Agenda and minutes

Venue: Civic Suite, North Warehouse, The Docks, Gloucester, GL1 2EP

Contact: Democratic and Electoral Services 

Items
No. Item

27.

Declarations of Interest

To receive from Members, declarations of the existence of any disclosable pecuniary, or nonpecuniary, interests and the nature of those interests in relation to any agenda item. Please see Agenda Notes.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

28.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 162 KB

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 12 September 2022.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 12 September 2022 were approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

 

 

 

 

 

29.

Public Question Time (15 minutes)

To receive any questions from members of the public provided that a question does not relate

to:

 

- Matters which are the subject of current or pending legal proceedings or

 

· Matters relating to employees or former employees of the Council or comments in respect of individual Council Officers.

 

To ask a question at this meeting, please submit it to

democratic.services@gloucester.gov.uk by 12 noon on Wednesday 9 November 2022 or telephone 01452 396203 for support.

Minutes:

There were no public questions.

30.

Petitions and Deputations (15 minutes)

To receive any petitions and deputations provided that no such petition or deputation is in

relation to:

 

- Matters which are the subject of current or pending legal proceedings or

 

· Matters relating to employees or former employees of the Council or comments in respect of individual Council Officers.

 

To ask a question at this meeting, please submit it to

democratic.services@gloucester.gov.uk by 12 noon on Wednesday 9 November 2022 or telephone 01452 396203 for support.

Minutes:

There were no petitions nor deputations.

31.

Appointment of Independent Member

To receive an update on the recruitment of an independent Member to the committee.

Minutes:

The Head of Audit, Risk and Assurance informed Members that the advert for appointing an Independent Member had been live for one month. An individual had been identified for the role but had accepted another position. Recruitment, therefore, was ongoing.

 

RESOLVED that:- The Audit and Governance Committee NOTE the update.

32.

Internal Audit Activity 2022/23 - Progress Report pdf icon PDF 108 KB

To receive the quarterly progress report on Internal Audit activity

Additional documents:

Minutes:

In respect to the National Fraud Initiative, it had been asked if the new round of uploading data started in October, where it was confirmed that this was being followed up on

 

When asked to provide update of progress of Internal Audit Activity 2022/23, the Head of ARA stated there was progress particularly with a piece of work focused on recycling, yet the completion of the report had been affected by the cyber incident.

 

Councillor Pullen had asked for an update on the carbon neutral plan, and was advised that the Climate Change Officer was completing work on that specific issue, and they were still waiting for the Climate Change Action Plan.

 

Details of the recycling action were outlined:

 

It had been explained that they were working on sweeping all the roads. When asked to offer more details about roads sweeping and what should be recycled, the Waste, Recycling and Streetscene Manager confirmed that sand, metal pieces and plastic bottles were then sent to Javelin Park, where up to 200 tonnes per month would be recycled.

 

Being asked how recycling rates were recorded, it had been stated that Javelin Park sent a monthly report to Gloucestershire County Council, while the recycling rates would be recorded by subtracting garden waste, food waste and dry waste from total waste and each item calculated as percentage.

 

In respect to the Statement of Accounts 2021/22, the finance team provided verbal statement that they were still awaiting infrastructure reports from the auditor.

 

RESOLVED that:- The Audit and Governance Committee

 

i.               Accept the progress against the Internal Audit Plan 2022/23; and

 

ii.       Accept the assurance opinions provided in relation to the effectiveness of the Council’s control environment (comprising risk management, control and governance arrangements).

33.

Exclusion of the Press and Public

To RESOLVE that:

 

The press and public be excluded from the meeting during the following item of business on the grounds that it is likely, in view of the nature of business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the press and public are present during consideration of this item there will be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 as amended. Agenda Item No. 9 Description of Exempt Information: Paragraph 3: Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

Minutes:

RESOLVED that:

 

The press and public be excluded from the meeting during the following item of business on the grounds that it is likely, in view of the nature of business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the press and public are present during consideration of this item there will be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 as amended. Agenda Item No. 9 Description of Exempt Information: Paragraph 3: Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

34.

IT Systems Update

To receive an update on the current IT position.

Minutes:

RESOLVED that:- The Audit and Governance Committee NOTE the update as per the exempt minutes.

35.

Audit and Governance Committee Work Programme pdf icon PDF 70 KB

To consider the Work Programme

Minutes:

RESOLVED that:- The Work Programme be noted.

36.

Date of Next Meeting

Monday 16th January 2023 at 6.30pm

Minutes:

16th January 2023 at 6.30 pm.