Agenda and minutes
Venue: Conference Room 23 - Tŷ Hywel. View directions
Contact: Clerk: Kathryn Hughes Deputy Clerk: Buddug Saer
No. | Item |
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Introductions, apologies and declarations of interest Minutes: 1.1
Eric Gregory declared that he continued to be part of
the implementation team for the Parliamentary Review of Health and Social Care
in Wales. 1.2
No other interests were declared. |
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Minutes of 27 November, actions and matters arising Minutes: ACARAC
(01-18) Paper 1 - Minutes of 27 November 2017 ACARAC
(01-18) Paper 2 – Summary of actions 2.1
The minutes of the meeting on 27 November were agreed and the
updates on actions captured in paper 2 were noted. 2.2
In relation to action point 2.3 (treatment of AGW Salary), Gareth Watts was awaiting details of what was required
in terms of further assurance to the Permanent Secretary following meetings he
and Nia Morgan had held with Welsh
Government officials over the summer recess. The Committee were concerned that
this could become an issue if it had not been finalised before the end of the
financial year. Gareth would continue to chase the Welsh Government on this
matter and update the Committee accordingly. 2.3
Regarding action point 6.1 (Cyber
Security), it was agreed that officials from ICT would be invited to attend the
meeting in April to update the Committee on cyber vulnerabilities and response
plans. Actions -
Head of
ICT and/or Head of Infrastructure & Operations Management to attend the
April meeting to update the Committee on Cyber Security. |
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Internal Audit Activity Report Minutes: ACARAC
(01-18) Paper 3 – IA progress report and monitoring recommendations 3.1
The
Committee questioned Gareth’s capacity to meet the
commitments outlined in his audit plan. He confirmed that the revised plan
takes account of his work on the Capacity Review and remained on target. His time had been spent almost exclusively on
the Capacity Review since the November meeting and number of reports would,
however, be circulated before the April meeting. 3.2
The Committee questioned the Commission’s
preparedness for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in May 2018.
Dave and Gareth believed that the level of engagement and the amount of
guidance produced by the Information Governance Manager, as well as the sharing
of documentation and practice with other organisations, demonstrated that the
Assembly Commission was well prepared. 3.3
The Committee were impressed with, and re-assured
by, the Commission’s pro-active approach, particularly the production of
guidance for Assembly Members in the absence of guidance for elected
representatives from the Information Commissioners Office (ICO). They suggested
this guidance could be shared with the ICO. They welcomed the forthcoming GDPR
- Preparedness Review which was due to take place in February. 3.4
Gareth highlighted that, as well as GDPR, the discussions
at the Intra Parliamentary Forum covered Brexit and the related devolution of
powers. Committee members agreed that the Commission’s ability to navigate
significant risk and related assurances within a political environment was
commendable. 3.5
Gareth’s External Quality Assurance (EQA) review of
the Northern Ireland Assembly was yet to be arranged. He would present progress
against his own EQA action plan at the next meeting. Actions -
Gareth to
present progress against his External Quality Assurance action plan at the
April meeting. |
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Update on Capacity Review Minutes: Oral
Item 4.1
The Committee received an update on the Capacity
Review following a recent Assembly Commission meeting when they approved the
initial report. 4.2
Dave would lead the next phase of the review, which
was to implement the recommendations. Dave advised that a cross organisation
steering group had been established to develop and co-ordinate delivery of an
action plan. The terms of reference for the group were due to be considered by
the Management Board. He also outlined various actions which were already being
progressed, such as revised planning and reporting cycles. 4.3
Suzy Davies confirmed that the Commission had
welcomed the report and recommended that a capacity review should be performed
at the beginning of each new Assembly to inform planning of resources required
to deliver its strategy. 4.4
The Committee discussed the context of the review
in terms of particular challenges in the Fifth Assembly, including Brexit,
Assembly electoral reform, financial constraints and the desire to contain
staff numbers. They also discussed the detailed scenario planning being carried
