Agenda and minutes

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

Apologies had been received from Cllrs Johnson and O’Kelly.

The committee is requested to approve the minutes of its ordinary meeting on 9 January 2023.

The minutes of the meeting held on 9 January 2023 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.

The Chairman invited Mr Bennett to highlight an update he has made to the Constitution under his delegated authority as Monitoring Officer.

Mr Bennett explained to Members that the change relates to the power of officers within the planning department to issue stop notices. He noted the Constitution previously did not expressly refer to the use of temporary stop notices, an addition he asserted would insure there is no uncertainty when such emergency notices are issues. This will enable planning enforcement to be carried out quickly, efficiently, and effectively without needing to go back to Committee before issuing these notices.

The Chairman thanked Mr Bennett, and noted that this had now been expressed to Members in the public domain.

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.

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.

1.     Recommendation

The committee is requested to consider this report and approve the continued application of existing accounting policies in the preparation of the Council’s 2022-23 financial statements.

The Chairman invited Mrs Belenger to present the report.

Mrs Belenger explained this is the annual report to set out the accounting policies which are to be applied to this Council’s 2022/23 accounts. She informed members that there were no major or material changes to the standards which had been introduced for this year, explaining that the Council will continue to use the policies as agreed by this Committee for the 2021/22 accounts. She drew members attention to paragraphs 4.5 t0 4.7 of the report.

Responding to Cllr Wilding, Mrs Belenger confirmed that the introduction of the IRFS 16 Leases highlighted in paragraph 4.6 is expected to have little impact on CDC.

The Chairman thanked Mrs Belenger, and in a show of hand the members unanimously agreed the recommendation.

Resolved;

The Committee approved the continued application of existing accounting policies in the preparation of the Council’s 2022-23 financial statements.

The Committee is requested to consider and note the audit plan progress report and its appendices.

The Chairman invited Mr James to present the report.

Mr James corrected the recommendation on the report at paragraph 2.1 to include the new audit plan for 2023/24, which thus reads ‘That the Committee notes performance against the audit plan for 2022/23 and for 2023/24’.

He provided an update on the audit plan for 2023/24 noting that the report on debtors had been completed since the last Committee meeting. 1 medium and 1 low risk exceptions were highlighted, which are detailed in Appendix 1 on page 15 of the report.

The audit plan for 2023/24 has been prepared and considers risk value and system complexity.

Due to the number of deferred audits from 2022/23, which resulted from staff shortages, a decision was taken to review the four-year plan and bring it up to date with the high risk audits. The audit plan for 2023/24 therefore represents the first year of this new four-year plan.

Mr James was pleased to inform the Committee that as of this afternoon the team was back to full staffing capacity. Members welcomed this news.

The Chairman thanked Mr James and the Committee unanimously agreed the updated recommendation.

Resolved;

The committee noted performance against the audit plans for 2022/23 and for 2023/24.

Recommendation

The committee is requested to consider and agree its work programme

for 2023-24.

The Chairman invited Mrs Belenger to present the report.

Mrs Belenger explained that this report sets out what the expected work programme will be for the forthcoming year.

She noted the July meeting, by nature of being the first post the elections in May, is likely to be a busy meeting which should hopefully include the results of the 2021/22 audit.

Resolved;

The Committee considered and agreed the work programme for 2023/24.

The Chairman added that the training programme for the new Committee should be specific and focus the members on what they need to consider. Mrs Belenger agreed, explaining that she and Mr Ward had reflected on member experiences from 2019 and had reshaped the training programme accordingly.

Recommendation:

That the Committee notes the updated Strategic Risk Register and the internal controls in place, plus any associated action plans to manage those risks, and raises any issues or concerns.

The Chairman invited Mr James to present the report.

Mr James made a correction to Appendix 1 on page 29, noting that the previous risk score for CRR 08 – Skills/Capability/Capacity should read 9 instead of 6.

He explained that the report reflects the outcome from the last two meetings of the Strategic Risk Group. The appendices show the updated risk register and any comments from the Group.

He noted there are now 10 strategic risks, 7 of which are controlled, where the remaining 3 have controls pending. The following risk scores have changed this year:

CRR 08 Skills/Capability/Capacity – the risk score has reduced from 9 to 6

CRR 148 Local Plan – the risk score has reduced from 12 to 4.

CRR 170 Changing use of the High Street – this risk was removed from the strategic risk register and will now be monitored as an organisation risk.

Cllr Brown noted that the reason the Local Plan risk has been reduced as a result of the submission of the Plan for review. He commented that he feels there is still a potentially high risk to the Council pending the outcome of inspection of the Local Plan Review by the independent inspectors.

Resolved;

The Committee noted the updated Strategic Risk Register and the internal controls in place. 

The Committee is asked to consider in respect of the following item(s) whether the public, including the press, should be excluded from the meeting on the grounds of exemption under Parts I to 7 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as indicated against the item and because, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption of that information outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. The reports dealt with under this part of the agenda are attached for members of the Corporate Governance & Audit Committee and senior officers only (salmon paper).

The Chairman read the Part II resolution in relation to agenda item 11 which was proposed the Chairman and seconded by Cllr Brow. The Committee then unanimously voted to go into Part II.

The Committee are requested to note the contents of the Part II report and make the associated recommendations.

The Chairman invited Mr Bennett to present the report.

Mr Bennett highlighted key areas of the report for members, and responded to questions from the Chairman and Councillors Brown and Wilding.

Resolved;

The Committee noted the contents of the Part II report and made the associated recommendations.

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.

The Chairman thanked members and officers for their work over the past four years, concluding the final meeting of the Committee of this Council ahead of the local elections in May.