A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Council and councillors

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Catmose

Contact: Governance Team  01572 720991

Items
No. Item

375.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Minutes:

No apologies were received.

376.

MINUTES

To confirm the minutes of the Audit and Risk Committee held on 11 September 2018.

Minutes:

The Minutes of the Audit and Risk Committee held on 11 September 2018 were confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

377.

MATTERS ARISING

Minutes:

There were no matters arising.

378.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

In accordance with the Regulations, Members are invited to declare any disclosable interests under the Code of Conduct and the nature of those interests in respect of items on this Agenda and/or indicate if Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applies to them.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest in respect of items on the agenda.

379.

PETITIONS, DEPUTATIONS AND QUESTIONS

To receive any petitions, deputations and questions received from Members of the Public in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rule 217.

The total time allowed for this item shall be 30 minutes. Petitions, declarations and questions shall be dealt with in the order in which they are received. Questions may also be submitted at short notice by giving a written copy to the Committee Administrator 15 minutes before the start of the meeting.

The total time allowed for questions at short notice is 15 minutes out of the total time of 30 minutes. Any petitions, deputations and questions that have been submitted with prior formal notice will take precedence over questions submitted at short notice. Any questions that are not considered within the time limit shall receive a written response after the meeting and be the subject of a report to the next meeting.

Minutes:

No petitions, deputations or questions had been received from members of the public.

380.

QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS

To consider any questions received from Members of the Council in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rule 95.

 

Minutes:

There were no questions received from members.

381.

NOTICES OF MOTION

To consider any Notices of Motion from Members submitted under Procedure Rule 97.

 

 

Minutes:

There were no notices of motion received from members.

382.

SHARED OWNERSHIP

To receive a verbal update from the Strategic Director for Places.

Minutes:

The Chairman, Miss Waller, advised Members of the Committee that she had requested an update from the Places Directorate following an Audit Report in November 2017 on Shared Ownership.

 

Mr Steve Ingram, Strategic Director for Places, provided a verbal report noting the following points:

 

·       Shared ownership was an acceptable form of affordable housing and was often used in rural areas to provide an option for those unable to access the housing market, subject to certain eligibility criteria.

·       Terms of ownership are usually part of the planning permission and in most cases apply in perpetuity.  The terms can also be imposed as a condition of the sale of land.

·       Shared ownership allows for occupier to own a percentage of the property, typically between 25% and 80%.

·       When the property is sold the occupier will get market value for the percentage that they hold.

·       The sale of Shared Ownership properties will be managed by the Housing Association.

·       The report to the Committee in November 2017 recommended that where new S.106 agreements included this element of affordable housing, there would be a requirement that the authority would be notified of potential sales of these types of property the authority would be notified.

·       Housing Associations may seek variation of the restricted occupancy terms in the planning permission where they are unable to find qualifying people to occupy the properties.

 

During discussion the following points were noted:

 

i.      Mr Conde noted that it appeared that the stock of Shared Ownership housing was diminishing locally.  Mr Ingram highlighted that the Policy may have been different historically, but it was now accepted that the terms be imposed in perpetuity.  If there were specific examples he could investigate further;

ii.     Miss Waller requested information about the process that had been put in place to prevent Housing Associations from departing from the terms of the Shared Ownership.  For example where one of the terms was to require occupiers with a local connection, how could the authority ensure that attempts had been made to try to attract people from the local community before the house was offered on the open market?  Mr Ingram confirmed that new applications were now subject to the requirement notify the authority of potential sales, issues could also be picked up through Land Charges if issues are raised;

iii.    Where there is an application to amend the terms of occupancy, this would usually require a new planning application;

iv.   Miss Waller clarified that other authorities had systems n place to ensure that the criteria were being complied with and it was important that Rutland had a mechanism for checking the appropriate processes had been followed;

v.     Mr Brown, Portfolio Holder for Planning, Environment, Property and Finance, suggested that it would be appropriate for an audit to be carried out on the Housing Associations to ensure they are following criteria and terms set out in the Covenant.  He would discuss ths with the relevant department and look to have a report back to the Committee in January  ...  view the full minutes text for item 382.

383.

EXTERNAL AUDITORS PROGRESS UPDATE pdf icon PDF 50 KB

To receive Report No. 196/2018 from the Director for Resources.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report No. 196/2018 was received from the Director for Resources, the purpose of which was to present a brief progress update provided by the external auditors.

