meetings
Background provided by Gareth Jones, Audit Wales . • Following the publication of the National Fraud Initiative (NFI) Report, Audit Wales shared a checklist which allowed self-praise of the involvement in the NFI with all participating bodies. • Audit Wales asked that participating bodies completed and presented the checklist to those charged with governance to support scrutiny of the NFI process. The Assistant Director of SWAP added: • The NFI was a biennial, UK wide counter fraud exercise. SWAP were the coordinators of the council’s approach to the NFI initiative. • SWAP prepared the checklist on behalf of Powys County Council. • It was the opinion of SWAP that in general, the council was well prepared to benefit from the initiative and protect against fraud and error. • The only significant improvement suggested was all investigations should be uploaded to the secure fraud website, as opposed to previous years where outcomes had been recorded in the council’s own mechanisms. The committee noted the paper.
Background presented by the Head of Finance. • The anti-fraud team continued to deliver a proactive fraud detection and prevention service across the council. • The anti-fraud team had conducted joint working with the DWP. Some work was ongoing, with 4 cases pending outcome. • 60 open investigations of potential fraud were being managed by the team, with a further 87 council tax matches and a review via the National Fraud Initiative. • 6 cases of fraud had been confirmed this quarter across different areas including council tax, business rates, misuse of disabled blue badges and tenancy related fraud. • Section 4 of the report outlined the outcomes and financial impact of the activity during the financial year. Key figures included: • £453k in potential overpayments and rebills. • £1.2million in potential income generated or savings achieved by Powys. • £108k in additional gains to the public purse. • These figures highlighted the significant financial benefits resulting from the implementation of the audit recommendations. • The team continued to provide support services with technical advice and fraud risk mitigation and shared fraud alerts from national bodies, internally. • No serious fraud risk recommendations were raised this quarter. • All prior recommendations from Audit Wales and SWAP had been addressed. • Committee were asked to provide feedback on the current approach around prioritisation and fraud detection prevention. Issues Raised by the Committee Responses Received Could the Committee see recommendations referenced in paragraph 3.1 of the report, to assess the impact of the controls and governance framework? The Head of Finance agreed to work with the Senior Fraud Officer to bring this information to the committee included in the next Fraud and Error Report. ACTION Para 5.1 referred to ‘serious’ financial risk. How was ‘serious’ defined? A specific definition was not available; however, it was described as recommendations that would indicate a significant or high impact risk of fraud such as systemic control weaknesses, major gaps in policies or high value vulnerabilities. How much of the recoverable and potential figures presented in the table under paragraph 4 had been achieved? Could a report come to committee regarding this? The £453k had been recorded as income and had been billed. Information around potential income gains would be picked up with the Senior Fraud Officer and reported back to committee included in the next Fraud and Error Report. ACTION Paragraph 7.1 of the report referred to fraud continuing to grow, whereas 7.2 referred to fraud reducing. Could this contradiction be explained? 7.1 referenced that the potential risk of fraud continued to grow. 7.2 looked at the significant progress made in identifying and reducing the risk of fraud and actual fraud and the improvement of detection. Paragraph 7.5 of the report described a future where fraud was not tolerated. Assurance was requested that fraud was not tolerated presently. Assurance was provided that no fraud would be tolerated. The Director of Corporate Services and Section 151 Officer offered assurance that a zero-tolerance policy was in place for internal fraud. Table in section 4 of the report presented the value recovered overall. Had the costs associated with reclaiming the money been subtracted from those figures? What was the differential? The figures were not net of costs; they demonstrated the gross potential income. Assurance was given that the costs of the service were significantly outweighed by the potential gains. Had the cost-of-living crisis resulted in an increase in fraud? The Head of Finance agreed to provide information around trends in the next Fraud and Error Report. ACTION Was social media used to highlight the risk of fraud with staff? Mandatory fraud awareness training for all staff was tracked and monitored by the Corporate Leadership Team. The Director of Corporate Services and Section 151 Officer reminded committee that a report fraud button was available on the intranet for every member of staff and comms were routinely shared reminding staff of their ability to report suspected fraud. The department was self-financing. How recently had it been considered that increased resource could improve yield? This had been considered, however it was difficult to balance the capacity within team. It was agreed that this could be looked at. Clarification was sought regarding the wording around the table under section 3.3 of the report: The line at the top of the table stated ‘At the end of Q4, cases and outcomes (where complete) […]’, whereas in the table it stated 60 cases as ‘in progress’. The Head of Finance acknowledged that due to the table including incomplete cases, the wording at the top of the table should be changed. Clarification was requested why the values presented in table 3.3 of the report did not equal the values presented in table 4 of the report. The Head of Finance answered that this could be due to the rates in the table on Section 3 relating to cases in quarter 4 only, whereas the table in Section 4 presented data for the full year. This would be confirmed with the Senior Fraud Officer. Committee noted the report.
