Agenda and minutes

Corporate Governance and Standards Committee - Thursday, 14th November, 2024 7.00 pm

Venue: Council Chamber, Millmead House, Millmead, Guildford, Surrey GU2 4BB. View directions

Contact: John Armstrong, Democratic Services and Elections Manager  Tel: (01483) 444102

Media

Items
No. Item

CGS61

Apologies for absence and notification of substitute members

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There were no apologies for absence.

CGS62

Local code of conduct - disclosure of interests

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, you 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.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There were no disclosures of interest.

CGS63

Minutes pdf icon PDF 130 KB

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Corporate Governance and Standards Committee held on 26 September 2024 (attached) and the minutes of the simultaneous meeting held with Waverley Borough Council’s Standards & General Purposes Committee on 26 September 2024 (attached).

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The minutes of the simultaneous special meeting held with Waverley Borough Council’s Standards & General Purposes Committee on 26 September 2024, and the minutes of the ordinary meeting also held on 26 September 2024 were confirmed as a correct record. 

The chair signed the minutes.

 

CGS64

Action Tracker pdf icon PDF 80 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee noted that the decision and action tracker had been introduced to monitor progress against the decisions and actions that the Committee had agreed, which would be kept up to date for each meeting.  When decisions/ actions were reported as being ‘completed’, the Committee would be asked to agree to remove these items from the tracker.  

The Committee

RESOLVED: That the decision and action tracker be noted and that the actions reported as being completed be removed from the table.

 

CGS65

Questions by Members of the Public

The Chairman to respond to any questions received from members of the public in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11. The deadline for receipt of questions is 5pm on Friday 8 November 2024.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

No questions had been received.

CGS66

Questions from Members

The Chairman to respond to any questions received from Members in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 12. The deadline for receipt of questions is 5pm on Friday 8 November 2024.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

No questions had been received.

 

CGS67

Financial Statements for the Years Ended 31.03.22 and 31.03.23 pdf icon PDF 67 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received the report from the Council’s external auditors Grant Thornton and noted that it would not be possible to complete the external audit of the Council’s accounts for 2021-22 and 2022-23 by the statutory backstop date of 13 December 2024 set by government. The external auditor would therefore issue a disclaimer audit opinion in respect of both years.

Even though no work had been undertaken, the auditors were still required under Auditing Standards to report certain matters to the Committee, including their responsibilities as auditor, the scope of the audit, independence, audit fees and any matters arising from the audit.

The Chair of the Committee was required to issue a letter of representation on behalf of the Council to the auditors to provide assurance over the management framework operating at the Council and the disclosures in the accounts.  A copy of the proposed letters for 2021-22 and 2022-23 were appended to the report.

The external auditor informed the Committee that the 2023-24 audit was currently being undertaken with a view to presenting an audit findings report to the Committee at its January 2025 meeting, which would bring the Council back in line with the expected timetables for completing financial statements audits.

The Committee

RESOLVED:

(1)         That Grant Thornton’s Audit Findings Report, attached as Appendix 1 to the report submitted to the Committee, be noted.

(2)         That the letters of representation on behalf of the Council (as set out in Appendices 2 and 3 to the report) be approved and that the Chair of the meeting be authorised to sign the letter on the Council’s behalf.

Reason:

The Committee as ‘Those Charged with Governance’ are required to receive the Audit Findings Report and approve for the Chair to sign the letters of representation on behalf of the Council.

 

CGS68

Internal Audit Plan Update Q4 pdf icon PDF 68 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

In accordance with the requirements of the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards, the Committee considered the proposed Internal Audit Plan for Quarter 4 of 2024-25, which comprised of five internal audit reviews, including Charitable Trusts, which would follow on from the review in Quarter 3 which sought assurance over the governance and control frameworks in place relating to the Council’s interests in companies.

