Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence received.  Councillor Bains was not present.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 20 November 2018.

The minutes of the meeting held on 20 November 2018 were confirmed and authorised to be signed by the Chair, subject to an amendment at minute G107 to read ‘…no inspection of their accounts was required or undertaken.’

Members to declare any interest as appropriate in respect of items to be considered at this meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

Ernst Young, the External Auditor to present a report which summarises the results of grant certification work undertaken for the financial year 2017/18.

Ernst Young, the External Auditor

(a)  presented a report (copies of which had previously been circulated to Members), which summarised the results of grant certification work undertaken for the financial year 2017/18;

(b)  advised that a summary of the certification work, performed in November 2018 was detailed at page 4 of the report.  The work resulted in an amended claim form and a qualification letter.  The reasons and rational behind that qualification letter and the amendments were detailed at pages 4 and 5 of the report;

(c)  highlighted that External Audit continued to raise the recommendation (first raised in 2016/17), concerning training support and specific in year review of claims.  Senior Leadership Team had acknowledged this.  There had been some ongoing training throughout the period and this was reflected at page 14 of the report;

(d)  advised that the work performed on a separate claim form, which concerned pooling of housing capital receipts was briefly detailed at page 8 of the report.  There were no matters to highlight in relation to this;

(e)  confirmed that External Audit’s fees for the year, as detailed at page 10 of the report, were in line with the Audit Plan fee;

(f)   highlighted the requirement placed on the Council to appoint its own reporting accountant for the 2018/19 compliance review, as detailed at page 12 of the report and confirmed that Ernst Young were pleased to be appointed.

A Member referred to the 40+ extended testing, as detailed at pages 4, 5 and 6 of the report, asking how these results compared to other authorities and the External Auditor’s client base.

The External Auditor advised that it was not uncommon for a council to receive a qualification letter or for a number of issues to be highlighted because External Audit did not work to a materiality level and had to report every finding.  Concerning other clients, there were slightly more issues reported here than at other authorities but it was not greatly dissimilar.

Another Member commented that they were pleased to note that staff training had taken place and queried if this was ongoing.  The Director for Corporate Services advised that she had been assured that the training was ongoing.  However, it would also be useful for the Council to undertake quality assurance in year, in order to identify issues for correction,  rather than waiting for audit reports to highlight such issues.

There being no further comments or questions from Members, it was

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

The Head of Internal Audit to submit a report to update Members on progress made in delivery of the 2018/19 Annual Audit Plan and key findings arising from audit assignments completed since the last Committee meeting.

The Head of Internal Audit

(a)  submitted a report (copies of which had previously been circulated to Members), updating the Committee on progress made in delivery of the 2018/19 Annual Audit Plan and key findings arising from audit assignments completed since the last Committee meeting;

(b)  highlighted that 82% of planned audit assignments were either complete or in progress (and 100% of the Audit Plan was either complete or in progress).  A copy of the Audit Plan, as detailed at Appendix A of the report showed the progress made on all planned audit assignments;

(c)  confirmed that since the last Committee meeting, two reports had been finalised and the key findings were set out at section 2.5 of Appendix A

                      i.    Business Continuity and Emergency Planning:  The Council had a comprehensive corporate Business Continuity Plan in place, which was informed by annual business impact analysis, in line with good practice.  At the time of audit, the plan had not been subject to periodic testing.  This reduced the assurance opinion which Internal Audit were able to give for compliance.  Arrangements for emergency planning were confirmed to be robust and test exercises on the planning with partner agencies took place bi-annually.  A good assurance opinion for design and a satisfactory assurance opinion for compliance had been given.

                     ii.    General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):  The revised data protection legislation came into force on 25 May 2018.  The Council was in the process of implementing all actions required to meet GDPR compliance.  An Information Asset Register was in place and policies were available to all staff.  There remained some areas to be addressed, including data retention arrangements and completion of staff and Member training.  Based upon these findings, a satisfactory assurance opinion for design and a good assurance opinion for compliance had been given;

(d)  advised that since the last Committee meeting, fourteen actions from audit reports had been completed.  There were nineteen actions overdue for implementation, as detailed at Appendix 3 of Appendix A and only one of these actions was high priority, as detailed at Appendix 4 of Appendix A.  It was anticipated that implementation of this action would be confirmed before the next meeting of this Committee.  Appendix 3 included a breakdown of the service areas responsible, as requested by Members at the last meeting of this Committee.