 

Mr Della Rocca, Director for Resources, welcomed Mr Paul Harvey (Engagement Manager - Grant Thornton) to his first meeting of the RCC Audit and Risk Committee.

 

During discussion the following points were noted:

 

i.      Mr Harvey confirmed that the report was an initial progress report and that the Committee would be provided with an update at each meeting.  Mr Harvey confirmed that there had been a handover with KPMG and that the relevant dates for future work could be found in the timetable;

ii.     It was confirmed that the first full report in January would be received by the Committee in advance of the Council receiving the 2019/20 Budget in February; and

iii.    Miss Waller asked members to look at the “Challenge questions” in the report and feedback on areas they would like to cover in future meetings or training sessions.

 

RESOLVED

 

The Committee RECEIVED the External Auditors Progress Report and Sector Update.

384.

INTERNAL AUDIT UPDATE pdf icon PDF 61 KB

To receive Report No. 198/2018 from the Head of Internal Audit.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report No. 198/2018 was received from the Head of Internal Audit, the purpose of which was to update members on the progress made in delivering the 2018/19 Annual Audit Plan and outcomes from audit assignments completed since the last Committee meeting.

 

During discussion the following points were noted:

 

  1. There was ongoing negotiation with regard to obtaining a bond for the Waste Contract which was currently overdue by 12 months.  There would be a risk assessment regarding contract supply failure and the views of internal audit would be included in any recommendations;
  2. There had been a recent theft from a car parking ticket machine. Car parking will be reviewed by Internal Audit as part of the annual fraud risk work to see if there were any improvements that could be made.  The Council was trying to move towards “cashless” systems to avoid the costs and risks associated with holding cash; and
  3. All issues identified with Waste Services were being addressed.

 

RESOLVED

 

The Committee NOTED the Internal Audit update report.

 

385.

RISK MANAGEMENT POLICY pdf icon PDF 54 KB

To receive Report No. 180/2018 from the Director for Resources.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report No. 180/2018 was received from the Director for Resources, the purpose of which was to present the current Risk Management Policy for comment following discussions at the last committee.

 

During discussion the following points were noted:

 

  1. The risk register was in the process of being updated and would be brought back to the next Committee meeting;
  2. The sources of risk highlighted at Appendix A were provided as overarching headings and were not a definitive list.  Members made further suggestions including political turmoil, changes in financial policy, employment/unemployment and human error. 

 

RESOLVED

 

The Committee commented on the Policy and provided feedback as noted above.

 

386.

COMPLIMENTS COMMENTS AND COMPLAINTS ANNUAL REPORT pdf icon PDF 101 KB

To receive Report No. 147/2018 from the Director for Resources.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report No. 147/2018 was received from the Director for Resources, the purpose of which was to provide an overview of the numbers of Compliments, Comments and Complaints received by Council over the last financial year.

 

Mr Della Rocca noted that it was important that there was a process in place through which people could log their complaints where they encountered problems.  The level of complaints received did not cause concern given the number of people that the Council interacted with.

 

During discussion the following points were noted:

 

  1. There had been no complaints in the vexatious category;
  2. Only complaints and compliments from members of the public were recorded, not those from Parish Councils;
  3. There were a number of queries/issues/requests that are reported by Parish Councils, Councillors or by individuals themselves that are not recorded as complaints.  There was debate as to whether these should be recorded.  Officers to consider this issue further;
  4. The policy would be reviewed in 2019 to address any issues;

--o0o--

Mr G Conde left the meeting and did not return.

--o0o--

  1. There should be caution with changing the process for recording as it would make comparison with historic data difficult;
  2. It was good to see the positive comments, but Members suggested that the report should include both positive and negative comments to make sure it was balanced; and
  3. More details on the report from the ombudsman would be useful in future, particularly reasons for complaints upheld.

 

RESOLVED

 

Members NOTED the content of the Annual Compliments, Comments and Complaints report and provided feedback as above.

 

 

387.

REGULATION OF INVESTIGATORY POWERS ACT 2000 (RIPA) UPDATE

To receive a verbal update from the Director for Resources.

Minutes:

The Director for Resources confirmed that there was nothing to report at this time.

388.

ANY OTHER URGENT BUSINESS

To receive items of urgent business which have previously been notified to the person presiding.

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business.