Agenda and minutes

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

The Chairman welcomed all to the first meeting of this committee following the elections, especially the new members. Apologies had been received from Mr T Dempster and Mr F Hobbs.

The committee is requested to approve the minutes of its ordinary meeting on 12 March 2015.

The Chairman advised that the report on Coinco at minute 237 would be delayed to the September meeting of this committee. The minutes of the meeting held on 12 March 2015 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.

The procedure for submitting public questions in writing by no later than 12:00 on Monday 29 June 2015 is available upon request to Member Services (the contact details for which appear on the front page of this agenda).    

No public questions had been received.

To note progress against the Audit Plan 2014/15 and to consider and note the sector update provided.

Mr P King from Ernst & Young LLP presented these agenda reports (copies attached to the official minutes).

In response to a question on Transport Infrastructure Assets, Mr Ward advised the committee that the Council, being a non-highway authority, had no assets and he was not aware of any roads on industrial estates which were not currently adopted.

RESOLVED

1)      That progress against the Audit Plan 2014/15 be noted.

2)      That the EY sector report be noted.

To review the proposed audit and certification work that Ernst & Young LLP proposes to undertake in 2015/16 and the fees for this work.

Mr P King presented this agenda report (copy attached to the official minutes).

Mr King drew members’ attention to the reduction in certification fees for 2015/16 which was a result of the Audit Commission closure and the retendering of contracts. This reduction was on top of the 40% reduction from 2013/14. Further reductions in fees may be possible in the future if larger scale local authority procurement is carried out. It would not be possible to get these reductions in smaller procurement groups.

RESOLVED

That the Ernst & Young LLP Audit and Certification Fees 2015/16 be noted.

The committee is requested to note the Annual Partnerships report and to approve the changes to the Partnerships Guidance. The committee is also requested to agree that the Partnerships Annual Review is considered to be an appropriate mechanism for ensuring our strategic partnerships have appropriate governance measures in place and should continue reporting to Corporate Governance and Audit committee on an annual basis.

The committee considered this agenda report (copy attached to the official minutes).

Miss Loaring provided answers to questions on performance information included in the strategic partnership information relating to Manhood Peninsular Partnership funding, Killed & Seriously Injured (KSI) rates and the Human Trafficking Group work.

She also explained the changes made to the Partnership Guidance as a result of the recommendation made by the Strategic Risk Group on 8 December 2014. Additional guidance had been included for officers working with grant applications or being commissioned by a partner to ensure all risks were being considered before finalising financial agreements. Training would be provided to officers and members over the next few months.

RESOLVED

1)      That the Council’s strategic partnerships have appropriate governance measures in place.

2)      That the revised Partnership Guidance be noted.

3)      That the committee continue to receive an annual report of the Council’s strategic partnerships.

The committee is requested to consider and note the audit plan progress report.

Mr James presented this report (copy attached to the official minutes).

The two audit reports were considered. Mrs D Kirkham, Revenues and Benefits Manager, informed the committee of plans to restructure the Housing Benefit service to deal with accuracy checks more robustly and therefore to meet audit requirements. In response to concerns from members about the lack of resources and loss of staff, Mr Ward reassured the committee by giving an update on the changes to the Accountancy service which had taken place over the last two years and current and future proposed vacancy levels.

Mr James confirmed that the Internal Audit team was on target with resourcing the current Audit Plan.

RESOLVED

1)      That the audit reports on G4S and Key Financial Systems 2014/15 be noted.

2)      That progress against the Audit Plan 2015/16 be noted.

The committee is required to report to Council each year on the effectiveness of the Council’s corporate governance arrangements. The committee is therefore requested to consider this annual report and to recommend it to Council for approval.

Mr James presented this agenda report (copy attached to the official minutes).

There were some comments made about the content of the Annual Governance Statement relating to its form and developing a more positive tone. Some amendments were suggested and it was agreed that these would be incorporated and the revised draft statement sent to Mrs Hardwick and Mrs Tull for final approval before this is signed off by the Leader and the Chief Executive.

