Agenda and minutes
Venue: Conference Room 4B - 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 Apologies
were received from Gareth
Lucey (WAO) and Buddug
Saer, Committee Deputy Clerk. 1.2 The
Chair welcomed Clive Fitzgerald from TIAA and Siwan Davies, recently appointed Director
of Assembly Business to the meeting. 1.3
The Chair declared that he was a member of
the NHS Wales Digital Architecture Review Advisory Group. |
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Minutes of 26 November, actions and matters arising Minutes: ACARAC
(01-19) Paper 1 - Minutes of 26 November 2018 ACARAC
(01-19) Paper 2 – Summary of actions 2.1 Subject to one minor
point of clarification in relation to the Welsh Consolidated Fund, the minutes
of the meeting of 26 November were agreed. 2.2 Action 2.2 (Welsh
Consolidated Fund): Gareth had been in contact with his counterpart at the
Welsh Government who was yet to confirm a date to meet. Gareth would provide an
update ahead of the next meeting. The Chair encouraged Gareth to pursue this. 2.3
Action 5.1 (Events Review): Gareth noted that good progress was
being made against the action plan for communication and benefits realisation
and agreed to circulate further details to members for discussion at next
meeting. Actions –
(2.2) Gareth Watts to provide an update on discussions with the
Welsh Government around the Welsh Consolidated Fund. –
(2.3) Gareth Watts to circulate further details of progress
against the Events Review action plan. |
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Internal Audit Update Report Minutes: ACARAC
(01-19) Paper 3 – update report 3.1
Gareth and Dave Tosh had met with the WAO to ensure
accurate reflection of the Assembly’s work in their forthcoming report on Welsh
public sector’s preparedness for Brexit. Dave briefly described the work in
terms of legislation and scenario planning. The Committee asked for an update
following a further planning session due to be held later that week. 3.2
Gareth had met with the Head of Procurement to
discuss timings of the audit into the Commission’s procurement approach in
terms of opportunities for Welsh suppliers to win contracts. It was agreed to
delay the audit until the Autumn of 2019 when there would be more evidence on
which to evaluate the effectiveness of the approach. In the meantime, a paper
was due to be presented to the Commission outlining the approach to engaging
Welsh suppliers. Given the potential political and reputational risks, and
recent scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s procurement procedures, Gareth agreed
to consider and discuss the timings further. 3.3
There were no concerns around implementation of
outstanding recommendations and an update would be provided at the next
meeting. 3.4
Gareth would be discussing the timing of the audit
into integrated committee support with Siwan Davies. Actions –
(3.1) Siwan Davies to share the update report on follow-up
Brexit meetings with the Committee. –
(3.2) Gareth to consider and further discuss the timing of
the procurement audit. –
(3.3) Gareth to present a report on implementation of
recommendations to the March meeting. |
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TIAA internal audit partner and latest Internal Audit reports Minutes: Oral
item - TIAA internal audit partner 4.1 The
Committee welcomed Clive Fitzgerald from TIAA, the Commission’s co-sourced
internal audit partner, to the meeting. For the benefit of the new Committee
members, Clive provided some background to the company, which was the largest
independent provider of internal audit, business assurance and counter-fraud in
the country, covering a wide range of public sector organisations. Gareth
described how the co-sourced arrangement works in practice, bringing in specific
expertise and knowledge and protecting the independence of the internal audit
function. ACARAC (01-19) Paper 4 - Scheme of Delegation 4.2
The Committee commented that the substantial
assurance was a positive reflection on the work of the Finance Team’s engagement
with budget holders and the maturity of the scheme of delegation. In response
to questions around the levels of delegation, Nia Morgan described the
increased sense of ownership and interest in budget management, partly as a
result of allowing budget holders to set appropriate delegations in their
areas. ACARAC (01-19) Paper 5 - GDPR Compliance Follow Up 4.3
The Committee welcomed this follow-up review of
assurances around GDPR compliance. Dave advised that a revised Data Protection
Policy had been approved by Executive Board, and that an electronic staff
training package would be ready for delivery in the coming weeks. This had been
developed in-house as there was nothing commercially available which was
suitable. The Commission agreed to consider how best to evidence receipt of
this training. 4.4
The Commission were considering options for
appointing a temporary Data Protection Officer to cover for maternity
leave. Team resilience would be
increased by training another member of staff. 4.5
