Audit Wales finds decision-making arrangements at council generally working well but suggests “there are opportunities to strengthen”

She found in an Audit Wales report that arrangements generally worked well but there were opportunities to strengthen processes around taking and publishing delegated decisions, accessibility of information and arrangements for assessing the effectiveness of decision-making.

Mealing-Jones recommended the Plaid Cymru-controlled authority should ensure it follows the process in its constitution for recording and publishing delegated decisions made by cabinet members and decide what types of officer delegated decisions need to be published.

Councillors and officers should also review decision-making arrangements as a whole, to help identify opportunities to strengthen and support improvements.

Auditors criticised Ceredigion’s practice on meeting webcasts as contrary to the rest of Wales as it did not make webcasts of available after the meeting concerned had finished.

“We found greater availability in other councils of recorded meetings that could be viewed by the public at any time,” the report said.

“For example, in all other councils in Wales, recordings of overview and scrutiny committee meetings are available. The council’s decision not to do the same limits accessibility to its decision-making process.”

Auditors noted the council’s ’Call-in Guidance and Checklist for Members’ states that a non-key decision taken by an officer under delegated powers cannot be called in, but did not define what constitutes a key or non-key decision or clearly set out how an officer key decision could be called in.

Another concern was the forward work plans for committees, which list report titles and which committee it will be considered at, but “the report title does not always allow the reader to understand what the content of the report might be”.

Ceredigion has been contacted for comment.

Mark Smulian