Agenda and minutes

To receive any declaration of interest by any member or officer in respect of any item of business.

No declaration of interest was received.

To present the following –

·      The report of the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer – Statement of the Accounts 2023/24

·      The report of the Head of Profession (HR) and Transformation – Annual Governance Statement 2023/24

·      The report of External Audit on the audit of the 2023/24 financial statements (ISA 260 report)

The report of the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer incorporating the Final Statement of the Accounts for 2023/24 following audit was presented for the Committee’s consideration.

The Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer reported that the statutory deadline for the completion of the audited accounts for the 2023/24 financial year was extended to 30 November, 2024 for all Welsh councils. The Isle of Anglesey County Council’s draft Statement of Accounts 2023/24 was presented to the Council’s external auditors, Audit Wales for audit on 28 June 2024 and will be considered by Full Council on 3 December after which they will be signed. Audit Wales conducted a thorough review of the accounts and financial transactions in relation to 2023/24 and concluded that in all material respects the financial statements give a true and fair view of the financial position of the Council as at 31 March 2024. The audit testing identified some changes needed and all material errors which the audit team recommended were amended to ensure that the accounts are materially correct. None of the amendments to the Statements of the Accounts affected the outturn which remains at an underspend of £1.732m as reported to the Executive on 23 July 2024. Most of the amendments relate to changes on the balance sheet or expenditure in relation to grant income which had a nil impact on revenue.

The Section 151 Officer guided members through the amendments to the accounts which were outlined in section 3 of the report and set out fully in the auditors’ ISA 26O report presented separately below and he clarified how they affected the figures within the accounts and the supplementary notes. He thanked the Finance Service’s accountancy staff for their work in ensuring the timely completion of the accounts and the Audit Wales team for the professionalism and thoroughness of their approach and conduct of the audit.

The report of the Head of Profession (HR) and Transformation incorporating the Annual Governance Statement for 2023/24 was presented for the Committee’s review and endorsement prior to its submission for approval by the Full Council. The Annual Governance Statement (the draft version of which was presented to the Committee for comment at its 18 July, 2024 meeting) seeks to provide assurance that the Council had in place during 2023/24 appropriate arrangements for ensuring that its business was conducted according to the law and proper standards, that public money was safeguarded and properly accounted for and was used economically, efficiently, and effectively. The Annual Governance Statement will form part of the final 2023/24 Statement of the Accounts.

The Corporate Planning, Programme and Performance Manager updated the Committee on the status of the governance matters identified in the previous year’s Statement confirming that four of the five actions to address weaknesses had been completed and that the fifth is underway. He referred to the governance matters identified in the 2023/24 Statement and advised that to provide assurance there would be an update on governance matters and the response to national  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.