The Governance and Audit Committee met to discuss the annual report, corporate risks, audit recommendations and the forward work programme. The committee approved the Governance and Audit Committee Forward Work Programme 2025/26, and noted progress against external audit recommendations, and the internal audit risk based plan. Members also reviewed and discussed the Governance and Audit Committee Annual Report 2024/25, recommending it be presented to the council for endorsement.

Corporate Risks

The committee reviewed the quarterly update on corporate risks, as detailed in the Report from the Director of Governance and Resources. The report provided assurance on progress against the council's Corporate Risk Register (CRR) at the end of quarter 1 of 2025-26.

At the end of quarter 4 of 2024/25, the council had identified 13 corporate risks. By quarter 1 of 2025/26, there were five proposed changes to risk scores, with three risk scores reduced and two increased.

The rationale for changing risk scores included:

• CRR5: Match funding and external funding has been approved for the BCA project.
• CRR7: Delay to delivery of the WCCIS transfer, now estimated to be at least September 2026, with potential for financial penalties.
• CRR8: The number of foster carers is likely to decrease, placing extra demand for residential provision, leading to increased cost to the council.
• CRR9: Flood defence work has taken place, and the team has been restructured.
• CRR13: Staffing model in place and key appointments made.

It was proposed to Cabinet that Corporate Risks CRR5 and CRR13 be downgraded to a service level risk, but would still be monitored. Two emerging risks were identified: the council's capital programme, and the impacts of new housing legislation.

External Audit Recommendations

The committee received a report outlining progress against external audit recommendations and proposals for improvement. The Report noted that the council had made good progress against its regulatory recommendations and proposals.

Two recommendations/proposals had been completed in quarter 1, as detailed in Appendix. One external audit report had been published (by Audit Wales Arrangements for Commissioning Services), and the recommendations recorded for monitoring.

Preparation of Statement of Accounts

The committee received an update on the preparation of the Statement of Accounts from James Hopwood, Finance Officer, as detailed in the Report. The council is required to prepare a Statement of Accounts for the 2024/25 financial year. Steady progress has been made in addressing the two recommendations issued by Audit Wales following the audit of the 2023/24 financial statements, relating to the accounting treatment of lease arrangements and improving the quality of working papers. Work on the 2024/25 Statement of Accounts is ongoing, with a provisional publication date for the draft accounts set for November 2025.

Governance and Audit Committee Annual Report

The committee considered the Governance and Audit Committee's Annual Report for 2024/25, as detailed in the Report. The report set out how the committee had fulfilled its role effectively as defined by its terms of reference. The committee's responsibilities are set in line with the Local Government Measure 2011¹ and the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021².

The report detailed how the committee had performed over the year against its terms of reference, the reports it has considered, attendance of members and a summary of the self-assessment exercise undertaken. The committee's work was compared with CIPFA Guidance – Core Functions of a Governance and Audit Committee, and demonstrated that it complies with the legislation and compares favourably with CIPFA Guidance.

Members' attendance records are shown at Table 1 of the report at Appendix A. Overall there was a 72% attendance record for 2024/25.

The committee undertook a self-assessment checklist based on the CIPFA Guidance in order to assess their existing skills, knowledge and areas of expertise during 2024. From the responses received their level of knowledge and experience was generally considered to be good or satisfactory. A summary of responses is shown at Appendix 3 of the main report (Appendix A). A revised exercise will be undertaken in December 2025.

Internal Audit Risk Based Plan

The committee received a report providing a position statement on progress made against the audit work included and approved within the Internal Audit Risk Based Plan 2025-26, as detailed in the Report. A summary of the progress made against the internal audit plan as of 31st July 2025 is detailed in Appendix A. It shows that 5 planned audit reviews have been completed which equates to a completion rate 14%.

Audit opinions, based on the assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the areas examined through testing of the effectiveness of the internal control environment, have been given to 4 of the 5 audits: 3 Reasonable Assurance and 1 Limited Assurance.

Included within the 2025-26 plan are 10 audits that were not undertaken or completed in 2024-25. Appendix B shows the status of these audits; 3 are completed and 4 are in progress.

A total of 11 recommendations have been made to date to improve the control environment. The progress being made in implementing these is regularly monitored by the Audit team and reported to this Committee.

Internal Audit Recommendation Monitoring

The committee received a position statement on internal audit recommendations that have been made to identify those that have been implemented and those that are overdue as of 31st July 2025, as detailed in the Report. The position statement is at Appendix.

To date 6 medium priority recommendations have been made following the conclusion of audits from this year's annual plan. All have been agreed, 2 have been implemented and 4 have a future implementation date.

The are no overdue recommendations made in audits completed prior to 2025-26 but there are 16 recommendations made in previous financial years that still have a future implementation date. These are listed in Appendix B.

Forward Work Programme

The committee considered the forward work programme for 2025/26, as detailed in the Report and Work Programme.