Audit & Risk Assurance Committee

The Audit and Risk Assurance Committee support the Commissioner as Accounting Officer in monitoring and reviewing corporate governance, finance, risk management and internal control systems.

The Committee comprises four independent members. The committee meets quarterly and the minutes of the meetings are published on our website.

The Committee provides the Commissioner with an annual report which summarises the work of the Committee.

The role of the Committee

The primary purpose of the Committee is to support the Commissioner by reviewing the comprehensiveness of the systems of assurances put in place to meet her Accounting Officer needs and reviewing the reliability and integrity of these systems.

This includes:

• Providing an opinion on how well the Commissioner is supported in decision making and in discharging her Accounting Officer obligations (particularly in respect of Financial Reporting and Governance arrangements);
• Providing advice and guidance to the Commissioner on the delivery of the objectives of the organisation; and
• Scrutinising the progress of the Commissioner against the delivery of the agreed objectives.

The Committee will advise the Commissioner on:

• the strategic processes for risk management, control and governance and the Governance Statement;
• the accounting policies, the accounts, and the annual report of the organisation, including the process for review of the accounts prior to submission for audit, levels of error identified, and the Accounting Officer’s letter of representation to the Auditor General;
• the planned activity and results of both internal and external audit;
• adequacy of management response to issues identified by audit activity, including external audit’s management letter;
• assurances relating to the corporate governance requirements for the organisation;
• (as appropriate) proposals for tendering for Internal Audit services or for purchase of non-audit services from contractors who provide audit services; and
• anti-fraud and money laundering policies and whistle-blowing processes.

The Committee will also annually review its own effectiveness and report the results of that review to the Commissioner.

Committee Members are not employees of the Commissioner and do not take part in the day-to-day business of the organisation or carry out any executive functions.

Members of the Audit Committee are:

Starting her career specialising in Cardiac Nursing (WNB); with a Diploma in Nursing, Bachelor of Nursing Degree and MSc in Leadership for Health Services Improvement (Birmingham University).  Claire is an active Executive Coach and Mentor (level 7) and NLP Practitioner.

Claire was the Senior Responsible Officer for the digitisation of the nursing documentation programme in NHS Wales, informing the Welsh Nursing Care Record,  an important programme of work to inform the development of the electronic patient record.

Her personal journey and experience as a carer for a member of her family living with her, with Alzheimer`s disease, has led her to advocate for older people and carers. She is passionate about making a difference for older people and applying her experience as a member of the Audit & Risk Assurance Committee with the Older People’s Commissioner for Wales.

Following completion of a BA (Hons) degree in Public Administration in 1983, she joined the National Audit Office (NAO) in London as part of the NAO graduate trainee scheme, studying for membership of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy. She gained the CIPFA qualification in 1987, after transferring to the NAO (Wales) offices. During that period, she was involved mainly with the audit of financial accounts.

Julia was appointed as the Deputy Chief Executive (Finance, Personnel and Corporate Services) of the General Teaching Council for Wales (GTCW) in January 2014, where she was responsible for financial planning, monitoring and reporting; financial controls; audit, all HR matters including development of HR policies, staff training and development, and also accommodation and related matters. As part of the Senior Management team, she was also involved in the strategic management of the Council. The GTCW was reconfigured, and became the Education Workforce Council in April 2015, and Julia continued as Deputy Chief Executive (Finance, HR and Corporate Services) until retiring from that post in December 2018.

Chris has significant experience in audit work, having been the Chief Internal Auditor of three large organisations, and he has also had significant hands-on financial management experience, having been the Finance Director of two other organisations.  His latest role is Finance Director & Company Secretary for a regional charity working to address youth homelessness.

From 2013 until leaving local government in 2019 he was at Powys County Council where his roles included Strategic Director of Resources, acting Chief Executive and Deputy Chief Executive. Previously he also worked at Herefordshire Council, Gloucestershire County Council and Torfaen Council Borough Council where he was Assistant Director of Education.

Knowledge of the issues facing older people was gained from working in social services departments and as a Board Member of a Charitable Organisation in the older people’s care sector. In addition, he has several years’ experience as a Non-Executive Director (NED) including being a former Chair of Two Rivers Housing Association in Gloucestershire where services for older people were a key priority.

Throughout his career, David has also sought to develop and raise awareness of local government finances and community services through representation on national Government panels and he is currently a Local Government Association (LGA) assessor for council service standards, finance and governance. A long-standing member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) he is also a former examiner and became a Fellow of the Institute in 2018.

In 2010, she joined the Digital Directorate at Swansea Bay University Health Board, with responsibility for a range of digital departments and systems, information governance, health records, clinical coding and data quality. Sian was appointed as the Deputy Chief Digital Officer in 2018 with responsibility for digital strategy, including local, regional and national programmes.

In 2021 she was appointed to the role of Director of Digital Development at HEIW. The role is responsible for developing and implementing the HEIW digital and data strategy which set out the vision and approach to deliver high quality, innovative, accessible digital and data solutions, whilst also supporting the development of a digital skilled workforce which improves care and population health.