RESOLVED

That in future a draft of the Annual Governance Statement be circulated to the Chairman and the Cabinet Member for Finance & Governance for review before it is considered by the Senior Leadership Team.

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL

That the Corporate Governance & Audit Committee’s annual report on the Council’s governance arrangements be noted.

To committee is requested to recommend that Cabinet approves the requests totalling £215,500 for budgets to be carried forward in 2015-16.

The committee considered the agenda report (copy attached to the official minutes).

Mr Ward explained to the committee the process followed in considering unspent balances in 2014/15 and reconsidering these for inclusion in the budget for 2015/16.

RECOMMENDED TO CABINET

That the requests totalling £215,500 for budgets to be carried forward in 2015/16 be approved.

To consider the annual report of S106 agreements, providing progress information to date. An update on consultation software and the current position with regard to implementation of the Community Infrastructure Levy is also included.

Mrs L Le Vay attended to present this agenda report (copy attached to the official minutes).

Mr A Frost provided an oral update on the progress of implementing the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL).

Mr Oakley, with permission from the Chairman to speak, raised the issue of the bus shelter at Farrs Field (pg 182 of the agenda papers), money which had not been spent since 2002 and was now lost unless the developer were to be approached. As a County councillor Mr Oakley was requested to take this up with WSCC as bus shelters were under their remit.

Mr Oakley requested that monies held or unspent by West Sussex be included in the report information reflecting monies spent in the last year (page 162). This will be included in future.

Mr Barrett requested to know when monies from developers was forthcoming on the Donnington roundabout project. Ms Munns, WSCC, advised that she would take this back and respond to the committee on the timing of the release of these funds.

Mr Barrett asked about trigger points for S106 contributions payable for the Chaucer Drive, West Wittering Development.  Mrs Le Vay undertook to provide an answer to Mr Barrett.

Mrs Hardwick was concerned about the Council’s resources in place to cope with new CIL procedure and processes. Mr Frost was currently considering the resources required to be in place to support CIL processes.

Mr Bleakley, South Downs National Park, gave a brief update on S106 funding at that organisation. £572,000 had been collected with £1.22m to be received. The funds were split 75% to district councils and 25% to WSCC for affordable housing, community facilities and public art.

Mrs Le Vay explained that even once CIL is in place, S106 funding would still be spendable in the future over a number of years.

RESOLVED

1)      That the income and expenditure between 1 April 2014 and 31 March 2015 in respect of S106 contributions be noted.

2)      That the information on agreements within two years of the expenditure target date, set out in Appendix 4 of the report, be noted.

3)      That the details of non-financial obligations, set out in Appendix 5, be noted.

4)      That the current situation with respect to the implementation of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), set out in Section 8 of the report, be noted.

The Strategic Risk Group is set up with terms of reference ‘to consider any strategic and operational risks (to the Council), the associated controls, management and any mitigation and to review previously identified strategic risks and give detailed consideration of any newly identified risks’. It meets at least twice a year and reports to this committee. Membership is three members of Cabinet, three members of the Corporate Governance & Audit Committee and the Strategic Leadership Team. Members are requested to agree the three representatives from this committee.

RESOLVED

That Mr G Barrett, Mr G Hicks and Mrs T Tull be appointed as the committee’s representatives on the Strategic Risk Group.

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).

RESOLVED

That in accordance with section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 (the Act), the public and the press be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of the following item on the agenda for the reason that it is likely in view of the nature of the business to be transacted that there would be disclosure to the public of exempt information’ being information of the nature described in Paragraph 5 (information in respect of which a claim or legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings) of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Act and the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

To consider and note the attached report.

Ms Golding, Principal Solicitor, reported to the committee on the Council’s current on-going legal negotiations.

RESOLVED

That the potential liabilities of the Council be noted.