Items
No. |
Item |
76. |
Apologies
To receive any apologies for
absence.
Minutes:
No apologies for absence were received at the meeting.
Cllr R Legg had advised that he would be late and would
attend virtually if possible.
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77. |
Minutes PDF 431 KB
To confirm the minutes of the
meeting held on 22nd June 2022.
Minutes:
The minutes of the meeting held on 22 June 2022 were
confirmed and signed.
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78. |
Declarations of Interest
To disclose any pecuniary,
other registrable or non-registrable interest as set out in the adopted Code of
Conduct. In making their decision councillors
are asked to state the agenda item, the nature of the interest and any action
they propose to take as part of their declaration.
If required, further advice
should be sought from the Monitoring Officer in advance of the meeting.
Minutes:
No declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests were made
at the meeting.
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79. |
Public Participation
To receive questions or statements on the business of the committee from
town and parish councils and members of the public.
When submitting
a question please indicate who the question is for and include your name,
address and contact details. Questions and statements received in line
with the council’s rules for public participation will be published as a
supplement to the agenda.
The
deadline for submission of the full text of a question or statement is 8.30am
on Wednesday 9th November 2022.
Minutes:
There were no public statements and questions at the
meeting.
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80. |
Minutes of the Audit & Governance Sub-committee PDF 372 KB
To note the minutes of the Audit & Governance Hearing
Sub-committee on 18 August 2022.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The minutes of the meetings held on 18 August 2022 and 24
October 2022 were noted.
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81. |
Draft 2021/22 Outturn Report PDF 332 KB
To receive a report by Jim McManus Corporate Director,
Finance and Commercial.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Jim McManus, Corporate Director – Financial and Commercial,
introduced the report which set out the budget outturn for Financial Year
2021/22 and highlighted the key points that Members should be aware of.
Officers responded to Members’ comments and requests for
clarification, details included:
- Despite usual restrictions
which meant that capital receipts could only be used for capital projects,
it was currently possible them to be used flexibly towards transformation
and organisational change. The sum of capital receipts gained from surplus
property and assets would be fed back once Mr McManus had the information
available to him.
- Due to the impact of
Covid, It had proven more challenging to collect housing and rent arrears
efficiently until relatively recently, but now collection activities had
stepped up and the council was working to recover debt at a greater pace,
whilst remaining sensitive to the issues that were being faced – greater
detail could be provided to Members outside of the meeting.
- The recovery process on
all Council Tax and Business Rate accounts had been ‘reset’, which meant
that all rate payers would have the opportunity to maximise the reduce
and/or eliminate arrears on their accounts before court action was sought.
It was considered that a ‘reset’ was the fairest way of doing things and
it was further highlighted that a full debt recovery programme would be
undertaken, and that this would be done sensitively. So far customers had
engaged well with the first reminders that had been sent out and
appropriate support as being offered where needed.
- Demand for homelessness
accommodation was high and therefore was particularly challenging for the
housing teams in terms of availability and cost of sourcing. The team was
working to ensure that those seeking assistance were in receipt of all
assistance that they were entitled to and that the correct signposting was
on the Council’s website.
- Where housing debt needed
to be recovered, the team were establishing if there was a need to
undertake legal action where appropriate and ensure that the situation
didn’t get to this stage. Writing off bad debt was a last resort that
needed to be avoided at all costs and it was important to ensure that
people were assisted to prevent themselves from getting into difficulty at
as earlier a stage as possible.
- The auditing of
Infrastructure assets had been delayed and this was a national issue that
was due to be resolved in the near future, once guidance had been provided
by CIPFA and a Statutory Instrument had been laid. It was hoped that
following this, the audit for Dorset’s 2020/21 accounts would be completed
early in the new year. Work would then progress to complete the audit of
the 2021/22 accounts and these would be completed by November 2023.
Noted
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82. |
Quarter 2 Financial Management Report PDF 326 KB
To receive a report by Jim McManus Finance and Commercial.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Jim McManus, Corporate Director – Financial and Commercial,
introduced the report which set out the current financial position and the
progress made to date in working towards setting a balanced budget for the
2023/24 Financial Year.
Officers responded to Members’ comments and requests for
clarification, details included:
- The Council was currently in discussions
with the Department for Education that related to the Dedicated Schools Grant
(DSG) and a couple of options were being explored, which involved
reviewing the profile of the recovery and whether or not the current
agreement could be extended, although this was not agreed with the DfE at
this point. The Council’s position was that an extended period was
required to pay back the debt.
- Further the above,
officers were also seeking to ensure that there were sufficient places
within Dorset for children with SEND requirements, thereby reducing the
need for high-cost out of area placements, although this was dependent on
the delivery of the Capital Strategy and the risk of increasing build
costs was high.
- Officers were working had
to reduce the debt within certain areas of the Council.
- Officers were hoping that
the Government would continue to allow the flexible use of capital
receipts and so far, discussions had not suggested that this mechanism
would be removed in the near future. There were some capital receipts that
had not yet been realised.
