Agenda, decisions and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Tim Anderson, Lead Councillor for Resources.

Apologies were received from Councillor Tim Anderson, Lead Councillor for Resources.

Councillors Colin Cross, Graham Eyre, Angela Gunning, Ramsey Nagaty, Susan Park and Paul Spooner were in attendance.

In accordance with the local Code of Conduct, a councillor is required to disclose at the meeting any disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI) that they may have in respect of any matter for consideration on this agenda.  Any councillor with a DPI must notparticipate in any discussion or vote regarding that matter and they must also withdraw from the meeting immediately before consideration of the matter.

If that DPI has not been registered, the councillor must notify the Monitoring Officer of the details of the DPI within 28 days of the date of the meeting.

Councillors are further invited to disclose any non-pecuniary interest which may be relevant to any matter on this agenda, in the interests of transparency, and to confirm that it will not affect their objectivity in relation to that matter.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Executive held on 26 May 2020.

The minutes of the meeting held on 26 May 2020 were confirmed as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 26 May 2020 were confirmed as a correct record.

The Leader of the Council announced that residents in Ash had raised several key questions around a number of infrastructure projects, particularly with regard to the involvement of Surrey County Council. It was decided that it would be premature to make a final decision on the projects until those issues had been fully investigated and until it was possible to give the public answers to those questions. Therefore, the decision on the future of the projects in Item 6 would not be made until there was clarity on those key questions. For simplicity, the whole agenda item had been withdrawn and a new, revised paper covering all of the topics would be published in due course.

The Leader of the Council announced that residents in Ash had raised several key questions around a number of infrastructure projects, particularly with regard to the involvement of Surrey County Council. It was decided that it would be premature to make a final decision on the projects until those issues had been fully investigated and until it was possible to give the public answers to those questions. Therefore, the decision on the future of the projects in Item 6 would not be made until there was clarity on those key questions. For simplicity, the whole agenda item had been withdrawn and a new, revised paper covering all of the topics would be published in due course.

RESOLVED:

(1)      That, subject to paragraph (2) below, the Council’s Annual Governance Statement for 2019-20, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report submitted to the Executive, be approved subject to the corrections and updates reported to the Corporate Governance and Standards Committee at its meeting on 18 June 2020 and set out in the Executive’s Supplementary Information Sheet.

(2)       That the Democratic Services and Elections Manager be authorised, in consultation with the Lead Councillor with responsibility for governance and the Director of Resources, to update and amend the Annual Governance Statement for 2019-20 prior to the date of publication of the audited accounts for 2019-20 to reflect the ongoing assessment of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Council.

Reason

To comply with the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015, the Executive must prepare, approve, and publish an Annual Governance Statement.

Alternative options considered and rejected by the Executive

None

Details of any conflict of interest declared by the Leader or lead councillors and any dispensation granted

None

The Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 required the Council to prepare an Annual Governance Statement (AGS) that detailed the governance framework and procedures that had operated at the Council during the year, a review of their effectiveness, significant governance issues that had occurred and a statement of assurance. 

The Executive was asked to consider a report outlining the background to the AGS and the draft AGS 2019-20.  The report included the Head of Internal Audit’s Annual Opinion Report April 2019 to March 2020.

The report was introduced by the Deputy Leader of the Council. The draft AGS would be included in the Council’s audited statement of accounts for 2019-20.  The AGS concluded that the Council was well run with good governance processes in place; however, there had been a number of significant governance issues during the year, which were reported in Appendix 1 section 6.

The Corporate Governance and Standards Committee had also considered the AGS and had commended its adoption by the Executive, subject to a number of corrections and updates which were set out in the Supplementary Information Sheet which had been published before the Executive’s meeting.  The Supplementary information Sheet also contained an additional section describing the impact of COVID-19 on the delivery of good governance.

Having considered the AGS, the Executive

RESOLVED:

(1)      That, subject to paragraph (2) below, the Council’s Annual Governance Statement for 2019-20, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report submitted to the Executive, be approved subject to the corrections and updates reported to the Corporate Governance and Standards Committee at its meeting on 18 June 2020 and set out in the Executive’s Supplementary Information Sheet.

(2)       That the Democratic Services and Elections Manager be authorised, in consultation with the Lead Councillor with responsibility for governance and the Director of Resources, to update and amend the Annual Governance Statement for 2019-20 prior to the date of publication of the audited accounts for 2019-20 to reflect the ongoing assessment of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Council.

Reason

To comply with the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015, the Executive must prepare, approve, and publish an Annual Governance Statement.

This item was deferred to allow for discussion with partner organisations to take place and would be resubmitted when there was a clearer picture of future funding.

This item was deferred to allow for discussion with partner organisations to take place and would be resubmitted when there was a clearer picture of future funding.