Issue - meetings

The Corporate Governance Committee

AGREED

(A)               The following minor amendments:

·         On page 37 the 6 monthly meetings with parish councils should be mentioned in the bullet point referring to ways in which the Council communicated its vision, aims and values.

·         The paragraph under the sixth bullet point on page 141 was amended to read “… an Audit Committee.”

·         In the final paragraph on page 142 the word “will” was removed.

·         In the seventh paragraph on page 143, reference should be made to the fact that the Council achieved the Investors in People Standard’s bronze award.

·         The final sentence of the penultimate paragraph on page 143 was amended to read “Most meetings are …”

(B)              To give the Chairman delegated authority to make further amendments to the Statement, with particular regard to including more outcomes in the past year.

The Acting Legal and Democratic Services Manager introduced this report, which sought approval of the Annual Governance Statement 2009/10, prior to the statement being signed by the Leader and the Chief Executive and being included in the statement of accounts for the year ending 31 March 2010.

Minor amendments

It was agreed that the 6 monthly meetings with parish councils should be referred to, with regard to the Council’s communication strategy. It was also noted that the Scrutiny and Overview Committee had held the majority of its meetings in 2009/10 outside the Council’s main offices and this should be included in the Statement.

It was suggested that more outcomes should be listed in the Statement, instead of focussing on the process.

The Chairman thanked the Acting Legal and Democratic Services Manager for her work in compiling the report.

The Corporate Governance Committee

AGREED

(A)               The following minor amendments:

·         On page 137 the 6 monthly meetings with parish councils should be mentioned in the bullet point referring to ways in which the Council communicated its vision, aims and values.

·         The paragraph under the sixth bullet point on page 141 was amended to read “… an Audit Committee.”

·         In the final paragraph on page 142 the word “will” was removed.

·         In the seventh paragraph on page 143, reference should be made to the fact that the Council achieved the Investors in People Standard’s bronze award.

·         The final sentence of the penultimate paragraph on page 143 was amended to read “Most meetings are …”

(B)              To give the Chairman delegated authority to make further amendments to the Statement, with particular regard to including more outcomes in the past year.

Chris Harris (RSM Tenon and formerly of RSM Bentley Jennison) presented the Internal Audit Progress Report, dated February 2010.  The overview was the financial systems at South Cambridgeshire District Council were essentially sound.

Members briefly discussed a number of issues arising from the report, including Value for Money concerns and review of the ICT service.

The Committee considered the Internal Audit Quarterly report for the period ending 30 September 2009, summarising the outcome of work completed against the annual audit plan.

Chris Harris (Bentley Jennison) presented the report, drawing the Committee’s attention to the schedule of final reports issued since the last meeting, and to reports in respect of the ICT Review, General Ledger, Capital Expenditure and Asset Management, which were currently at the draft stage.

Members of the Committee and other Members present asked questions and made comments on the following issues arising from the report and appendices:

Housing Futures – This issue had been included in the original plan; the reallocation of time to other work areas following the conclusion of the project would be subject to discussions with the Chief Executive and Executive Director (Corporate Services) (EDCS).

Anti Money Laundering Policy – The Committee agreed with the Council’s response that, given that no large amounts of cash were received, the priority was not ‘Fundamental’ and there were no proposals to widen the scope of the policy.

Security – The EDCS was requested to reinforce the message that this area related to the security of premises not individuals, through discussions with the Facilities Manager.

The Committee expressed concern at recommendations within the appendix for which there were no responses by the Council and felt that every effort should be made to provide timely responses for inclusion in future reports.

The Committee NOTED the report.