Agenda item

To receive a report by the Chief Internal Auditor (copy enclosed) which provides information on the work carried out by Internal Audit during the last six months around partnerships arrangements within the Council.

The Chief Internal Auditor introduced the report on Partnership update for Denbighshire County Council (previously circulated).

As stated in the report the Chief Internal Auditor, the audit team had been delayed in starting the work on the partnership arrangements in the council. Work in this area had commenced the end of last year. The team had used a previous report produced in 2016 as a starting point. It was confirmed the team had met with all Heads of Service and discussed the arrangements around partnership working. Management Teams in each service had begun to look into the partnership arrangements and were providing information to the Internal Audit team. The aim of the work was to look at both formal and informal partnerships and also the different arrangements in place across North Wales. It was hoped the work would be completed by the end of the Summer for an update report to be presented to the Committee in September. Members heard the Corporate Executive Team had also requested sight of the report to monitor and review how the council moves forward including looking at the possibility of more collaborative working and how that would be managed in the future.

The Chair thanked the Chief Internal Auditor for the report and introduction. He stated the reason the committee had requested the work to demonstrate to the Members the partnership arrangements within the authority. Members had previously requested a mapping exercise and was pleased to hear that was the intended to be completed. A key element of the requested work was the governance arrangements lie and who is responsible for monitoring different elements.

The Chief Internal Auditor felt the authority and services were aware of the partnerships it held, it currently was not corporally held anywhere. A cross council approach to the partnerships was vital.

Members heard the Internal Audit team would be involved with the Levelling Up Funding Projects. Wrexham County Borough Council was the lead authority for the delivery of phase 1. The team were awaiting direction from Wrexham County Borough Council with a direction of the work that would be required by Denbighshire County Council’s Internal Audit team. It was felt the requirement would be to audit the projects between April – June to ensure the monies had been spent and spent appropriately and the projects delivered. The work would form part of the audit plan.

Lay member Nigel Rudd felt it would have been useful for the committee to have received a draft template report, completed to the best of officer’s ability with the information already obtained and would clearly show any gaps. Allowing Members the opportunity to become aware of those gaps to give those attention. In his opinion the report was a task and finish piece of work, that was capable of being delivered in a shorter period of time.

He also raised that within Denbighshire County Council, there was a Partnerships Scrutiny Committee which would suggest the authority was aware of the existing partnerships. He informed Members he reviewed the terms of reference of the Partnerships Scrutiny Committee and the workload which did address some areas of partnerships but also in his opinion numerous areas which were not related to partnerships held by the authority. He felt there was an implication in the work the committee requested by the committee that required the terms or reference for other committees be reviewed. He stressed the importance of sight of the initial draft mapping to begin that process.

Councillor Bobby Feeley echoed the concerns of the Partnerships Scrutiny Committee.

The Monitoring Officer informed the committee legal completed some work on partnership arrangements ensuring legal were involved when required to be.

He stated the CJC was a regional body that had been established, it was a sovereign body that was independent from the councils. It carried all the trappings of the local authorities so it was required to have its own scrutiny arrangements. Gwynedd Council was the leading authority; they were consulting the other authorities on the way forward as a joint committee. It would also be required to have its own Governance and Audit Committee. There was a report being presented to Democratic Services Committee on 22 March 2024 which set out some of the regional arrangements and how regional Scrutiny was done.

He agreed that the authority did not have a mapping sheet that tabled who was responsible for partnerships and governance. He stressed the Corporate Executive Team were interested to understand how the working with partners and what worked well and efficiently along what could be improved or altered to work better.

It was stressed to the committee the Internal Audit team had been extremely busy and involved in a number of special investigations alongside the planned audit work. He confirmed he would work alongside the Chief Internal Auditor and officers to support the team in gaining responses to Internal Audit in a timely manner. He acknowledged the importance of this work being completed.

The structure of the Corporate Plan had been changed under the requirements of legislation.  

Members heard there was three scrutiny committees within the authority. Partnerships had to cancel a recent meeting due to lack of business. Members were not solely responsible for the agenda; officers could also request agenda items for scrutiny discussion. It had been encouraged previously to make scrutiny Member driven, and items presented to Scrutiny were areas of Member concerns.

Lay Member Paul Whitham stressed how dynamic the piece of work was. It was a piece of work that would always be live and change from time to time.   

It was also stressed the importance to be pragmatic on what defined a partnership.

RESOLVED that the Governance and Audit Committee receive and note the contents report with an accurate partnership list be presented to the committee at the September 2024 Committee meeting.