Agenda and minutes

The Chair, Councillor Brennan, indicated that this afternoon’s meeting of the Committee would be the last to be attended by Jill Coule, Head of Regulation and Compliance. Jill had been with Sefton since 2010 but would be leaving the Authority at the end of June to take up the position of Chief Legal Officer to the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. On behalf of the Committee Councillor Brennan placed on record its appreciation for all the help and guidance Jill had given to Members and wished her every success for the future in her new role at the Combined Authority.

An apology for absence was received from Councillor McGinnity.

Members are requested to give notice of any personal or prejudicial interest and the nature of that interest, relating to any item on the agenda, in accordance with the Members Code of Conduct.

No declarations of any personal or disclosable pecuniary interest were received.

Minutes of the meeting held on 21 March 2018

RESOLVED:

That the Minutes of the Meeting held on 21 March 2018 be confirmed as a correct record.

Report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance

The Committee considered the report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance that provided a refreshed version of the code of Corporate Governance and an update on the work being undertaken to refresh the Council’s Constitution.

Mrs Jill Coule, Head of Regulation and Compliance presented the report and answered questions thereon. 

A Member asked whether the Constitution made explicit reference to procedures for amending the Constitution.  The Head of Regulation and Compliance stated that she would arrange to have procedures for making amendments to the Constitution, written in the Constitution.

RESOLVED: That

Joint Report of the Head of Corporate Resources and the Head of Commissioning Support and Business Intelligence

The Committee considered the joint report of the Head of Corporate Resources and the Head of Commissioning Support and Business Intelligence, seeking approval for revisions to the Financial Procedure Rules and Contract Procedure Rules and referral of both to Council for approval.

Mr Stephan Van Arendsen, Head of Corporate Resources and Mr Peter Moore, Head of Commissioning Support and Business Intelligence presented the report. No questions were asked.

RESOLVED: That

Report of the Head of Corporate Resources

The Committee considered the report of the Head of Corporate Resources which provided the Treasury Management outturn position for the full year to 31 March 2018 and the update to 31 May 2018, reviewing the effects of decisions taken in pursuit of the Treasury Management Strategy and the implications of changes resulting from the regulatory, economic and market factors affecting the Council’s treasury management activities.

The Service Manager - Treasury and Capital, presented the report and answered questions thereon.

RESOLVED:

That the Treasury Management outturn position for 2017/18 be noted.

Report of the Head of Corporate Resources

The Committee considered the report of the Head of Corporate Resources which presented the Draft unaudited Statement of Accounts in advance of the final audited Draft Statement of Accounts to be presented for approval in July 2018.

The Head of Corporate Resources presented the report and answered questions thereon.

RESOLVED: That

Report of the Head of Corporate Resources

The Committee considered the report of the Chief Internal Auditor which summarised the work of internal audit during 2017/18 and provided the Chief Internal Auditor’s opinion on the overall control environment operating within the Council during the year.

Ms Laura Williams, Chief Internal Auditor, presented the report. No questions were asked.

RESOLVED:

That the work of the Chief Internal Auditor undertaken during 2017 and the overall opinion on the control environment of the Council during that period be noted.

Report of the Head of Corporate Resources

The Committee considered the report of the Chief Internal Auditor that detailed the performance and key activities of the Risk and Audit Service for the period 6 March to 13 June 2018.

Ms Laura Williams, Chief Internal Auditor presented the report. No questions were asked.

RESOLVED: That

Report of the Head of Corporate Resources

Further to Minute No.43 of 21 March 2018, the Committee considered the report of the Chief Internal Auditor that provided an update on the Corporate Risk Register.

Ms Laura Williams, The Chief Internal Auditor, presented the report and indicated that since the last meeting the Corporate Risk Register had been fully updated; that two new risks had been identified and no risks had been removed or de-escalated from the Register.  No questions were asked.

RESOLVED: 

That the contents of the updated Corporate Risk Register be noted; in particular, the major risks facing the Council and the controls and planned actions in place to mitigate these.

The following report is not Exempt/Confidential, but includes appendices which contain exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972. Namely,

·       Item 11 – Appendices A and B

Members are therefore requested to indicate whether or not they wish to discuss any matters referred to in the exempt appendices and accordingly, consider passing the following resolution:

“That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for any items of business which might involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act. The Public Interest Test has been applied and favours exclusion of the information from the Press and Public”.

RESOLVED:

That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it would involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act.  The Public Interest Test has been applied and favoured exclusion of the information from the press and public.

Report of the Head of Corporate Resources

The Committee considered the report of the Head of Corporate Resources on the Revenue Service’s write-off of irrecoverable Business Rates and Council Tax debts with balances over £10,000.

RESOLVED:

That the individual debts detailed in the appendices to the report, totalling £174,430.80, be approved for write-off.

The Chair advised Members of future meeting dates of the Audit and Governance Committee 2018/19:

RESOLVED:

That the 2018/19 dates for Audit and Governance Committee meetings be noted.