Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed all present and took the Committee through some housekeeping arrangements. She referred to her requests at the previous meeting  that should there be late attendees they address the Chairperson at the earliest convenience and that officers presenting reports attend in person or, with the agreement of the Director, remotely on Teams. Finally, she reminded Members of the resolution at the Statutory Annual Council meeting in November 2020, to enable Member visibility, it was resolved that where papers were not private and confidential, and subject to agreement by the relevant Outside Body, they would be stored on the central Modern.Gov library for all Members to access. The appointed Member representative(s) was therefore asked to use the relevant FreshService link to submit papers going forwards.

An apology for absence was received from Councillor N J Skeens.

To confirm the Minutes of the Performance, Governance and Audit Committee held on 19 January 2023 (copy enclosed) and note the Matters Arising from the minutes attached as Appendix 1.

RESOLVED by assent that the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 9 January 2023, be approved and confirmed.

RESOLVED by assent that the matters Arising report be noted.

The Chairman thanked the clerk, Ms Casey, on the work undertaken to produce the report

To disclose the existence and nature of any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests, Other Registrable interests and Non-Registrable Interests relating to items of business on the agenda having regard to paragraph 9 and Appendix B of the Code of Conduct for Members.

(Members are reminded that they are also required to disclose any such interests as soon as they become aware should the need arise throughout the meeting).

There were none.

To receive the views of members of the public, of which prior notification in writing has been received (no later than noon on the Tuesday prior to the day of the meeting).

Should you wish to submit a question please complete the online form at: www.maldon.gov.uk/publicparticipation.

No requests had been received.

To consider the report of the Director of Resources (copy enclosed, Members’ Update to be circulated)*

The Committeeconsidered thereport ofthe Director ofResourcesandassociated Internal Audit reports from BDO LLP, attached on the agenda at 6a to 6g, Progress Report; Follow-up of Recommendations; Contract Management; Safeguarding; Strategic Performance Place; Community Safety and the Internal Audit Plan 2023/26.

The Chairman introduced the reports and deferred to the Internal Audit Partner to present the detail taking each report in turn, with questions after each one. He took the Committee through the pack starting with the Progress Report. It was noted that this report showed four reports finalised, one from last year and one from 2022/23. There had been one change in the Audit Plan whereby Workforce Management had been moved to next year due to timing and this had been replaced by a Review of Human Resource Management Systems.. All remaining work was on track to be reported at the June Committee.

The Follow-up of Recommendations report showed five recommendations outstanding which included three relating to Flood Management. He reported that Internal Audit would like to see these completed as soon as possible and reassured Members that actions were already underway to complete.

In response to issues raised Officers provided the following information:-

• That Scrutiny training was included in the new ‘Member Onboarding Training Programme’.

• That work on the Review of Service Delivery would address issues around outstanding recommendations e.g. under Flood Management to ensure timely completion going forwards. An update on this work will be circulated to Members outside of the meeting.

• That currently there was a review taking place of designated safeguarding officers together with a refresh of both the meeting structure and membership. Furthermore this area of work had been escalated to Overview and Scrutiny Committee for review. Officers reassured the Committee that response rates to Safeguarding reports was not adversely impacted by this ongoing work.

• That Internal Audit was happy to refine the wording in the Corporate Governance Section around the completed recommendations dealing with area planning committees. It was to be expected that the appeals statistics were largely delegated decisions as the majority of planning decisions were delegated as opposed to Committee decisions. It was noted that Planning Appeal statistics were considered at the performance meeting of the Performance, Governance and Audit Committee (PGA) through the Balance Scorecard report.

• That in line with a previous statement to Council regarding the Environment Agency’s process when reviewing flood risk management a full consultation will be undertaken engaging with all Ward Members.

There being no further queries the Internal Audit Partner presented the Contract Management Final Report. It was noted that this was outstanding from last year and attained a level of assurance as moderate on both design and effectiveness. Good practice and policies had been evidenced, however, from the sample audited there were inconsistencies in that performance monitoring meetings had not taken place for all sampled. A good management response had been received addressing these issues and an update would be provided at the June meeting.

In response to issues  ...  view the full minutes text for item 633.

To consider the report of the Director of Strategy, Performance and Governance (copy enclosed).

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Strategy, Performance and Governance that requested the establishment of a Working Group of the Committee to undertake detailed review work.

The Chairman introduced the report and moved the recommendations which were duly seconded. In response to a query concerning the timing of establishing this Working Group she advised the Committee that it was necessary to proceed with the Working Group at this point in time and call a meeting of said Working Group as soon as possible.

The Chairman then proposed from the Chair that the following Members be appointed to the Working Group:- Councillors W Stamp, CC, Mrs J L Fleming, CC, A S Fluker, Mrs J C Stilts and Mrs M E Thompson.  The Committee agreed the nominations by assent.

The Chairperson then put the recommendations to the Committee and they were agreed by assent.

RESOLVED

(i)               That the terms of reference for the Performance Governance and Audit Committee Working Group at Appendix A were approved;

(ii)              That as outlined above, Members appointed five Committee members to sit on the Working Group for the remainder of the municipal year

To consider the report of the Director of Strategy, Performance and Governance (copy enclosed).

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Strategy, Performance and Governance that requested a review of electoral arrangements on behalf of North Fambridge Parish Council in terms of the size of its membership.

The Chairman introduced the report and moved the recommendation which was duly seconded. She deferred to the Director of Strategy, Performance and Governance to present the detail. He advised that the Parish Council had requested the District Council to carry out a review to enable its present membership to be increased from five to seven Councillors and that the request was based on the growing size of the village.

The Chairman put the recommendation to the Committee and it was agreed by assent.

RESOLVED that the request of North Fambridge Parish Council to instigate a

Community Governance Review be agreed.

Given this was the last meeting of the Municipal Year the Chairman took the opportunity to thank all involved in the Committee work throughout the year and said she had enjoyed her time as Chairman and felt that the Committee had been very diligent in appropriately scrutinising and monitoring the work put forward.