- There were currently 121
capital schemes across the council and when reviewing the programme, each
item was interrogated in terms of risk of increased costs, loss of revenue
etc. It was highlighted again, that the rising costs and general
availability within the construction sector was proving to be problematic
and needed to be well-managed.
- Rural authorities
experienced higher costs than urban authorities, largely due to
geographical size and the impact it had on the delivery of services that
relied on transportation of people, highways maintenance and refuse
collection etc. Dorset Council was not in receipt of a Revenue Support
Grant (RSG), both Officers and local MP’s were lobbying for additional
support for the Council to ensure that it was better funded and its
rurality was taken into consideration. The Council was awaiting the Local
Government Finance Settlement on 21 December 2022 to understand the detail
of what to expect for next year.
- The Council had increased
the payments made to key operators, such as home to school transport
operators and other contractors to cover the increased costs of transport,
but this was only a temporary measure. The council was also working
closely with over 500 contractors and was having discussions with
colleagues nationally about the charges faced within the transport sector.
- There was currently a
programme of replacement that would be replacing the existing parking
meters across the county, the problems currently faced largely related to
the inheritance of multiple machines using different systems. This programme
was working to rationalise the parking assets.
Noted
|
83. |
Treasury Management Annual Report 2021/22 PDF 323 KB
To receive a report by David Wilkes, Service Manager for
Treasury and Investments.
Minutes:
David Wilkes, Service Manager – Treasury and Investments,
introduced the report which summarised the treasury management performance and position
information for the Financial Year ending 31 March 2022.
Mr Wilkes Highlighted that he would present both this Report
and his following report as one as certain aspects
within would be considered as a “cross-over”.
Officers responded to Members’ comments and requests for
clarification, details included:
- The
majority of the external borrowing included in table 11 of the
report was inherited from the predecessor councils, and at the time of
accruing this debt, each of the respective councils would have focussed on
spreading their debt to avoid too much of it maturing at similar points in
time. This was why there were extended periods within the table that
illustrated no debt was due to mature.
- Other sources of external debt,
such as Private Finance Initiatives (PFIs) and leases were not included in
this table.
Noted
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84. |
Treasury Management Mid-Year Update Report PDF 337 KB
To receive a report from David Wilkes, Service Manager for
Treasury and Investments.
Minutes:
David Wilkes introduced the report which summarised the
treasury management performance and position information for the first six
months of the 2022/23 Financial Year from 1 April 2022 to 30 September 2022.
There were no comments or requests for clarification in
relation to this report.
Noted
|
85. |
Quarterly Risk Management Update PDF 296 KB
To receive a report from David Trotter, Risk and Resilience
Officer and Marc Eyre, Service Manager for Assurance.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
David Trotter, Risk and Resiliency Officer, introduced the
report, which set out the development and promotion of risk management within
the Council.
Officers responded to Members’ comments and requests for clarification,
details included:
- The risks that had been
classed as ‘catastrophic’ and ‘certain to happen’ related to cyber
security and there were controls and mitigation in place to address those
risks, which were regularly reviewed.
- Officers were regularly
submitting exception reports where extreme risks were identified and
required attention to both A&G and the relevant scrutiny committee. There
was a strong focus on eliminating extreme risks as a priority, but low and
medium risks were being addressed within the organisation – good progress
was being made.
- The Head of Legal and
Democratic Services would provide an explanation for committee members as
to the Council’s relationship with Southwest Audit Partnership, how it was
formed and the relationship with the internal auditors.
- SWAP had undertaken an
audit on the Council’s risk management process in the form of a risk
maturity assessment which had indicated that the Council moving from
‘aware’ to ‘defined’ and with the implementation of the recommendations
could move to a ‘managed position’. A survey undertaken across the Council
had indicated that risk management was not as embedded as it could have
been and as such married up with the outcome of the audit.
Noted
|
86. |
SWAP Update Report PDF 2 MB
To receive a report by Sally White Assistant Director SWAP.
Minutes:
Sally White, Assistant director of SWAP Internal Audit
Services, introduced the report which provided the Committee with an update
relating to the work undertaken by the Internal Auditors.
Officers responded to Members’ comments and requests for
clarification, details included:
- The Place and Resources
Scrutiny Committee had met prior to this committee taking place which had
considered the annual property report and Members of this committee may
find the information contained in the written report to be most valuable
and would put some concerns at ease, however, the report author could be
invited to A&G to present if required.
Noted
|
87. |
Forward Plan PDF 213 KB
To consider the work programme for the Committee.
Minutes:
The Committee reviewed the Forward Plan, which included an
update from the Monitoring Officer to add an item relating to the operation of
public questions and statements at meetings of the Council.
Mr Mair suggested that the establishment of a task and
finish group might be an appropriate way of dealing with this.
Resolved
That the additional item be added to the forward plan and a
Task and Finish Group be established to scope and resolve the issue before
bringing it back to the Audit and Governance Committee for consideration.
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