The Constitution and Democratic Services Committee met on 15 September 2025, where they endorsed the updated Internal Audit Charter and Mandate, received a progress report on member development, and discussed the forward work programme. The committee also received a verbal update on the constitution review.

Internal Audit Charter and Mandate

The committee endorsed the updated Internal Audit Charter and Mandate for adoption as part of the council's constitution. The Internal Audit Charter and Mandate sets out the mandate, authority, and responsibility of the internal audit service. It is required to be formally reviewed by the Governance and Audit Committee¹. The charter and mandate must meet the requirements of the new Global Internal Audit Standards (GIAS) within the UK public sector.

The charter and mandate sets out:

• The mandate of the internal audit service, including its authority
• Compliance with professional standards
• Independence
• Organisational position
• Reporting relationships
• Changes to the charter and mandate
• Governance and Audit Committee's oversight of the service
• The role and responsibilities of the Internal Audit, Performance and Risk Manager
• Approval of the charter and mandate
• The limitations for compliance with the GIAS within UK Public Sector and the services alternative arrangements in place
• The revised Ethics and Professionalism Standards to adhere to

Member Development

The committee received a progress report on member development and engagement events. The council is currently in the 'Consolidation' phase of its training programme. The training programme will focus on specific 'themes' and/or topics for members to receive training on and continue to build up an appropriate offering of training sessions. The focus in the next two months will be to deliver training sessions for those topics marked as 'mandatory' on the Draft Councillor Development Plan 2025.

The report noted that training sessions for Chairs and Vice-Chairs of Committees, as well as sessions around Chairing a Scrutiny Committee, and Scrutiny Questioning skills have been delayed due to resourcing issues.

The report also noted that there are certain committees that require elected members to have received appropriate training before they are able to sit on them: Planning, Licensing, and Governance & Audit Committee. Due to recent changes in memberships of some committees, refresher sessions on these topics have or will be scheduled during September / October.

Members can access a range of online training courses, accessed through the Flintshire portal. It is proposed to host an 'information event' for members to demonstrate the current suite of online training/development sessions in October.

A training 'brochure' is being developed for members, which will provide details of the sessions / courses to be delivered, including the delivery method, length of session, aims and objectives, and how to book attendance.

Members were invited to contact the Democratic Services Manager to discuss any suggestions for future development 'topics' for inclusion on the training programme. The committee will receive a regular report of attendance at each of the sessions delivered.

Forward Work Programme and Action Tracking

The committee considered the draft Forward Work Programme and Action Tracking Forward Work Programme and Action Tracking. The report presented an opportunity for members of the committee to formulate and influence the future work of the committee. An effective Forward Work Programme will ensure it is member-led and includes the issues.

The report also showed the action points from previous meetings of the Constitution & Democratic Services Committee and the progress made in completing them. Any outstanding items will be reported back to the next monthly meeting.

Constitution Review

The committee received a verbal report on progress by the Working Groups in relation to the review of the council's constitution.