Agenda and minutes

Any apologies for absence that have been received will be noted at this point.

The Chairman led the Committee in a moment of silence in respect of the ongoing situation in Ukraine.

There were no apologies received.

The committee is requested to approve the minutes of its ordinary meeting on 10 January 2022.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting held on 10 January 2022 were agreed as a correct record.

The chairman will announce any urgent items that due to special circumstances are to be dealt with under the Late Items agenda item.

There were no urgent items.

These are to be made by members of the Corporate Governance and Audit Committee or other Chichester District Council members present in respect of matters on the agenda for this meeting.

There were no declarations of interest made.

The procedure for submitting public questions in writing by no later than noon 2 working days before the meetingis available here or from the Democratic Services Officer (whose contact details appear on the front page of this agenda).

There were no public questions.

The Committee is requested to note performance against the audit plan for 2021/22

The Chairman invited Mr James to provide an update on the performance of the Audit Plan for 2021/22.

Mr James noted that three audit reports and one position statement had been completed since the previous committee and drew members attention to the details of the reports shown in Appendix 1. 

Mr James noted that the Creditors had a Limited Assurance and both the Business Rates and Council Tax had Assurance given. With regards to the Limited Assurance, one high risk exception had been raised relating to purchase orders continuing to be raised retrospectively. A medium risk exception had been raised relating to late payment charges, and a low risk exception relating to the completion and certification of reconciliations.

Cllr O’Kelly raised a concern relating to late payment charges, referring to page 12 of the Creditors 2021/22 report. Mrs Belenger responded that the Council would only pay the charges if the amount were demanded.

The Chairman welcomed Councillors Johnson and Palmer to the meeting, and the Committee agreed to note the report.

Mr James drew members attention to the audit plan for 2022/23, noting that due to unforeseen staffing issues within the Internal Audit Team and across the services to be reviewed, several audits have been moved to next year’s audit plan detailed in section 3.2 of the progress report.

The Chairman raised a concern from the report in relation to credit card usage. Mrs Belenger confirmed that the new credit card system goes live from 1 April 2022.

RESOLVED

The Committee agreed and noted the performance against the audit plan for 2021-22 and the new Audit Plan for 2022/23.

That the Corporate Governance Committee:

1.         Recommend to full Council changes to the Constitution on questions to the Executive.

2.         Recommend to Cabinet terms of reference for the new Housing and Communities Panel.

3.         Recommend to full Council a politically balanced method of allocation of membership to all Panels and the membership requirements for all Panels including the new Housing and Communities Panel.

4.         Recommend to full Council that Panels continue to be held as internal meetings rather than in public, but that the Constitution be amended to establish that Chairmen can agree to hold meetings publicly in consultation with the Monitoring Officer.

The Chairman invited Mr Bennett to outline recommendations relating to new Corporate Governance arrangements.

Mr Bennett explained the purpose of this item is to agree how the council (as a whole) proceeds with its arrangements for governance and set out the recommendations as follows:

That the Corporate Governance Committee:

2.1 Recommend to full Council changes to the constitution on questions to the executive.

2.2  That the corporate governance committee recommend to Cabinet terms of reference for the new Housing and Communities Panel.

2.3  Recommend to full Council a politically balanced method of allocation of membership to all Panels and the membership requirements for all Panels including the new Housing and Communities Panel.

2.4  Recommend to full Council that Panels continue to be held as internal meetings rather than in public, but that the Constitution be amended to establish that Chairmen can agree to hold meetings publicly in consultation with the Monitoring Officer.

Recommendation 2.1:

There was considerable debate amongst members in relation to the 8 options detailed in section 6.1 of the report. Members discussed the position in the agenda of Questions to the Executive, whether questions should be submitted in advance, the specificity of questions asked, and the length of time allotted for these questions.

With regards to the length of time allotted Mr Bennett advised that other authorities typically allow 15 or 20 minutes.

The debate was resolved as follows:

-That Questions to the Executive will remain at the same position in meetings (with a discretionary option for the Chair, Mr Ward or Mr Bennett to move them as required)

-The time allotted for Questions to the Executive will be reduced from 40 to 30 minutes

-That the Chair should show robustness in encouraging adherence to a time limit for each question.

Recommendation 2.2

Mr Bennett outlined for the committee the terms of reference for the new Housing and Communities Panel. Document attached to the final minutes.

Cllr Dignum highlighted that the emphasis should be on policy development as distinct to scrutiny.

Mr Bennett confirmed that the formal statutory role of Scrutiny should not be affected by the role of panels.

Cllr O’Kelly raised a query in relation to certain areas affecting housing seemingly omitted from the terms of reference, specifically relating to social housing.

The Chairman indicated that this was a broad set of terms, from which the panel itself could evolve and members agreed the terms of reference as a starting point for the new panel.

Recommendation 2.3

There was considerable debate amongst members relating to the number of members appointed to sit on the new Housing and Communities panel, and on other existing panels.

The discussion considered equitability in the importance of each specific panel, the operational needs of each panel and fairness in member representation on panels more generally (particularly in relation to minority parties).

The Chairman proposed and members agreed that the new Housing and Communities panel be made up of 10 members, alongside 10 members of DPIP and 8 members each  ...  view the full minutes text for item 137.

The is requested to consider and approve its work programme for 2022-23

The Chairman asked Mrs Belenger to lead on presenting the Corporate Governance and Audit Committee Work Programme for 2022/23.

Mrs Belenger confirmed that the Statement of Accounts for 2020-21 would be added to the agenda for the forthcoming July meeting or subject to a special meeting before that date.

Cllr O’Kelly suggested that the review of any governance changes could be added to the Work Programme in March 2023 Mrs Belenger accepted that such a review could be brought forward to the March 2023 meeting.

The Committee agreed the Work Programme for 2022/23, subject to the changes discussed at this meeting.

There are no restricted items for consideration.

There were no exempt items requiring exclusion of the Press and Public.

The committee will consider any late items as follows:

a)          Items added to the agenda papers and made available for public inspection

b)          Items that the chairman has agreed should be taken as a matter of urgency by reason of special circumstances to be reported at the meeting

There were no late items.