Agenda, decisions and minutes

Members are required to notify any substitutions by midday on the day of the meeting.

Late substitutions will not be accepted and Members attending as a substitute without having given the due notice will not be able to take part in the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Tamsin Thomas and Terry Tyler.

Having given due notice Councillor Clare Billing substituted for Councillor Thomas.

Audio recording – 1 minute 28 seconds

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Terry Tyler and Tamsin Thomas.

Having given due notice Councillor Clare Billing substituted for Councillor Thomas.

Councillor Chris Lucas was absent.

To take as read and approve as a true record the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on the 13 September 2023.

RESOLVED:That the Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held on 13 September 2023 be approved as a true record of the proceedings and be signed by the Chair.

Audio Recording – 1 minute 56 seconds

Councillor Sean Nolan, as Chair, proposed and Councillor Tom Plater seconded and, following a vote, it was:

RESOLVED:That the Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held on 13 September 2023 be approved as a true record of the proceedings and be signed by the Chair.

Members should notify the Chair of other business which they wish to be discussed at the end of either Part I or Part II business set out in the agenda. They must state the circumstances which they consider justify the business being considered as a matter of urgency.

The Chair will decide whether any item(s) raised will be considered.

There was no other business notified.

Audio recording – 3 minutes

There was no other business notified.

Members are reminded that any declarations of interest in respect of any business set out in the agenda, should be declared as either a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest or Declarable Interest and are required to notify the Chair of the nature of any interest declared at the commencement of the relevant item on the agenda.  Members declaring a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest must withdraw from the meeting for the duration of the item. Members declaring a Declarable Interest, wishing to exercise a ‘Councillor Speaking Right’, must declare this at the same time as the interest, move to the public area before speaking to the item and then must leave the room before the debate and vote.

(1)        The Chair advised that, in accordance with Council Policy, the meeting would be audio recorded;

(2)        The Chair drew attention to the item on the agenda front pages regarding Declarations of Interest and reminded Members that, in line with the Code of Conduct, any Declarations of Interest needed to be declared immediately prior to the item in question.

Audio recording – 3 minutes 6 seconds

(1)   The Chair advised that, in accordance with Council Policy, the meeting would be audio recorded. 

(2)   The Chair drew attention to the item on the agenda front pages regarding Declarations of Interest and reminded Members that, in line with the Code of Conduct, any Declarations of Interest needed to be declared immediately prior to the item in question.

(3)   The Chair advised that section 4.8.23(a) of the Constitution applied to this meeting.

To receive petitions, comments and questions from the public.

There was no public participation at this meeting.

Audio recording – 3 minutes 57 seconds

There was no public participation at this meeting.

REPORT OF THE SHARED INTERNAL AUDIT SERVICE

To receive the SIAS Progress Report for the Internal Audit Plan 2023 -2024 as of 20 October 2023.

RESOLVED: That the Committee:

(1)   Noted the SIAS Progress Report for the period to 20 October 2023.

(2)   Noted the implementation status of the reported high priority recommendation.

(3)   Noted the plan amendments to the 2023/24 Annual Audit Plan.

Audio recording – 4 minutes 4 seconds

The Head of Assurance presented the report entitled ‘SIAS Progress Report Update 2023-2024’ and drew attention to the following, that:

·       At the time of the report there had been two final audit reports a further Freedom of Information (FOI) report had been finalised and sent to the Committee.

·       The high priority recommendation was highlighted in appendix D with a revised completion date of 15 December 2023.

·       There were no new plan amendments however the Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) audit had been moved to quarter four for resourcing reasons.

·       The Digital Strategy draft report had now been issued, and the Software Licensing report was imminent.

·       The report showed the Planned Projects completion as 25% this had now increased to 33%.

·       The delivery of the plan was slightly behind schedule, but there were several projects that had recently commenced field work and there were projects waiting for a mutually agreeable start date.

·       The overall picture remained as cautiously optimistically on the completion of the plan.

The following Members asked questions:

·       Independent person John Cannon

·       Councillor Sean Nolan

In response to questions the Head of Assurance stated that:

·       There were three Churchgate audits occurring, the completed audit looked at the Governance Framework to manage the project and that report was returned as reasonable assurance with a consideration regarding the operational risks of the project, which had now been addressed.

·       The Churchgate Ongoing Project Assurance was scheduled for quarter 4 and the Churchgate Landlord Compliance was expected in quarter 3.