The practical issues around data protection
agreements for elected members was being discussed further at an
inter-parliamentary forum at the end of February and this could inform
decisions around the Commission’s approach. 4.6
The Committee discussed testing the security of sensitive
personal information held by the Commission and the role and importance of the
Information Asset Registers and Registers of Personal Data. It was noted that
the move to SharePoint as a document management system would provide further
mitigation for information-related risks and that the forthcoming review of
cyber-security would help to test the controls. It was agreed that Dave and Bob
should consider this further. 4.7
Committee members asked for GDPR compliance to be
reviewed at a future meeting. 4.8
The Committee asked for the issue of the data
protection agreement with the HR/Payroll system provider to be re-visited, and
suggested keeping the ICO informed. ACARAC (01-19) Paper 6 –
Payroll 4.9 The Committee asked for assurance that the recommendations from the previous audit had been implemented effectively. Gareth explained that the focus for this review was around the systems in place whereas the previous review had focused on data analytics for which assurance is provided from the routine and thorough reviews by the WAO when auditing the accounts. The effectiveness of data analytics was also discussed regularly at inter-parliamentary meetings. He also reported that inefficiencies around manual ... view the full minutes text for item 4. |
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Update from WAO Minutes: ACARAC
(01-19) Paper 7 - WAO update 5.1
Ann-Marie thanked Nia and her team for accommodating
the trainee accountant who was grateful for the opportunity. 5.2
The interim audit was due to be started that week
and Ann-Marie assured the Committee that issues around internal communications
between audit teams would be resolved. -
(5.2) Bob and Ann-Marie to discuss the approach to
auditing the Commission’s accounts. |
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Issues Management Minutes: ACARAC (01-19) Paper 8 – Issue
Management 6.1
In response to questions from the Chair, Dave
advised that the Risk Management System would be ready to capture issues by the
end of April and that the corporate issue spreadsheet, as presented in the
paper, was to be populated in the meantime. He also explained that, although he
had confidence in the escalation of issues at a service and project level, this
work would introduce consistency and facilitate more timely reporting. The
Chair asked for an update at a future meeting. Actions – (6.1)
Issues element of the Risk Management System to be developed by the end of
April. –
(6.1) Clerking team to add issue reporting to the
forward work programme for a future meeting. |
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Corporate Risks Report Minutes: ACARAC
(01-19) Paper 9 – Corporate Risk ACARAC
(01-19) Paper 9 – Annex A – Summary Corporate Risk Register ACARAC (01-19) Paper 9 –
Annex B – Summary Corporate Risks plotted 7.1
The Committee noted changes to the Corporate Risk
Register following the Executive Board’s review in January. In response to
questions from the Chair, the Committee noted the following details. 7.2
The Welsh Government had drafted a business case to
address future accommodation needs which was being considered by Ministers.
Short-term pressure on space remains a risk as this was not likely to be
resolved before 2024. Dave also advised that discussions were ongoing with the
new owners of Tŷ Hywel about the lease. 7.3
The risk around safeguarding for the Welsh Youth
Parliament (WYP) was reducing as mitigating controls, based on external advice,
were now in place. Craig agreed to take account of a comment around inability
to make direct contact with the WYP members. Other risks in relation to the WYP
which were being considered included those around taking forward actions as a
result of its deliberations. 7.4
Turnover rates were partly attributable to recruitment
campaigns at the Welsh Government which provided continuity around terms and
conditions and pensions for staff. Whilst the turnover figures were not yet a
cause for concern it was noted that this had resulted in some loss of skills. 7.5
In terms of Brexit it was noted that demands on
legal resources were presenting a challenge both for the Assembly and the Welsh
Government. 7.6
Strategies for engagement around the Assembly
reform work were a key priority and this was due to be considered by the
Commission’s Remuneration, Engagement and Workforce Committee. 7.7
The Committee noted that the number of significant
risks was in part due to the inability to substantially influence or control
their impact, and that they were being mitigated as much as possible with the resources
available. |
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Critical examination of one identified or emerging risk Minutes: ACARAC (01-19) Paper 10 – Dignity and Respect risk 8.1
The Chair welcomed Craig Stephenson to the meeting.
