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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Cabinet/Committee Room - 52 Derby Street, Ormskirk L39 2DF

Contact: Jill Ryan 

Items
No. Item

26.

APOLOGIES

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Andrew Smith (Grant Thornton).

 

27.

MEMBERSHIP OF THE COMMITTEE

To be apprised of any changes to the membership of the Committee in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 4.

Minutes:

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 4, the Committee noted the termination of Councillor Aldridge and the appointment of Councillor McKenna for this meeting only, thereby giving effect to the wishes of the Political Groups.

 

28.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST pdf icon PDF 299 KB

If a Member requires advice on Declarations of Interest, he/she is advised to contact the Borough Solicitor in advance of the meeting.   (For the assistance of members a checklist for use in considering their position on any particular item is included at the end of this agenda sheet).

Minutes:

There were no Declarations of Interest received.

29.

PUBLIC SPEAKING pdf icon PDF 177 KB

Residents of West Lancashire on giving notice, may address the meeting to make representations on any item on the agenda except where the public and press are to be excluded during consideration of the item.  The deadline for submission is 5.00pm on Friday 26 October 2018.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There were no items under this heading.

30.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 224 KB

To receive as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on the 24 July 2018.

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the minutes of the last meeting, and in particular to minute no. 21. Members indicated that they wished a full report to be brought back to a future meeting and it was noted that this is planned to be brought to the next meeting of this Committee.

 

RESOLVED:    That the minutes of the meeting held on the 24 July 2018 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman with the amendment of Minute no 21 to read as below:-

 

 

"RESOLVED   (A)     That the progress in the year to date be noted.

 

                        (B)    That a full report covering the history of the issues with regard to Property Services be brought back to a future meeting of this Committee. "

 

 

(Note:  Councillor McKenna arrived during the consideration of this item).

31.

GRANT THORNTON - PROGRESS REPORT AND SECTOR UPDATE pdf icon PDF 125 KB

To consider the report of the Borough Treasurer.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the report of the Borough Treasurer as circulated and contained on pages 307 to 312 of the Book of Reports the purpose of which was to receive an update from the Council's External Auditors, Grant Thornton on a range of different matters.

 

The Chairman invited Georgia Jones from Grant Thornton to present the Progress Report and Sector Update Report to the Committee.

 

 

RESOLVED:    That the Grant Thornton Progress Report and Sector Update be noted.

32.

GRANT THORNTON ANNUAL AUDIT LETTER pdf icon PDF 138 KB

To consider the report of the Borough Treasurer.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the report of the Borough Treasurer as circulated and contained on pages 313 to 326 of the Book of Reports including as an Appendix Grant Thornton's (External Auditors) Annual Audit Letter for the year ended 31 March 2018.

 

The Chairman invited Georgia Jones (Grant Thornton) to introduce the Annual Audit Letter.

 

A question was raised by a Member in relation to the prepayment of pension contributions.

 

RESOLVED:          That the Grant Thornton Annual Audit Letter for the year ended 31 March 2018 be noted.

33.

INTERNAL AUDIT ACTIVITY - QUARTERLY UPDATE pdf icon PDF 220 KB

To consider the report of the Borough Treasurer.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the report of the Borough Treasurer as circulated and contained on pages 327 to 336 of the Book of Reports which advised of progress against the 2018/19 Internal Audit Plan.

 

Comments and questions were raised in respect of the following:-

 

·         Disabled Facilities Grants, in particular referrals to LCC, and a Member asked that an update be reported back to the next meeting of this Committee with regard to progress made

·         Audit Plan Progress

·         Management of Electronic Records – storage and security of systems, and a Member asked if a training session could be delivered on this at a future training session for this Committee.

 

 

RESOLVED: (A)      That progress in the year to date, be noted.

 

(B)      That an update be provided at the next meeting with regard

           to progress on Disabled Facilities Grants.

 

(C)      That a training session on Data Security and Storage be factored into this year's Work Programme for the Committee.

 

 

 

 

 

34.

RIPA ACT REGULAR MONITORING OF USE OF POWERS - ANNUAL SETTING OF THE POLICY pdf icon PDF 226 KB

To consider the report of the Borough Solicitor.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the report of the Borough Solicitor as contained on pages 337 to 365 of the Book of Reports on the Council's use of its powers under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) and presented an updated RIPA Policy document.  He reported that there had been no relevant activity to bring to the attention of the Committee.

 

The Borough Solicitor also advised that there were non-consequential  amendments needed to be made in respect of an Officer's title and service descriptions (at paragraphs 1.6 and Appendix 3 of the Report) and that these would be amended before presenting to Cabinet.

 

 

RESOLVED:            That the Council's RIPA activity and the updated RIPA Policy, at Appendix 1, subject to the minor amendments mentioned be noted.

35.

WORK PROGRAMME pdf icon PDF 189 KB

To consider the future Work Programme of the Committee.

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the Committee's Work Programme as set at page 367 of the Book of Reports.

 

RESOLVED  (A)       That the Work Programme be noted.

 

(B)       The following training sessions were agreed:-

 

              29 January 2019  -  Data Security and Storage

              28 May 2019 – Annual Accounts Training  

              July 2019 – The Development Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                     …………………………………..

-         CHAIRMAN   -