Agenda and minutes

Venue: GF 03 - Town Hall, Library Street, Wigan, WN1 1YN

Contact: Kaan Sahin 

Items
No. Item

12.

Apologies for absence

Members are requested to advise the Democratic Services Officer of any apologies for this meeting.

Minutes:

Councillor Dawber and Co-opted Member for Standards Business Parish Councillor Bobbie Darbyshire.

13.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 132 KB

The minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 20 June 2024 are attached.

 

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting on 20 June 2024 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

14.

Exclusion of the Public pdf icon PDF 55 KB

The Committee is asked to consider whether by resolution to exclude the public from the meeting during consideration of the items of business marked with an ‘E’ reference because of the possibility of the disclosure of exempt information.

Minutes:

Resolved: The public is excluded from the meeting when the Committee discusses the following items for the reasons set out below:

 

Agenda

Item No.

Title of Report

Minute No.

Description of Exempt Information by reference to Paragraph Number in Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972

 

E1

Verbal Update             

on Complaints

18

1. Information relating to any individual

 

2. Information which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual

 

E2

Information Governance Update

19

3. Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)

 

15.

Draft Statement of Accounts 2023/24 pdf icon PDF 188 KB

Report of the Director – Finance and Legal is attached.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report of the Director – Finance and Legal, Tony Clarke, presented by the  Service Lead – Corporate Finance, Jenny Quinn, which provided a summary of the Council’s overall financial activity for the year 2023/24.

 

During its discussions the Committee raised the following salient points:

 

  • whether it was likely the Council would soon have to borrow and the mitigations in place to ensure the best interest rate;
  • how the useable reserve figure of £250M compared to other comparable authorities;
  • whether the jump in unusable reserves to £872M was a result of the pension revaluation and asset values; and
  • whether the notice collection fund included both business rates and Council tax.

The Service Lead informed the Committee that the Council had a cash flow monitoring process, for the short, medium and long term plans. The Council had treasury advisers who forecasted interest rate changes and advised on optimal times to borrow, should it be necessary.

 

The Service Lead advised the Members that the general and ear-marked funds were above the average of other comparable local authorities measured as a proportion of spending power which is the most appropriate comparative measure recommended for the sector.

 

The Service Lead informed Members that the fluctuation in the pension fund had played a significant role in the change in unusable reserves. The pension valuation can move by hundreds of millions annually but is not a realisable asset or liability for the Council, and any change to valuation does not impact on the Council tax payer.

 

The Service Lead advised the Committee that the deficit in the collection fund primarily consisted of business rates. Whilst Council Tax collection continued to improve and approached a surplus, business rates had remained volatile with the previous year being particularly difficult, however this was not expected to reoccur moving forwards.

 

Resolved: The Committee:-

 

(1)       thanks the Service Lead – Corporate Finance for her presentation;

(2)       thanks the Finance team for producing the draft statement of accounts;

(3)       endorses the revised accounting policy for infrastructure assets;

(4)       endorses the draft statement of accounts 2023/24; and

(5)       delegates the approval of the 2022/23 statement accounts to the Section 151 Officer.

16.

Civil Contingencies & BCM Annual Report pdf icon PDF 251 KB

Report of the Director – Public Health is attached.

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report of the Director – Public Health, Rachael Musgrave, which provided an overview of resilience activity undertaken during 2023/24 and set out the proposed priorities for 2024/25, which included business continuity management arrangements.

 

During its discussions the Committee raised the following salient points:

 

  • whether there were any plans for a new Civil Contingencies Act;
  • whether the Council were adequately prepared for the next pandemic, should one occur;
  • how soon the service became involved with incidents; and
  • whether the recent global cyber incident had affected the Borough significantly.

 

The Director informed the Committee that whilst the Act (last updated in 2004), was now historic, lessons had been learned both locally and nationally,  with learning and guidance issued as a result of incidents having taken place.

 

The Service Manager – Health Protection and Civil Contingencies, Andrew Sharrock, advised Members that there had been a number of independent reviews which had taken place since 2004, however it would be up to the Government to determine which of the recommendations from the reviews it wished to update the legislation with.

