Agenda item

(a)   To receive a presentation from the Welsh Audit Office in relation to the above.

(b)   To receive a copy of the Welsh Audit Office Corporate Assessment.

The Chair welcomed Mr. Andy Bruce and Mr. Jeremy Evans from the Wales Audit Office to the meeting.  Mr. Bruce stated that Mr. Huw Lloyd Jones was unable to attend the meeting due to the loss of his mother recently.  Members and Officers of the County Council wished to express their deepest sympathy with Mr. Huw Lloyd Jones and his family. 

Mr. Bruce gave a summary of the key areas from the Corporate Assessment to the full Council.  He noted that the comments of the CSSIW and Estyn have been incorporated within this report i.e. –

·           The Council performed well against a high proportion of the 2013/14 national indicators, which cover a wide range of services;

·           Estyn judged that significant change and improvement had taken place over a comparatively short period, within the schools service and corporately;

·           The Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW) judged that, in 2013/14, the Council was in the early stages of implementing an ambitious transformation programme for both adults and children’s services; and

·           The Council continues to make progress in improving the Welsh language capability of its staff.

It was reported that the Welsh Audit Office has made no statutory recommendations during previous work this year and have made none within this report.  However, the Auditor General has made recommendations that may be relevant to the Council in his Local Government National Reports as follows :-

Proposals for improvement :-

·        The Council should review its improvement priorities to ensure that the scale of its ambitions is clear and that it reflects realistically the capacity and resources at the Council’s disposal.

·        The Council should ensure that its strategies for People, ICT and Asset Management are clearly linked to the Council’s Corporate Plan and the associated financial strategy.

·        The Council should :-

·      Further embed a culture of consistent corporate working among staff at all levels; and

·      Ensure that staff at all levels are held to account for complying with Council policies and the implementation of decisions.

·      In implementing its new procurement strategy, the Council should ensure that it develops and applies the skills necessary to better manage and monitor contracts with external suppliers of goods and services.

·      The Council should ensure a consistent approach to workforce planning and use the results to inform future reductions in staff.

·      The Council should address systematically and, where appropriate, corporately, the recommendations and proposals for improvement included in the :-

·      Wales Audit Office reviews of the Council’s arrangements to support the safeguarding of children and of the Anglesey and Gwynedd Joint Local Service Board;

·      Review of the ICT service commissioned by the Council;

·      Enforcement Notice issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office;

·      Performance Evaluation Report 2013/14 issued by the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales; and

·      Reports produced by Internal Audit.

Members of the County Council welcomed the Wales Audit Officer Corporate Assessment and congratulated the Leader of the Council, Senior Management Team and all members of the Council for the hard work in making good progress against its key improvement priorities.

RESOLVED to accept the report and the recommendations contained within as noted above.