Agenda item

The Service Director, Finance and Improvement Services presented the report to provide Members with a progress update on the implementation of proposals for improvement reported in the Audit Wales ‘Annual Audit Summary 2021’ and the three stand-alone reports subsequently reported to Governance and Audit Committee on the 7^th September.

The Service Director provided an overview of the report and noted the Governance and Audit Committee’s role in considering Audit Wales reports, as set out at Section 3, and Members were directed to section 4.2 of the report that highlighted the progress updates that have been reported in 2022 to date to the Governance and Audit Committee and also the Overview And scrutiny Committee, namely:

-       Audit Wales Annual Audit Summary 2021 (AAS) - progress update reported to the Governance and Audit Committee on 23 March 2022; and

-       Audit Wales Springing Forward Reports (Strategic Asset Management and Workforce Planning) – the reports presented by Audit Wales to the Governance and Audit Committee on 7th September 2022 and a progress update reported to the 10th October 2022 Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Members were directed to Appendix 1 of the report, that provided further progress updates on the AAS and Springing Forward reports, and were requested to review the updates and to consider, along with their own lines of enquiry, whether there were any matters of a governance, internal control or risk management nature that required further action or attention and also whether there were any matters of a performance nature that required review by the Council’s Scrutiny Committees.

With regard to the Direct Payments for Adult Social Care report, a Member recognised the challenges faced to increase service user take-up of direct payments and requested information on how the Council’s position compared across Wales. The Service Director, Finance and Improvement Services fed back that further enquiries will be made around comparative information and will be fed back to Committee Members. The Service Director added that the report was also presented to the Community Services Committee in October 2022, and for Rhondda Cynon Taf, the direct payment option for Adult Services is a key part of the overall support arrangements, with service users being advised of the benefits of receiving direct payments, with support also in place from Dewis Cymru to assist service users who wish to take-up the Direct Payment option.

A Member also commented on the work being taken to progress the recommendations within the Care Inspectorate Report, noting the positive  progress in respect of a workforce steering group being set up and that the Council is committed to the apprenticeship scheme. The Committee requested further information on the benefit that this scheme provides. 

The Service Director, Finance and Improvement Services informed Members that workforce development, that includes the apprenticeship scheme, is a medium to long term programme of work that provides learning and development pathways to support new starters develop their careers within the Council and improve staff retention.

Following discussion, the Governance and Audit Committee RESOLVED to:

-       Consider whether there were any matters of a governance, internal control or risk management nature that require further action or attention by the Governance and Audit Committee.

-       Consider whether there were any matters of a performance nature that require review by the Council’s Scrutiny Committees.