Agenda and minutes

The Chief Executive to notify the Committee of any substitute members.

None.

An apology for absence was received from Councillor John Hurst.

Members are asked to declare any interests in matters for consideration at the meeting.

The question as to whether membership of the Development Control Committee required a declaration was again raised.  The Monitoring Officer reiterated what she had indicated at the previous meeting that no declaration of interest was required.

(Enclosure)

The minutes of the meeting held on 13th December were agreed as a correct record.

Report CHFR034 by the Corporate Head of Finance and Resources.

            (To follow)

Decision

The Constitution and Accounts Committee recommends to Council the following:

1)        That a Governance and Audit Committee be established with the terms of reference contained in Appendix 1 to report CHFR034.

2)        That the Governance and Audit Committee be comprised of five members and be subject to political balance with the Chairman retaining a casting vote. A quorum of the committee to be three members.  An external individual to be co-opted to the committee with voting rights.

3)        Membership of the Committee will be subject to having the appropriate skills as set out in Appendix 2 to report CHFR034 and there will be a requirement for mandatory training of members of the Committee.

4)        That the role and function of the Constitution and Accounts Committee, as set out in article 10 of the Constitution be amended to delete points f) to j) and the name of the committee to be changed to ‘Constitution Committee’.

The Corporate Head of Finance and Resources informed the Committee that if the council wished to progress to level 3 in the Audit Commissions Use of Resources Assessment the key lines of enquiry for level 3 relating to internal control included “the council has arrangements in place to maintain a sound system of internal control”. It also stated that the council needed to be able to demonstrate that it can effectively deliver the core functions of an audit committee as identified in the CIPFA guidance; that it had provided for the ability to challenge the executive when required and provided for effective leadership on government, financial reporting and audit issues.

The report gave the background on the current arrangements in place and the Corporate Head of Finance and Resources referred members to section 3.2 of the report which listed the core functions of an audit committee as described in CIPFA guidance.  Paragraph 3.3 dealt with membership of a Governance and Audit Committee and the CIPFA guidance suggested a membership of between three and five with an appropriate quorum set within the terms of reference. 

Extract from Development Control Committee held on 9th January 2007.

                                                                                    (Enclosure)

Members noted the extract from the minutes.

Extract from Development Control Committee held on 9th January 2007.

(Enclosure)

Members noted the extract from the minutes.

None.

The meeting closed at 3.10pm.