Background provided by the Senior Manager Customer Services and Information Governance. • Assurance was provided that the report for 2024-25 year would follow at greater speed. • At the end of the year, 35% of elements were completed. • 12% of elements had been identified to be moved into the 2026-27 plan. Cyber Security and GDPR Mandatory Training: • The Council’s target for cyber security and GDPR training was 95%. • At the end of 2023-24, staff compliance was at 78% and members were at 93%. • A dramatic increase in compliance rates for Highways, Traffic and Recycling (HTR) had been noted, increasing to 92%. Section 7: Information security incidents and personal data breaches. • There had been an increase of incidents and breaches reported to the Information Compliance team of about 15%. There was no known reason for increase. • Most breaches were due to human error. • There was a reduction of incidents which required reporting to Information Commissioner suggesting that the severity of breaches had reduced. • Recommendations from the Information Commissioner were reported and managed via the regulatory tracker. • During that year the Information Commissioner had issued 17 recommendations to the Council, 15 had been implemented and 2 remained open. 4 were now complete. Information Requests • There was an increase of 16% in the number of requests received. With 1271 requests received within the 12 months against 1093 in the previous year. • There was a reduction in the compliance rates overall, largely due to the staffing of the team. Appendix 3 provided a further breakdown into the numbers of internal reviews. Section 9: Information Management • The Senior Information Risk Owner’s (SIRO) statements of assurance was a reasonable assurance over the Council's information governance framework for 2022-23. Issues Raised by the Committee Responses Received How was the reasonable assurance assessment conducted by the SIRO? The service worked with the Information Commissioners Accountability Tracker, which covered general data protection matters. Furthermore, matters of previous years such as staffing, management of electronic information and the work conducted on the information request app around information complaints were what informed the assessment. Was the service measured against an established framework? There was not a mandatory assessment. The service chose to use evidence found from the Information Commissioners Accountability Tracker to build reasonable assurance. Clarity was provided to the committee that this was a self-assessment, which was different to the committee’s earlier discussions where internal auditors came in as a third-party independent assessment. Yes, that was correct. Updates and assurances were requested regarding Section 11: planned activities for 2024-25. The classification scheme and the postal checking regime had been concluded, and the retention schedule work had been undertaken jointly by the information compliance team and the information management services. Work had commenced on the reviewing of information asset registers with an agreed plan of work approved by the Corporate Information Governance Group. Compliance rates for 2024-25 had increased to 80%, which demonstrated an increase in the ability of the team to handle information requests more skilfully and more efficiently. The new 2024-25, 2025-27 Plan had been approved. Were the incidences described in the table in Appendix 2 all staff incidences? An incident or breach could be reported by a member of staff, a member of a partner organisation a member of the public or the Information Commissioner themselves. So that could not be broken down in this report. Clarification was requested regarding the term ‘Cyber Factor’. Cybersecurity was managed separately from the information compliance team, but incidents often affected both systems and personal data. Hence, both teams must collaborate. This joint effort was why cyber factors must also be reported. Committee noted the report and looked forward to receiving the 2024-25 report in the next few months and receiving a prompter and more regular pattern of reporting.
