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Minutes of a meeting of the GENERAL PURPOSE/FINANCE COMMITTEE, Arlesey Town Council held in the Village Hall, Arlesey on Tuesday 19 April 2011. PRESENT: Cllrs: I Dalgarno (Chairman) H Harper Mrs L Bowskill R Harris J Caffrey C Howitt N Daniels D West Mrs E Hare (Clerk) and Mrs L Rowe (Assistant Clerk) and two members of the public and one member of the press Also present: Cllr Mrs D Archer, Cllr M Rainbow, Cllr D Page and Cllr A White. 400 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Mrs C Harris and Cllr V Williams. 401 MEMBERS’ INTERESTS There were no declarations of: (a) Personal interests (b) Prejudicial interests 402 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION A member of the public spoke expressing his concerns about the number of confidential items on the internal audit. He did say that he was pleased to see that the agendas were now being published on the Town Council’s website. 403 MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING Prior to the meeting Members received a copy of the minutes of the General Purpose/Finance Committee meeting held on the 15 March 2011. RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 15 March 2011 be confirmed and signed by the Chairman as a true record 404 MATTERS ARISING There were no matters arising from the previous meeting. 405 VILLAGE HALL BOOKING – ST PETER’S CHURCH QUIZ NIGHT The Chairman read out a letter received from Helen Bardell requesting free of charge hire of the Village Hall for the St Peter’s Church Quiz Night on Friday 6 May 2011. RESOLVED to waive the hire charge for the St Peter’s Church Quiz Night on Friday 6 May 2011 406 ACCOUNTS FOR PAYMENT A schedule for the March/April accounts due for payment was presented to Members for approval. Staff – Town Centre – month 1 184.50 Staff – month 1 4,716.01 PAYE/NIC months 12 & 1 2,984.61 Superannuation month 1 972.24 4theNET Internet 20.41 BATPC Extra Bugles 21.00 BABUS Annual subscription 12.00 PC World Laptop RC – S106 monies 379.00 Maplin Lock for laptop – S106 monies 14.99 Abacus Monitor TC 130.80 Redborne School Sport Grant 100.00 Cllr Harper Chairman’s expenses 2010/2011 358.40 Vitalise Grant 107.50 Abacus Cash Register RC – S106 monies 390.00 SAGE P60’s for year end payroll 13.19 BT Telephone TC 185.19 BT Fax TC 57.12 Totalcard Petrol for equipment 4.40 Frontline New tyre due to puncture 65.00 BBW Deposit for allotment land 1,500.00 BBW Balance for allotment land 13,501.00 Herts CC New chair for office 99.00 Herts CC Stationery RC 26.52 Herts CC Stationery TC 66.68 Abacus Photocopier 26.86 M Rainbow Grass cutting verges – cut 1 400.00 BT Telephone RC 82.23 Cllr Harper Refreshment for Civic Service 96.29 Holland Restoration Re-upholster chairs RC 203.00 DVLA Tax TC vehicle 215.00 PETTY CASH Petty Cash Town Council 73.00 Petty Cash Town Council 88.19 RESOLVED that these accounts be paid 407 ANY OTHER ITEMS FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY There were no items brought forward for the next meeting. 408 EXEMPT ITEM Internal Audit Reports To resolve to exclude the public and press from the meeting under the Local Government Act 1972 Schedule 12a exempt information – Confidential There was a proposal to exclude the public and press but this was not seconded 409 INTERNAL AUDIT REPORTS Before the Members considered the three reports the Chairman read out to Members a non-agenda item, which was a letter from Cllr Mrs Harris who was unable to attend the meeting. (a) Internal Audit report from Cllr Mrs L Bowskill and Cllr Mrs C Harris. (b) Report in response to the Internal Audit report, comments from Mrs Hare, Town Clerk and Mrs L Rowe Assistant Clerk. NOTE: This should be read in conjunction with the report in 10 (a) (c) Report from the Internal Auditor, Mr David Jones, and his comments in response to the Internal Audit report. The Chairman reminded the meeting that only Members of the committee could vote on the matters under discussion. Members considered all three reports as a whole commencing with item (c). Members agreed to accept the internal auditor’s comments on the report produced by Cllr Mrs Bowskill and Cllr Mrs Harris. Some Members were concerned that the internal audit that had been carried out by Cllr Mrs Bowskill and Cllr Mrs Harris was beyond the remit of the working party as instructed by the Council. However other members of the committee were happy that the report was within the remit of the working party including the chair of the GP and finance committee who thanked the members for carrying out such a comprehensive report on behalf of the council. The Clerk reminded Members what the working party’s report should have been about the Review of the effectiveness of the internal audit and not a detailed audit of councils’ affairs. Cllr Bowskill responded to the above statement with the following explanation. Councillors felt it necessary to look in detail at some of the office procedures in order to be able to answer the questions regarding how effective the internal audit had been. It would not have been possible to carry this out without looking at the way the council systems are run. The Chairman said that we should look at the working party’s recommendations to balance them with the comments from the officers. It was proposed that Cllr Mrs Bowskill and Cllr Mrs Harris go into the office and work with the officers to review their recommendations to move things forward. A further proposal was made that Cllr Daniels would join the group. RESOLVED 1. the Committee agreed with the guidance from the internal auditor 2. the working party were qualified to carry out the review 3. that Cllr Daniels joins Cllr Mrs Bowskill and Cllr Mrs Harris and works with the officers to look at the recommendations of the working party and balances the two reports CHAIRMAN Date
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