Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Carla Morson.

In accordance with the Councillors’ 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 not participate 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.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 28 November 2024 as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 28 November 2025 were confirmed as correct. The Chair signed the minutes.

The minutes of the meeting held on 28 November 2025 were confirmed as correct. The Chair signed the minutes.

Decision:

1.                 Noted and approved the charitable accounts for the financial year ending 31 March 2024 to be presented for approval at trustees’ meetings for each of the following charities:

·                    Burpham War Memorial Recreational Grounds Charity (304982).

·                    Guildford Sports Ground Charity (also known as Woodbridge Road Sports Ground) (305056)

·                    Public Walks and Pleasure Grounds Charity (Allen House Grounds) (305054).

·                    Arundel House (Hamilton Fellows) (200491)

·                    The Mayor’s Local Support Fund (258388)

·                    The Racks Close Open Space Charity (1058137)

2.                 Authorised the Joint Strategic Director of Finance and Assets to convene a trustees meeting for each of the charities to approve the audited accounts and annual returns and consider the audits for the charities.

3.                 Noted that the outstanding accounts for the financial year ending 31 March 2023 had now been filed for The Racks Open Space, Public Walks and Pleasure Grounds and Burpham War Memorial Recreation Ground; and

4.                 Agreed that delegated authority was given to the Joint Strategic Director of Finance and Resources to undertake such steps as are necessary to implement any of the recommendations made by the Charity Commission in relation to all the charities of which the Council is a trustee.

Reason(s):

1         As a trustee the Council has a responsibility to ensure it has in place robust mechanisms for making trustee decisions which are in the best interests of the charity.  The recommendations in this report enable the Council to fulfil its duties accounting and reporting responsibilities whilst supporting good governance so that the Council is exercising its trustee function competently, robustly and transparently.

2.        To enable the Council to be able to fulfil its duties in respect of best value and continuous improvement in respect of its interests in charities, and to keep under review the objectives, strategies and plans, and performance of each of its companies.

Other 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 Executive Shareholder and Trustee Committee acted as the charitable trustee on behalf of Guildford Borough Council.

Annual charity accounts and where relevant, a trustee report must be submitted within ten months of the end of each financial year.  A trustee report was required for those charities whose gross income exceeded £25,000.  The accounts set out in the report included the charities expenditure and income which have promoted the charitable objectives. The report provided a summary of a charity’s activities and financial position, future plans, risks and opportunities and these would be supplemented by an external audit of accounts. 

Due to difficulties updating the details for the primary administrator at the Charity Commission there had been a delay in filing the accounts for the year ending 31st March 2023 for The Public Walks and Pleasure Grounds, Burpham War Memorial and Racks Open Space.  It was reported this had now been addressed. 

Applications had been made to the Charity’s auditors to complete the audit of the charity accounts within reporting timescales so that the audited accounts can be submitted to the Charity Commission on or before 31st January 2025.  To ensure that the audited accounts were approved and filed with the Charity Commission without delay, it was proposed that the Joint Strategic Director of Finance and Resources was authorised to convene the trustee meetings and consider the final audited accounts.

There was an additional recommendation set out in the Supplementary Information Sheet to award authority to the Strategic Director for Finance and Resources to implement recommendations made by the Charity Commission in relation to all the charities of which the Council is a trustee. This would give the Council more operational flexibility.

It was noted that the Committee would receive greater information in respect of the wider picture and operational detail of the charities in future reporting. Additionally, there would be a future report setting out the extent to which it might be possible to combine or merge the charities having a similar or the same objectives and functions.

The Committee,

RESOLVED:

1.                 Noted and approved the charitable accounts for the financial year ending 31 March 2024 to be presented for approval at trustees’ meetings for each of the following charities:

·                    Burpham War Memorial Recreational Grounds Charity (304982).

·                    Guildford Sports Ground Charity (also known as Woodbridge Road Sports Ground) (305056)

·                    Public Walks and Pleasure Grounds Charity (Allen House Grounds) (305054).

·                    Arundel House (Hamilton Fellows) (200491)

·                    The Mayor’s Local Support Fund (258388)

·                    The Racks Close Open Space Charity (1058137)

2.                 Authorised the Joint Strategic Director of Finance and Assets to convene a trustees meeting for each of the charities to approve the audited accounts and annual returns and consider the audits for the charities.

3.                 Noted that the outstanding accounts for the financial year ending 31 March 2023 had now been filed for The Racks Open Space, Public Walks and Pleasure Grounds and Burpham War Memorial Recreation Ground; and

4.                 Agreed that delegated authority was given to the Joint Strategic Director of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

The Committee noted the work programme and agreed it should be reformatted and further updated.

The Committee noted the work programme and agreed it would be reformatted and populated to clearly set out the forthcoming business.