out by relevant senior officials in relation to Brexit and the Withdrawal
Bill. 4.5
The Committee suggested that the Commission should
ensure there was sufficient quantitative data to evidence both the review’s
findings and subsequent efficiency and effectiveness improvements which would
stand up to scrutiny. They recognised, however that it was difficult to
quantify the value of services provided or to benchmark against other
legislatures. |
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Update from the WAO Minutes: ACARAC (01-18) Paper 4 – WAO audit update 5.1
Gareth Lucey presented an update on behalf of the Wales Audit
Office (WAO). The 2016-17 accounts were fully closed with a reduction of £5,221
in the estimated fee. An update on initial findings in the 2017-18 audit would
be presented to the Committee in April. The fee for the 2017-18 audit was still
under formal review by the Auditor General. The Chair requested a breakdown of
the fee to demonstrate job roles of individuals involved in the audit
process. 5.2
The team were also working on a briefing for the Finance Committee
in relation to its inquiry into the budget profiling of the Remuneration
Board’s Determination. Further discussions were necessary with the WAO
technical team and the advice being drafted by Ann-Marie would outline the
WAO’s view of the advantages and disadvantages of the Assembly’s current and
proposed approaches. 5.3
The team had also met with Gareth Watts to discuss the content of
the 2017-18 Internal Audit plan, and any other areas where Gareth’s work could
provide reassurance to WAO’s financial audits. Actions - WAO
to share a breakdown of the 2017-18 audit fee to demonstrate job roles of
individuals involved in the audit process. |
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Review of accounting policies Minutes: ACARAC
(01-18) Paper 5 – Review of accounting policies Item
7 – Finance update ACARAC
(01-18) Paper 6 – Finance Update 6.1
Nia
presented both papers and welcomed questions from Committee members on the
latest financial position. 6.2
The
Committee noted the paper on review of accounting policies. When questioned,
WAO representatives confirmed they were content with the treatment of dilapidations
outlined in the paper. 6.3
The
current financial position remained challenging. However since the November
meeting, Directors had been tasked with identifying savings, including delaying
some expenditure until 2018-19 to provide a level of contingency and
flexibility within 2017-18, whilst recognising this would impact on the 2018-19
budget. The Investment and Resourcing Board would shortly be considering
whether some of those projects which had been put on hold, such as the cyclical
replacement of some ICT hardware, could now go ahead in 2017-18. 6.4
A
prioritisation tool developed by Dave and Gareth Watts would aid with funding
decisions going forward. The Committee requested an update on the basis for and
application of the prioritisation criteria at the April meeting. 6.5
Nia
explained the need for a supplementary budget to cover the shortfall caused by
an increase in the Government Actuary’s Department forecasting of the pension
finance cost. An explanatory memorandum had been submitted to the Finance
Committee in December. 6.6
Dave
confirmed that savings had been negotiated on some contracts without any
changes to standards of service. Nia made reference to the value for money
savings from business efficiencies but cautioned that savings in areas such as procurement
would be more difficult in the future unless there were significant changes to
service delivery. In response to questions about the apprenticeship levy, Nia
agreed to clarify whether the payroll of Members, as individual employees
should be treated separately or cumulatively in relation to the £3 million
threshold. 6.7
The
Committee were invited to send any comments to Nia on a letter that was due to
be sent to the Finance Committee following the launch of its inquiry into how
other Parliaments budget for expenditure related to Member’s pay and
allowances. Actions -
Dave and Gareth Watts to update
Committee on the basis for and application of the prioritisation criteria at
the April meeting. -
Nia to clarify if the apprenticeship
levy applies to the Assembly Members as employers. |
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Finance update |
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Committee's effectiveness survey - presentation of results Minutes: ACARAC
(01-18) Paper 7 – Committee Effectiveness Survey 7.1
Kathryn
Hughes presented a favourable set of survey results to the Committee. This
survey provided data that was broadly comparable with the 2015 survey, despite
some revisions and additional questions.