A Member commented that they were disappointed to note that the emergency key contact list was not up to date at the time of audit and hoped that this had been dealt with quickly.  The Head of Internal Audit advised that she anticipated this action to be implemented as a high priority and would follow this up.

A Member advised that as a County Councillor, they had received a certificate of protection, in relation to GDPR from Leicestershire County Council and asked if Borough Councillors would receive the same from this Council.

The Director for Legal and Democratic Services confirmed that online training was available and Members had also been given  ...  view the full minutes text for item G116

The Monitoring Officer to submit a report to update the Committee on the latest position with regard to standards matters including the Code of Conduct, the Registration of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and Other Interests and any complaints against Councillors dealt with under the Council’s process.

The Monitoring Officer

(a)  submitted a report (copies of which had previously been circulated to Members), updating the Committee on the latest position with regard to standards matters, including the Code of Conduct, the Registration of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and Other Interests and any complaints against Councillors dealt with under the Council’s process;

(b)  confirmed that she continued to pursue updates relating Borough and Parish Councillors’ Registration of Disposable Pecuniary Interests and used the opportunity to remind Members to advise of any changes. 

(c)  advised that at the time of writing the report two complaints were in progress for closure.  An additional four complaints had been received since writing the report and an update on these would be provided at the next meeting of this Committee (on 26 March 2019).

There being no further comments or questions from Members, Councillor Glancy moved the recommendation and Councillor Simpson seconded.

RESOLVED that the update on the position of standards matters including Parishes’ Registration of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and Other Interests and complaints against Councillors dealt with under the provisions of the Localism Act be noted.

The Monitoring Officer to submit a report (following approval of the Council’s new governance arrangements at the Extraordinary Meeting of the Council held on 21 November 2018).  The Committee is requested to consider the new structure for the Constitution, which includes 7 chapters named according to their document contents and to consider the first batch of documents, which will populate the chapters of the Constitution, as listed at Appendix B, before being referred to the Council for adoption.

The Monitoring Officer

(a)  submitted a report (copies of which had previously been circulated to Members), requesting the Committee to consider the new structure for the Constitution and the first batch of documents, which would populate the chapters of the Constitution before being referred to Council for adoption;

(b)  asked Members to continue to provide comments on the documents up to and following on from the Council meeting on 13 February, as it was important to ensure Member ownership and that the Constitution was fit for purpose.  The comments already received were being collated and  comments from the Governance Development Group had already been incorporated into the documents;

(c)  provided an overview of the documents highlighting the

             i.       Introduction, Summary and Explanation, as detailed at Appendix B1 of the report.  This document replaced the previous Summary and Articles.  It set out how the Council worked and how it made decisions.  The Council was eager to engage with the public and wanted to encourage an understanding of how decisions were made.  This information should give a good introduction and also clarify how to locate documents (hyperlinks would be introduced within the Constitution, which would assist online use for Members, officers and the public).

            ii.       Council/Committees Procedure Rules, as detailed at Appendix B4 of the report.  This document contained only basic changes, such as reference to Cabinet instead of Committees.

           iii.       Cabinet Procedure Rules and Scrutiny Procedure Rules, as detailed at Appendices B5 and B6 of the report were a work in progress.  It was anticipated that the function and the procedure rules for each of the different decision making bodies be placed together for ease of reference.  These documents would be submitted to the next Governance Committee meeting, rather than to the next Council meeting.

           iv.       Scrutiny and Call In Procedure Rules, as detailed at Appendix B6 of the report.  This document specified the remit of Scrutiny Committee and call in arrangements.  Six Members, excluding Cabinet had to call in a decision, in order for it to be examined by Scrutiny. It was important to note that the Council had proposed its Key Decisions relate to a likely expenditure, saving or income of £50k or more and/or have a significant impact on two or more wards in the Borough.  The £50k was a discretionary amount and the Council’s benchmarking throughout Leicestershire revealed £50k was appropriate for a council of this size.

            v.       Substitute Procedure Rules, as detailed at Appendix B8 of the report.  It was proposed that substitute requirements only apply to Planning, Licensing and Regulatory Committees.  A pool of six properly trained Members, would attend these Committees on a regular basis and have current knowledge to understand the Committees and make well informed decisions.

           vi.       Access to Information Rules, as detailed at Appendix B9 of the report.  This document had been updated to reflect best practice and to meet the Council’s needs relating to how Members and the public accessed information and how the information was used in decision making.  ...  view the full minutes text for item G118

To consider any other items that the Chair considers urgent.

There was no urgent business.