Audit Wales Officer Gareth Jones provided a background: • This was an all-Wales report to look at how Welsh councils were supporting and encouraging the repurposing and regeneration of vacant properties and brownfield sites into homes or further uses. With recommendations made to all local authorities in Wales. • It was concluded that despite notable amounts of brownfield developments being delivered by councils, regeneration could be increased significantly with a more systematic, interventionist and collaborative approach. • 3 recommendations were made and set out in the Management Response Form. • It was confirmed that having reviewed the Council's response, the Council had in part properly considered the findings and recommendations. • As drafted, the management response form did not include the timescales for the actions which would need to be included in the recommendation’s tracker. However, the service was expected to provide timescales in today’s meeting. Background provided by the Head of Economy & Climate: Recommendation 1: • As part of the LDP review which was currently underway, the service was exploring data on potential sites and publishing as part of the candidate sites register. The service was looking at the planning constraints information published to understand those barriers. • Pre-planning application advice was being sought to help identify sites and redevelopment suitable for the regeneration perspective. • A small part of the team had been repurposed to focus upon sites and premises alignment work, developing a pipeline of sites for the next 5 to 10 years. • This was a conjunction of the private public sector engagement, and these sites would be shared by the website to attract investment. A public portal was being developed so the public could understand and the proposals Recommendation 2: • Had been taken into account as part of the regeneration work and working with town and community councils for them to propose sites. • Keen to build relationship between the regeneration team and stakeholders. • 2 hours 41 minutes 5 seconds • Using the Regeneration programme, strategic projects were identified using the Welsh Government, UK Government and the private sector as partners to identify those buildings. • Work was undergoing to look at town centre regeneration in Brecon through understanding which buildings could be brought forward for use for regeneration. Recommendation 3: • The service had partly answered this but were aiming to adopt an Annual Monitoring Report. • Prioritising development on brownfield sites was key to the LDP. • The service was in the process of adopting the recommendations from the review and taking the timeline forward. Issues Raised by the Committee Responses Received How would the service engage with town councils in the development of Place Plans? The service would work with communities to identify projects and utilise the funding available under the Welsh Government regeneration programme. How would this be done in areas where the local place plan had already been established? The Head of Economy and Climate welcomed all town councils to contact the service to discuss their local place plans. Brownfield sites included a diverse range of assets. The key challenge was conveying their realistic redevelopment potential to engage market stakeholders. How could this be effectively achieved? The service was aware that not all brownfield sites would be appropriate for regeneration. It was planned to be allocate funding from the Shared Prosperity Fund to undertake surveys as part of the process. Noted the report.
The next round of risk deep dives was to be organised and agreed. The opinions and assessments of committee members was requested regarding the prioritisation of risk deep dives over the next few months. It was agreed that this item would be postponed to the next meeting and committee members could contact the Scrutiny Officer with their recommendations ahead of the next meeting.
Capital Working Group background presented by Gareth Hall • An outline of the reasons for the resurrection of the working group was presented the committee, which were then incorporated into the Terms of Reference. • Committee were asked to broaden the scope of the working group to look at the Education Capital Programme and a draught of that element of work was prepared. • The terms of reference were broadened to include the updated capital programme and the education working programme. • Lay Member John Brautigam and Cllr Peter Lewington volunteered to join the working group. • It was agreed that the first working group meeting would be used to familiarise all members with the previous work and the work programme going forward. Whistleblowing Working Group presented by Cllr Peter Lewington • The final Working Group report was presented to the committee. • The Working Group’s in-depth review of the whistleblowing framework was undertaken by compiling fictional cases, covering all scenarios and testing these against the existing framework. • This led to following outcomes • Updates to FAQs, • Updates to policy. • It was acknowledged that whilst the working group felt the cases were comprehensive and covered all known scenarios at the time, a true test would only be undertaken when the policy was used in a real life situation. • The policy was to be presented to the Standards Committee and the Union Policy Forum for review. • 2 actions for the committee came out of the work: • For the Governance and Audit Committee to hold an annual review of the Whistle Blowing Policy. • For the Governance and Audit Committee to review the new Annual Report. • 2 recommendations were agreed by all: • 1: To ask the Head of Legal and Monitoring Officer to consider amending Section 22 of the Council's Constitution to include a link to the Whistleblowing Policy and the Whistleblowing Code and to undertake a review of both documents to avoid duplication and ensure consistency. • 2: To ask the Head of Legal and Monitoring Officer to review the wording of the Constitution to understand whether clarity was needed regarding the additional information now to be included in the Annual Report. • Committee agreed that the above recommendations go forward to Cabinet. Background of the Internal Audit Working Group presented by Lay Member Lynne Hamilton: Audit Reporting Structure: • The group agreed to revise how audit progress was reported to the committee. Audit Plan Delivery: • SWAP would report on progress against the audit plan. Recommendation Implementation: • Senior officers would report on departmental progress in addressing audit recommendations in the timeframe agreed. • This change aimed to clarify accountability across the audit process. • The Director of Corporate Services and Section 151 Officer would contribute to shaping the reporting format. Red Dragon Audit Update: • Most actions had been completed. • Outstanding items related to long-term changes tied to a new financial system. • Assurance was provided that progress remained on track. Montgomery Canal Audit Update: • Extension granted; progress reported as positive. • Some concerns remained regarding tight timelines. • Further follow-up may be required to ensure continued progress.
Background: • Need to add onto the agenda for the upcoming meeting: • Risk Deep Dive Schedule, • Audit plan escalation and changes paper, • Items postponed from today’s meeting. • Committee to decide when to review both the Whistleblowing Policy and the Annual Policy - ACTION
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