A challenging and successful year for Audit Wales
Using flexible working arrangements, we successfully delivered a full work programme for 2021-22.
We’ve published our Annual Report and Accounts for 2021-2022.
This Annual Report & Accounts provides a summary of the progress we made on delivering the audit work programmes set out in our Annual Plan for 2021-22, alongside our financial and accountability statements.
A selection of case studies has been included in the Report to give more insight on some of the projects that we have been involved with and the contribution that work has made.
Our planned work broadly divides into two sections – audit delivery and running the business.
In terms of our audit work, 2021-22 has been a challenging year with the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic still causing some interruptions, however by using flexible working arrangements we were able to deliver a full programme of work to a high-quality standard.
We have seen some change this year in terms of running the business, including a major travel and subsistence review (T&S). This sensitive issue was drawn to a conclusion in January 2022 following extensive consultation on alternative proposals developed by a staff task and finish group. We have also been considering how best to utilise our estate in the future.
More broadly, we developed a five-year strategy for Audit Wales, to provide a longer-term focus for our work than the Annual Plans we are statutorily required to produce. Underpinned by more detailed business plans, the strategy will knit together and guide our work for the next few years, with a particular focus on quality and impact
With the backdrop of the review of our T&S scheme plus the challenges of extended remote working, we were not surprised to see that employee satisfaction had dropped somewhat in our annual people survey. Whilst many in the organisation felt that Audit Wales had managed the impact of COVID well, there are clearly areas of organisational life that require our attention. As a result, we agreed to focus on a suite of improvement actions throughout the organisation over the coming year.
We’re delighted that, during a challenging year, we’ve been able to successfully deliver our full programme of audit work for 2021-22 to a high-quality standard.
Our success in continuing to deliver timely and good quality audits reflects a great collective effort by our staff and public body colleagues to embrace new ways of working and flexibility. I am indebted to all Audit Wales staff for their professionalism, hard work and commitment to public service throughout the last 12 months.
Over the last twelve months, we continued to closely monitor the evolving COVID-19 situation and operate in accordance with guidance issued by the Welsh Government.
Our priorities in terms of running the business continued to include adapting and minimising disruption to our audit work and the operation of our corporate service functions, whilst ensuring we do the right thing by our people, keeping them safe and monitoring their wellbeing.
Another priority for 2021-22 was to conclude a review of our T&S scheme. We are grateful to our Trade Union colleagues for working with management through formal negotiations in late 2021, and pleased to report that all staff have now signed up to the new arrangements.