·       The FOI audit looked at the Information Commissioner and internal audit reports from other authorities and compared the findings to practices at NHDC, with the conclusion that there were reasonable assurances, however work was required on staff training and the reporting of statutory information which was a statutory indicator.

·       Overall, there had been more Council breaches from the release of personal data through GDPR requests than FOI, however when personal data was released in a FOI request, this may lead to a GDPR breach, ongoing staff training was therefore essential.

·       Whilst GDPR was mandatory training the FOI training was optional, and this was being reviewed.

·       FOI requests should be completed by Council Officers and screened and controlled by FOI Officers accordingly.

·       The FOI training had been completed by 59% of employees, but the training was not mandatory.

·       Any FOI requested were dealt with by well-trained FOI Officers.

·       There were some concerns that FOI requests were not always received directly to the FOI team and Officers needed to be aware that any requested needed to be logged and sent to FOI team for responses.

·       Data protection training was mandatory at most Councils.

·       No serious FOI or GDPR breaches had occurred at NHDC. 

Councillor Tom Plater proposed and Councillor Clare Billing seconded and, following a vote, it was:

RESOLVED: That the Committee:

(1)   Noted the SIAS Progress Report for the period to 20 October 2023.

(2)   Noted the implementation status of the reported high priority recommendation.

(3)   Noted  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

REPORT OF THE SERVICE DIRECTOR – RESOURCES

To consider the Medium Term Financial Strategy.

RECOMMENDED TO CABINET: That Cabinet note and comment to Council on the Medium Term Financial Strategy, as attached at Appendix A.

REASON FOR REFERRAL: Adoption of a MTFS and communication of its contents will assist in the process of forward planning the use of Council resources and in budget setting for 2024/2025 to 2028/2029, culminating in the setting of the Council Tax precept for 2024/25 in February 2024. This will (alongside the existing Council Plan) support the Council in setting a budget that is affordable and aligned to Council priorities.

Audio Recording 16 minutes 4 seconds

The Service Director – Resources presented the report entitled ‘Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) 2024-29’ and highlighted that:

·       The medium term in Local Government was meant to be the period up to five years.

·       Assumptions had been made to set a balanced budget for the next five years and included some draw down of reserves as part of the strategy.

·       The MTFS had a target level of savings that would need to be achieved over the five years.

·       The budget for 2024-25 would be set in February and the Finance Audit and Risk (FAR) Committee would see the draft budget report before the budget was considered by Cabinet and approved by Council.

·       The MTFS sits alongside the Council Plan.

·       Appendix A is the MTFS and includes a number of assumptions, such as government funding and the Council Tax increase, these items would be flagged and monitored on the final report as being best estimates.

·       The General Fund balance was estimated at £12.7M at the end of March 2023, which was well above the minimum recommended value, and this allowed some headroom to balance out any future shortfalls, however once the reserves had been used, they would be gone.

·       There were some business rates reserves that could be released over the next two years.

·       There were no ongoing provisions regarding Covid 19, but car parking fees had still not recovered, and remained a risk and would be highlighted in the budget.

·       The uncertainty of inflation had impacted the funding, income and expenditure of the budget.

·       Current indicator values had been applied to the new waste contract as precise numbers would not be known until May 2024, especially in relation to fuel costs.

·       The events in the Middle East may have an effect on the global commodity price of fuel and energy.

·       The pay award for 2023/24 had now been agreed and would be paid in November. Negotiations would now commence on the 2024/25 pay award with an assumption in the budget for around 4% decreasing to 2% over the following years.

·       Appendix A showed the assumed modelling for fees and charges, and these would become more detailed as the budget process progressed.

·       The cost of living crisis had impacted on the new Council Tax Reduction Scheme (CTRS) which had cost more than forecasted, and had impacted on the Council Tax base. The Council Tax base would usually increase each year with new homes but likely to be no increase this year, but with assumed growth again in later years.

·       The impact of interest rate changes had not yet been factored in. Interest rates have stayed higher for longer than expected which had generated an income from our investments, however a need to borrow funds was expected in later years in the MTFS.

·       There were some uncertainties regarding the recent Waste Legislation Changes and the impact this would have on our waste streams and funding, especially regarding the deposit return scheme and extended producer responsibility.

·       The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Chair to lead a discussion regarding possible agenda items for future meetings.

Audio recording – 1 hour 16 minutes 39 seconds

The Chair led a discussion on future agenda items.

In response to a question from Councillor Terry Hone, the Chair advised that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had an outstanding Churchgate report and should there be elements that related to this Committee then it could be a possible future agenda item.