7.2
Kathryn
had highlighted some areas of improvement based on the comments provided by
respondents. The only formal action which the Committee identified was to
consider making better use of the July meeting, which was currently used to
consider finalisation of the accounts. This could include considering the
outcomes of annual end of term strategic planning meetings which were being
introduced by the Commission or a deeper analysis of risk or performance
information. 7.3
Overall,
the Chair was pleased with the positive results and congratulated ACARAC
members and officials. A revised forward work programme
taking on board these suggestions would be circulated during the summer
recess. Actions -
Secretariat to work with officials
and Chair to determine what items could be presented for discussion at the July
meeting. |
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Corporate Performance Report (KPI report) Minutes: ACARAC
(01-18) Paper 8 – KPI Report Apr-Sept 2017 Item 10 – Corporate
Risk Report ACARAC
(01-18) Paper 9 – Corporate Risks ACARAC
(01-18) Paper 9 – Annex A - Corporate Risks Summary Report ACARAC
(01-18) Paper 9 – Annex B - Corporate Risks plotted Item 11 – Critical examination
of one identified or emerging risk ACARAC
(01-18) Paper 10 – Update on Commission’s Inter-related Corporate Risks 8.1
The final, published KPI report had been included
in the pack for information. Dave advised that a review of the KPIs was ongoing
with Heads of Service and Directors. This included consideration of developing
an internal dashboard in addition to the published KPIs. He confirmed this
review would include consideration of whether the targets were sufficiently
challenging and relevant. The Committee suggested consideration be given to
basing targets on outcomes and not outputs. 8.2
Dave then introduced the risk papers, noting that
the continued significant risk profile demonstrated the pressure and amount of
uncertainty facing the organisation. 8.3
Whilst recognising that the residual risks remained
high due to their impact if realised, the Committee suggested that controls and
tolerance levels be continuously challenged to ensure that enough was being
done to manage them. Officials agreed to consider the Committee’s comments on
options for presenting the risks in a different way to better aid
analysis. 8.4
The Committee noted the paper outlining how the
Commission was managing the inter-related nature of its corporate risks. The
Committee remained satisfied that the risks were being well managed, both
individually and collectively. It was agreed that, as the inter-related risks
would continue to be managed collectively and reported to the Committee
separately in the Corporate Risk Register, they did not need to see similar
reports on management of the inter-related risks in future. |
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Corporate Risk Report |
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Critical examination of one identified risk |
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Discuss issues in preparation for the Committee's annual report Minutes: ACARAC
(01-18) Paper 11 – Annual Report 2016-17 9.1
The 2016-17 annual report was included for information.
The Chair asked Committee members to pass any thoughts on the structure, format
and content of the next annual report to the Clerking team outside of this
meeting. Actions -
Committee members to advise the
Clerking team of suggested changes to the structure and format as well as
content for the next annual report. |
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Departure Summary Minutes: ACARAC
(01-18) Paper 12 – Departure Summary 10.1
The Committee noted one departure from normal
procurement procedure. |
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Forward Work Programme Minutes: ACARAC
(01-18) Paper 13 – Forward Work Programme 11.1 The
Committee noted the updated forward work programme. 11.2 The Chair
wished to remind the Chief Executive that his tenure as Chair and Independent
Advisor and Keith Baldwin’s role as Independent Advisor and Committee member
would expire in October 2018. 11.3 During
the meeting it was agreed to add the following items: -
Head of
ICT and Head of Infrastructure & Operations Management to present an item
on Cyber Security at the April meeting.
-
Dave to present the prioritisation
criteria for projects/programmes at the April meeting. -
Secretariat to work with officials
and Chair to determine what items can be presented for discussion at the July
meeting. 12.0 Other business 12.1 Finally,
the Committee wanted to extend their congratulations and best wishes to Adrian Crompton, Director of Assembly Business on
his recent appointment as the Auditor General for Wales. 13.0 Private
session 13.1 The WAO attended a private session with members
of the Committee once formal proceedings concluded. No minutes were taken. |