During the debate, the following points were raised by the Committee:

·      It was noted that the corporate risks identified in the plan had reflected the Q4 2023-24 Corporate Risk Register, presented to Committee in July 2024, whereas the Committee had reviewed the Q1 2024-25 risk register at its September meeting.  Assuming that the Q2 register was now available, it was suggested that the Plan be updated to refer to the most recent risk register.

·      With regard to the table showing the Q4 Internal Audit Plan, which had been extended to show the Q1 to Q3 audit activities, it was suggested that it would be helpful if the status of those activities could be shown to indicate whether they had been completed, or were ongoing. Furthermore, it was suggested that it would be helpful if any changes to the Plan, compared to the previous version, could be highlighted. In response, the Deputy Head of Southern Internal Audit Partnership indicated that the

update of the status of the items in the plan would normally be highlighted in the separate Internal Audit Progress Reports.

·      It was noted that the Internal Audit Plan made erroneous reference to the out-of-date corporate plan, whereas the Council had adopted its new Corporate Strategy in July 2024. The Deputy Head of Southern Internal Audit Partnership confirmed that this would be corrected for the Internal Audit Plan for Q1 of 2025-26.

Having considered the report, the Committee

RESOLVED: That the Internal Audit Plan for 2024-25 Quarter 4, attached as Appendix 1 to the report submitted to the Committee, be approved.

Reasons:

·      The Committee had a responsibility to approve the Internal Audit Plan in accordance with the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards.

·      To ensure good governance arrangements and internal control by undertaking an adequate level of audit coverage.

 

Action:

Officer to action:

To include reference to the Council’s Corporate Strategy (adopted in July 2024) and strategic objectives in future Internal Audit Plans.

Deputy Head of Southern Internal Audit Partnership

 

CGS69

Review of Committees - Proposed establishment of a new Audit & Risk Committee and a Standards Committee pdf icon PDF 73 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report on proposed changes to its terms of reference, including a change of name of the Committee to the Standards Committee and the establishment of a separate and new Audit & Risk Committee.   The Committee noted that this matter had been considered at its meeting held simultaneously with Waverley’s Standards & General Purposes Committee on 26 September. The Committee noted at its last meeting that there had been no discussion with the chairs and vice-chairs of the overview & scrutiny committees regarding the allocation of the residual scrutiny related functions contained in the Corporate Governance & Standards Committee’s current terms of reference.  Accordingly, the Committee agreed the following:

(1)         That the matter be referred back to the next meeting of the Joint Constitutions Review Group for further consideration of:

(a)         the terms of reference of the proposed Audit & Risk Committee and Standards Committee, and;

(b)        which committees should be responsible for dealing with those residual matters within the current terms of reference of the Corporate Governance and Standards Committee which are not proposed to be dealt with by the proposed Audit & Risk Committee or Standards Committee.

(2)              That, following further consideration by the Joint Constitutions Review Group, the matter be scheduled for formal consideration by this Committee at its next scheduled meeting on 14 November 2024.

All members of the Corporate Governance & Standards Committee, the chairs and vice-chairs of the overview and scrutiny committees, and members of the Executive had been invited to the meeting of the JCRG on 21 October, by way of consultation.  At that meeting, members suggested that the Terms of Reference of the O&S Cttees could be expanded to include specific reference to pre-scrutiny of the areas being transferred from the Corporate Governance & Standards Committee,  and this could be included in the future review of the Overview & Scrutiny Terms of Reference. 

The Committee considered the revised proposals and recommendations from the JCRG, made the following comments during its debate on the matter:

 

·      The co-opted independent member of this Committee expressed concern that the report had indicated that, if he was willing, he would become an independent member on the new Audit & Risk Committee, whereas his background was in respect of ethical standards related matters.  Officers responded by emphasising that the report was seeking approval in principle to the proposed terms of reference of the revised committee arrangements.  Once the terms of reference had been accepted, officers would have discussions with the current co-optees to ensure that they had continuing involvement in the committees in some capacity.  The full Council, at its annual meeting next year, would make appointments to the committees, including the co-optees to those committees.

