With a Wales Audit Office report stating that “the current standard of financial management and governance remains disappointing at too many Town and Community Councils”, North Wales Assembly Member and Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Local Government, Mark Isherwood, has asked what action the Welsh Government has taken to address this.
Mr Isherwood raised the matter in the Assembly Chamber on Wednesday with the Minister for Housing and Local Government, Julie James AM.
He said:
“In the report, the Auditor General called on the Welsh Government for urgent action. He said ‘The current standard of financial management and governance remains disappointing at too many Town and Community Councils. In this financial year, the number of issues identified by auditors – leading to ‘qualified audit opinions’ – has doubled’; that ‘Town and Community councils continue to manage increasing sums of public money’; that ‘income continues to outstrip expenditure’ as reserves continue to increase; and the report concluded ‘that a significant number of councils fail to comply with their statutory responsibilities for preparing their accounts and ensuring that proper arrangements are made for the statutory audit’.
“What actions do you propose, and will you potentially revisit the reserved power available to you under the 2011 Local Government (Wales) Measure, to introduce a Statutory Scheme for the Accreditation of Quality in community government?”
The Minister, who has only been in the post for six weeks, admitted she has not yet had chance to read the report in depth, but said “I find nothing that I disagree with, in a quick read of the report. I'm not yet in a position to respond fully to it. But I will tell the Member that I will be responding fully to it, and it raises a number of issues that I have myself personal concerns with, from previous experience in life”.
Mr Isherwood added: “The Final Report by the ‘Independent Review Panel on Community and Town Councils in Wales’ was presented to your predecessor on 3 October. It had many recommendations, including the belief that ‘there should be a comprehensive review of boundaries of Community and Town Councils without delay’; it called ‘upon all Community and Town Councils to be working towards meeting the criteria to be able to exercise the General Power of Competence’; a recommendation ‘that Community and Town Councils, or a representative of them, should become a statutorily invited participant on all Public Service Boards’. I'll just give one other example: it recommended that ‘all clerks must hold or be working towards a professional qualification’.
“The Welsh Government's response, by your predecessor, took the form of a Written Statement on 30 November, and said that: 'Some of the issues identified…merit further consideration…I look forward to exploring these wider ranging and, in some cases, more contested ideas…I see this as a start of a conversation'. How do you respond to the County Councillors, after attending a workshop recently in North Wales, who wrote to me concerned that they had been advised, quote, ‘that it seems the Welsh Government is now minded not to enact any Legislation to implement any of the recommendations the IRP (Independent Review Panel) set out?’”
The Minister told Mr Isherwood “I certainly haven't reached that conclusion.”
She added: “ As I said to you, I haven't fully considered the recent WAO report. I have had slightly more time to consider the findings of the review”.
