Agenda and minutes

Councillor Greening submitted apologies for lateness.

None.

If you have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest* in an item of business:

§  if it is not yet on the council’s register, you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent;

§  you may choose to declare a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest that is already in the register in the interests of openness and transparency. 

In both the above cases, you must leave the room without participating in discussion of the item.

If you have a personal interest in an item of business and you intend to speak or vote on the item you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent but you may participate in the discussion and vote on the item.

*(a)     Employment, etc - Any employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain.

(b) Sponsorship - Any payment or other financial benefit in respect of your expenses in carrying out duties as a member, or of your election; including from a trade union.

(c) Contracts - Any current contract for goods, services or works, between you or your partner (or a body in which one of you has a beneficial interest) and the council.

(d) Land - Any beneficial interest in land which is within the council’s area.

(e) Licences- Any licence to occupy land in the council’s area for a month or longer.

(f) Corporate tenancies - Any tenancy between the council and a body in which you or your partner have a beneficial interest.

 (g) Securities - Any beneficial interest in securities of a body which has a place of business or land in the council’s area, if the total nominal value of the securities exceeds £25,000 or one hundredth of the total issued share capital of that body or of any one class of its issued share capital. 

This applies to all members present at the meeting.

None.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting of the Audit Committee and the Audit Committee (Advisory) held on the 24 March 2015 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

The Committee noted that the statistics regarding the number of residents who had been prevented from registering as they had no national insurance number would be reported when available.

The Committee noted that there would be a change in accounting policy in relation to the measurement of transport infrastructure assets from 2016/17.  It was not known what changes would be involved at this early stage.

There was to be a reduction in the planned audit fee although there would be no change in the service provided.  This was partly due to the retendering of remaining work and a reduction in the price of these audits.

RESOLVED that the annual audit fee letter for 2015/16 from KPMG be noted.

The Committee noted that the whistleblowing policy had been updated in March 2014 and the Audit Committee received an annual report from the Standards Committee which was responsible for Members Code of Conduct. The Audit Committee was due to receive these reports at the next meeting.

Members considered that the Audit Committee members required more regular training.

Members considered that more detail be provided regarding the clear channels of communication with the community and other stakeholders.

RESOLVED that

a)               A whistleblowing policy update and Standards Committee Annual report be submitted to the next Audit Committee in September.

b)               That additional training for Audit Committee members be reviewed and reported back to the next meeting.

c)               Further detail be provided regarding the channels of communication for the community and other stakeholders.

RESOLVED that the membership appointed by Council on 14 May 2015, terms of reference and dates of meetings of the Audit and Audit (Advisory) Committee for the municipal year 2015/16 as set out in Appendix A be noted.

A.          Pensions Sub-Committee

RESOLVED

a)       That the size of the Sub-Committee and the Terms of Reference be confirmed.

b)       That the following members be appointed to the Pensions Sub-Committee for the municipal year 2015/16

c)       That Councillor Greening be appointed Chair and Councillor Andy Hull be appointed Vice-Chair of the Pensions Sub-Committee for the municipal year 2015/16 or until a successor is appointed.

B.          Personnel Sub-Committee

RESOLVED

a)       That the size of the Sub-Committee and the Terms of Reference be confirmed.

b)       That the following members be appointed to the Personnel Sub-Committee for the municipal year 2015/16

c)       That the Vice-Chair be appointed at the next meeting of the Audit Committee.

C.    Pension Board

RESOLVED that

a)     That the terms of reference of the Board be amended to permit the appointment of a substitute in respect of a member of the Board who is appointed to represent pensioner members of the LGPS.

b)     To appoint Marion Oliver as pensioner member representative and Thelma Harvey as a substitute pensioner member representative for a 3 year term.

c)     To confirm the following existing appointed members are appointed for a 4 year term:-

i)                 Vaughan West, GMB as a member representative

ii)                Mike Calvert, Unison as a member representative

iii)              David Bennett – as Independent member

iv)              Bob Anderson – HR Director Elliot Foundation as employer representative

v)               Maggie Elliott – Chair of Governors at Montem School as employer representative.

d)     To note the appointment of Councillor David Poyser as a member of the Board by the Council and to appoint him as Vice-Chair of the Board.

The Committee noted the recommendations made by the Policy and Performance Scrutiny Committee.  Members considered that further information was required regarding the sums involved and what sums were included in the total cap figure. It was noted that compensation payments would be in line with current contracts.

RESOLVED that

a)     The recommendations from the Policy and Performance Scrutiny Committee be noted;

b)     A further report be submitted to the Audit Committee in September to include more detail regarding the legal, human resources and financial implications of the recommendations and also to include further detail regarding the sums involved in the cap figure broken down into annual leave payments, pension payments, redundancy payments, pay in lieu of notice and any other relevant payments or costs (including pension strain).