The Committee noted the progress made as a result of reviewing the dignity and
respect arrangements, as presented in the paper. 8.2
Craig advised that a mystery shopper exercise,
which was one of the recommendations in a report by the Assembly’s Standards of
Conduct Committee (SCC), had been carried out. The results of this exercise
were being used to inform further improvements and a formal report on
implementing the recommendations made to the Assembly Commission would be
presented to the SCC in April. Further reports around complaints procedures and
the Code of Conduct for Assembly Members, due to be published in the summer,
would also be considered. The Dignity and Respect Survey would also be repeated
annually. 8.3
Craig also clarified that hyperlinks to political
party procedures would only be included after they had been reviewed by the
SCC. 8.4
The Committee asked if there had been any lessons
for the Assembly from the collapse of a Scottish Parliament enquiry and how we
would measure whether enough was being done collectively to address the issues.
Craig described how the SCC was working with other administrations when
reviewing complaints procedures. Manon added that dignity and respect had also
been discussed in detail at a recent Quadrilateral meeting of Speakers and
Clerks from the UK Parliaments. Regular reviews and surveys would be carried
out to make sure the results of the reviews were embedded in the culture of the
organisation and messages would be reinforced through learning pathways,
leadership training and regular dissemination of messages. |
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Members Expense Management System Replacement project Minutes: ACARAC (01-19) Paper 11 – Update on Members Expense
Management System 9.1
The Chair welcomed Sulafa, Eve and Dean to the
meeting and thanked them for the paper outlining progress with the project and
the benefits it will realise. 9.2
Eve expressed confidence that the project was on
track to go live on 1 April and advised that there had not been any significant
variations to the business case since its approval in March 2018. She also
advised of improvements in levels of support from the service provider as a
result of more focus on quality in the contract retendering process. 9.3
Sulafa provided assurances around transparency and
ease of access to information on expenses and Nia provided assurances around
security of the systems through user accounts. |
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Review of accounting policies Minutes: ACARAC (01-19) Paper 12 – Accounting policies – annual
review 10.1
Nia confirmed that no changes to accounting
policies had been identified from the latest annual review. The Chair and
Committee members thanked Nia for the clear paper and welcomed the due
diligence in anticipating changes which would come into effect in future years.
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Finance Update Minutes: ACARAC (01-19) Paper 13 - Finance Update 11.1
In response to questions from the Chair, Suzy
confirmed that the Determination budget was aligned with expectations of the
Assembly’s Finance Committee and Public Accounts Committee. She also described
how the Finance Committee recommendations had been taken on board. Suzy and Nia
explained that they agreed in principle with the recommendation for tracking the Welsh Consolidated Fund when
setting the Assembly’s budget. However, the Committee noted the challenge here
as the figures would not be available in time to set the budgets and that there
was a potential reputational risk. 11.2
The Chair congratulated Nia and her team on the
value for money and prompt payment performance. When asked, Nia confirmed that
there had not been any significant variances against budgets set for programmes
and projects. 11.3
Nia also highlighted that the increase in pension
contributions may result in a supplementary budget for 2019-20. The Finance Committee had been advised of
this. |
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Departure Summary Minutes: ACARA
ACARAC (01-19) Paper 14 – Departure Summary 12.1 The
Committee noted that there had been three departures
from normal procurement procedures. |
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Information Breaches - oral item Minutes: Oral
Update 13.1
There were no information
breaches to report. |
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Forward Work Programme Minutes: ACARAC
(01-19) Paper 15 – Forward Work Programme 14.1 The
Chair asked Committee members to confirm availability for the autumn meeting on
21 October 2019 and to liaise with the clerking team about agenda items for
future meetings. Next meeting is scheduled
for 25 March 2019. |