·      It was suggested that this Committee could amend the proposals so that the two co-optees on the Standards Committee included one parish member and one independent member.  The Joint Strategic Director of Legal & Democratic Services commented that it was best practice to have co-opted parish representatives on a standards committee because that committee dealt with code of conduct  ...  view the full minutes text for item CGS69

CGS70

Proposed change to Council Procedure Rule 6.2 pdf icon PDF 78 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report from the Joint Constitutions Review Group which had proposed a change to Council Procedure Rule 6.2, to ensure that no changes were made to the start times of committees, unless there was an urgent requirement.

Having noted the proposal, the Committee

RESOLVED: That full Council, at its meeting on 3 December 2024, be asked to approve the following recommendation:

 

That Council Procedure Rule 6.2 be amended to read as follows:

Should a committee or sub-Committee need to hold a meeting at a time different to that determined by the Monitoring Officer, then the Chair shall notify the Monitoring Officer via email at committeeservices@guildford.gov.uk.  The Monitoring Officer will consider whether there are exceptional circumstances which warrant the changing of the timing of the meeting, and if necessary they will make the necessary amendment to the calendar of meetings. The Monitoring Officer may only make such amendment to the time of the meeting at least 5 clear working days prior to the summons for the meeting being published.”

Reason:

The Joint Constitutions Working Group at its meeting on 21 October 2024 were concerned that changing the start time of meetings might have equalities issues, in that working members and the public might not be able to attend.

Action:

Officer to action:

To refer the Committee’s recommendation to full Council on 3 December 2024

Democratic Services & Elections Manager

 

 

CGS71

Monitoring of S.106 Contributions pdf icon PDF 85 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the annual update on the monitoring of expenditure of Section 106 Contributions, which included details of how some unspent monies would be reallocated.   

The Joint Assistant Director of Planning presented the report and referred the Committee to the comprehensive breakdown of all S.106 contributions by ward relating to individual S.106 Agreements, which was appended to the report.

 

The report had set out the tests that were necessary when collecting S.106 contributions, as set out in the CIL Regulations 2020, and also details of how some internal procedures had changed to ensure that when there was internal spend, it complied with the three tests set out in the Regulations.

 

Over the last year, there had been extensive work with the County Council around the significant contributions that were passed to the county council for expenditure on functions for which it was responsible. That work had examined current processes and had resulted in a change in the terms of reference to the joint infrastructure meetings that took place not only with Guildford but with all the other boroughs and districts across the county.

 

There was some ongoing work around education to ensure that S.106 contributions collected for that purpose would be more specifically related to the developments that they were collected

from and accord with the three tests set out in the Regulations.

 

The report had also included details of those expired S.106 contributions where the ‘spend by’ period had expired and the contribution remained uncommitted, which amounted to £186,838.

 

The Assistant Director reported that, in her view, there was a very low risk of developers wishing to claw back those expired funds, and work was being carried out to re-profile those contributions to other projects to ensure that the money was spent.

The Available Funds section of the report provided details of Section 106 contributions that had been received, but not yet spent either because there were no projects that had reached a trigger where the funds were at draw-down stage or that they were historic contributions that now needed to be reallocated.

The Pending Funds section of the report provided details of the contributions that had been secured by Section 106 Agreements, but the development was yet to commence and/or any payment trigger had not been reached.  The Committee noted that, at its meeting in July 2024, concern had been expressed around negotiations on contributions to the Wisley development. As part of the appeal, extensive negotiations had taken place with the applicant with lengthy discussions as part of the Inquiry. The report confirmed the mitigation/contributions secured through the Section 106.        

