AT LAST Friday’s (Jan 16) Safeguarding Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Cllr Bob Kilmister questioned whether or not the Council’s Audit Committee was fit for purpose.

Cllr Kilmister raised the issue during discussions on authority arrangements to support safeguarding of children.

The Wales Audit Office has put forward three proposals they think will help improve safeguarding; the second of those is to strengthen the link between the Audit Committee and other Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

Jeremy Evans from the Wales Audit Office said: “The second proposal is to strengthen the links between the Audit Committee and overview and scrutiny committees. This is something that is broader than just this committee; it’s for all of the overview and scrutiny committees to have better links with the Audit Committee. There needs to be some sort of mechanism put in place where the Audit Committee refers specific risks to the appropriate overview and scrutiny committee.”

Cllr Bob Kilmister challenged Jeremy asking: “Do you think that our Audit Committee arrangements are fit for purpose?”

Jeremy Evans replied: “There is no specific review in terms of what they are doing. We have observed some of the meetings. There is a slightly more complicated arrangement to your Corporate Governance Committee. There is potentially work to do for those two committees.”

Cllr Kilmister added: “This report is something we should be taking on board extremely seriously. Since we started the Audit Committee I have been very concerned about the way it is set up. We need to look at this in a totally different way. The structure is wrong, it is out of date. The committee structures that we’ve got are so old now they are coming to the point where I don’t think they are fit for purpose any longer. This report is something that we can’t influence. What it highlights is the constitutional working party that we’ve got doesn’t work. It’s absolutely urgent that we do something about this because we are frankly not fit for purpose. What we’re doing isn’t good enough at the present moment. It’s a criticism of all the councillors here that we need to make sure that what we do is good value for money.”

Cllr Sue Perkins added: “We should look at how we do things all the time. I agree that some of our committee structures should be looked at and I agree that the Audit Committee should be one of them. We have reached a stage where, after being in this format for a while, that it should be looked at.”

Cllr Kilmister then put forward a recommendation saying: “We should write a letter to the leader saying that we are unable to do anything as it stands, but we agree with the conclusion and would like to see urgent action taken to address that particular issue.”

Cllr Ken Rowlands added: “As chair of the Corporate Governance Committee, I will be discussing these matters with officers, come up with concerns that have been expressed and come to a conclusion so that these things are properly addressed. Things are changing all the time and we have to adjust as time goes on and I think it is time we did it now.”

Cllr Mike James said: “As vice chair of the audit committee I would like to say that we have been concentrating on one item. Maybe going forward the agenda will be bigger but that doesn’t mean that I don’t agree that things should be looked at.”

Jeremy Evans said: “We have often said that this committee’s activities are good examples of effective scrutiny. From your perspective you’re definitely on the right path of delivering what you need to do.”