Agenda item

To present the report of External Audit.

The report of External Audit on the findings of its examination of a step the Council is taking to meet its well-being  objectives, namely to promote Anglesey to encourage major developers to invest in the Island and use this as a catalyst for business development and jobs on the Island was presented for the Committee’s consideration.

Mr Alan Hughes, Performance Audit Lead (WAO) reported that in accordance with the Well-being of Future Generations Act the Auditor General for Wales is statutorily required to examine public bodies to assess the extent to which they have acted in accordance with the sustainable development principle when setting their well-being objectives and taking steps to meet them. In the report above, the External Auditor has sought to establish whether the Council is acting in accordance with the sustainable development principle in its step to promote Anglesey to encourage major developers to invest in the Island. In order to act in accordance with the sustainable development principle, public bodies must take account of the “five ways of working” as defined in the Welsh Government’s Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 The Essentials document which relate to safeguarding the ability to meet long-term needs; acting to prevent problems occurring or getting worse; considering integrating the public body’s well-being objectives with their other objectives or other public body’s objectives; acting in collaboration with any other person or different parts of the body itself and involving persons with an interest in achieving the well-being goals ensuring that those persons reflect the diversity of the area which the body serves.

The report found that –

•           The Council has acted in accordance with the sustainable development principle in developing the step, but there are opportunities to further embed the five ways of working.

•           The Council has sought to obtain a thorough understanding of the adverse effects of a large scale project and understands the importance of gathering data to inform its preventative activities.

•           The Council considers how its step could contribute to the seven national well-being goals and its other well-being objectives, but it has not formally considered how the development will impact other public bodies’ well-being objectives.

•           The Council has taken steps to collaborate with partners and reflect the needs and wishes of local communities, but could improve how it reviews the effectiveness of collaboration.

•           The Council has involved stakeholders in the Wylfa Newydd project, but needs to develop its approach to involving the full diversity of the community.

Following the conclusion of the fieldwork, External Audit’s findings were presented to Council Officers at a workshop in March, 2019 where the Council began to consider its response to the findings. As a result of discussions at the workshop and further reflection on the findings, the Council has developed a series of actions under specific themes which are set out in the table in Part 2 of the report.

The Chief Executive commented that the examination sought to ask whether the Council has started to espouse the principles of the Well-being of Generations Act in its day to day work which is the main focus of the report. The report finds that the Council has begun to successfully apply those principles highlighting a number of strengths in the work which the Council has undertaken in relation to the subject matter of this study but recognising also that there needs to be a balance between Future Generations Act related work and the Council’s other wider demands and priorities. In terms of Wylfa Newydd the Council has learnt a great deal both from working on the project itself and from co-operating with the Wales Audit Office on the study above. The actions which the Council has developed in response to the report as at paragraph 32 explicitly confirm the Council’s commitment to promoting the Island as a destination for large scale energy related developments.

The Committee accepted the report as providing a positive assessment overall of the Council’s work in applying the sustainable development principle in its approach to the promotion of Anglesey to encourage major developers to invest in the Island.

It was resolved to accept External Audit’s report on its examination of “To Promote Anglesey to encourage Major Developers to Invest in the Island.”

NO ADDITIONAL PROPOSAL WAS MADE