During the debate, the following points were raised:

·      Whilst the report and the information presented was welcomed, it still did not provide information such as when the funds had been received and how much had been passed to any receiving organisations like Surrey County Council (SCC) for highways, libraries, and education, nor to the relevant Integrated Care Board (ICB), parish councils and others.  The Assistant Director  ...  view the full minutes text for item CGS71

CGS72

Freedom of Information Compliance update pdf icon PDF 136 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered an update report on the monitoring of the Council’s performance in dealing with Freedom of Information (FOI) and Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) requests. 

The Committee noted that during the first six months of 2024 (January to June inclusive – i.e. Quarter 4 of 2023-24 and Quarter 1 of 2024-25) the Council had received 449 FOI/EIR requests – of which 89.7% were responded to within the 20 working day statutory deadline, compared with the Corporate Management Board’s set target of 90%. 

Furthermore, following the Committee’s request to monitor, as an additional target, response rates dealt with promptly within 10 working days (i.e., half of the statutory time limit), it was reported that, during this period 206 requests (36.6% of the total) were responded to within 10 or fewer working days.  This marked a similar trend to the equivalent period for last year when 38.5% of requests were responded to within 10 or fewer working days.

Questions and comments from the Committee raised the following points:

·      Request that the performance table in future reports includes a separate column indicating the percentage response rates for each service for the same period in the previous year.

·      In response to a question as to whether officers could prioritise responses to requests for information from the public and the media ahead of those submitted by companies, which were often for commercial purposes, the Information Governance Officer indicated that the legislation was ‘purpose-blind’, which meant that applicants did not have to provide a reason for their request for information.  In any event, it was up to the assigned officer to prioritise their responses, which was often dependent on the complexity of the information request.

The Committee commended the report and

RESOLVED: That the update report be noted.

Reasons:

·      To ensure that the Committee is kept up to date with developments in the FOI/EIR framework.

·      To ensure that the Committee has the necessary information to enable requests for information to be made easily to the Council and properly responded to.

·      To assist with learning lessons and improving performance following requests for information made to the Council.

 

Action:

Officer to action:

To include a separate column in the performance table in future reports indicating the percentage response rates for each service for the same period in the previous year.

Information Governance Officer

 

CGS73

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 pdf icon PDF 142 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the annual report on the Council’s use of covert surveillance operations as regulated in law by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) in accordance with the Council’s policy.

The Committee noted that there had been one new application for Directed Surveillance since the last report. This had been authorised by an Authorising Officer on 18 September 2024 and the matter would be considered by the court for judicial approval on 18 November 2024.

In relation to the logs for investigative work which fell outside RIPA, the Committee noted that there had been five entries on the ‘Social Media Investigations Log’, four from officers in Regulatory Services and one from Planning.

The report had also sought approval of minor amendments to the Council’s Covert Surveillance and Investigative Powers Policy and Procedure, which had last been updated in September 2023.  These amendments were required to reflect changes in the Scheme of Delegation and changes in job titles.

Having considered the report, the Committee

RESOLVED:

(1)         To note the report and that regular updates would continue to be submitted to the Committee in accordance with the policy.

(2)         To note that the Joint Strategic Director – Legal and Democratic Services would be amending the policy under the Scheme of Delegation as set out in the report submitted to the Committee. 

 

Reasons:

·      To ensure that the Committee is kept up to date and can monitor the Council’s use of covert surveillance and investigatory powers.

·      To ensure that the Council’s Policy is up to date and reflects any organisational changes, changes to legislation or the relevant Codes of Practice and continues to be aligned with the policy for Waverley Borough Council.

·      To inform members of the intention to make future minor changes to the Policy under delegations. Any significant changes are still reserved to the Committee and full Council.

 

CGS74

Work programme pdf icon PDF 71 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered its updated 12 month rolling work programme and noted that the Council’s internal auditors had requested the addition of the implementation of the new Global Internal Audit Standards to the list of items for the 16 January 2025 meeting.

The Committee

RESOLVED: That, subject to the above additional item, the updated 12 month rolling work programme, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report submitted to the Committee, be approved.

Reason:

To allow the Committee to maintain and update its work programme.