 

The Director informed Members that  learning undertaken  both locally and nationally as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic had been significant – as had been reflected in the COVID-19 inquiry. The Director – Public Health advised Members that the Council were never complacent and at a local level, the Local Outbreak Management Plan had been updated. However, as seen during the Pandemic, the Borough would also be reliant on the whole nation and wider world to do as much as they could.

 

The Service Manager advised the Committee that the service became directly involved in a recent incident as soon as they were made aware. They began by assessing information from the Police, and whether it was judged that there was an ongoing threat to public safety. Only if the threat was ongoing would the contingency plans then start. 

 

The Director informed the Committee that there had been no significant impact across the Borough in relation to the recent global cyber incident. There had however been an impact for colleagues in the NHS, but these had been resolved by them without the need for wider partner input. The Council did have contingency plans in place, should such a similar  issue on a significant scale occur.

 

Resolved: The Committee:-

 

(1)       thanks the Director – Public Health for her report;

(2)       notes the contents of the report; and

(3)       supports the proposed Resilience Work Programme for 2023/24.

17.

Arrangements for Dealing With Complaints Against Councillors pdf icon PDF 141 KB

Report of the Assistant Director – Legal, Governance and Elections (Monitoring Officer) is attached.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report of the Assistant Director – Legal, Governance and Elections (Monitoring Officer), Janet Davies, which sought agreement  in relation to the Council’s arrangements for handling complaints submitted under the Members’ Code of Conduct.

 

During its discussions the Committee raised the following salient points:

 

  • whether procedures were in place in relation to complaints being made public before they were resolved;
  • whether ‘anonymous complaints’ meant complaints that had been received without names; and
  • whether procedures were in place should an informal resolution not be adhered to.

 

The Assistant Director informed the Committee that the powers available to Councils for standards breaches, remained limited. If a Councillor or complainant chose to make something public in relation to an ongoing complaint, this could then lead to a further complaint.

 

The Assistant Director advised Members that there were two types of anonymous complaints. The first were complaints with no name, which could not be taken forwards as a result. The second were complaints where it was deemed anonymity was appropriate, for reasons such as personal safety. If a complaint progressed to a Standards Hearing however, it would then be for the Standards Committee to determine whether anonymity was retained.

 

The Assistant Director informed Members that if an informal resolution to a complaint was not adhered to, then it was possible that the complaint could then be progressed through formal arrangements.

 

 

 

 

 

Resolved: The Committee:-

 

(1)       thanks the Assistant Director – Legal, Governance and Elections (Monitoring Officer) for her report;

(2)       approves the adoption of the ‘Arrangements for Handling  Complaints About Councillors’ in relation to  all future Elected Member complaints, subject to the following amendment to point 2.6 of the arrangements:-

 

“2.6 Where applicable, the complainant should submit any supporting and /or relevant evidence. This should be submitted with their complaint or as soon as possible after lodging their complaint using the email address above, and should include documents, screenshots or recordings, in respect of the complaint., .”

 

18.

Verbal Update on Complaints

A verbal update by the Deputy Monitoring Officer on complaints against members.

Minutes:

The Committee considered a verbal update of the Assistant Director – Legal, Governance and Elections (Monitoring Officer), which provided an update on the progress of complaints that had been submitted under the Members’ Code of Conduct.

 

Resolved: The Committee:-

 

(1)       thanks the Assistant Director – Legal, Governance and Elections (Monitoring Officer) for her verbal update; and

(2)       notes the verbal update.

19.

Information Governance Update

Report of the Assistant Director – Legal, Governance and Elections (Monitoring Officer) is attached.

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report of the Director – Finance and Legal,  delivered by the Assistant Director – Legal, Governance and Elections (Monitoring Officer), which provided an update on the Council’s performance in relation to Information Governance matters.

 

Resolved: The Committee:-

 

(1)       thanks Assistant Director – Legal, Governance and Elections (Monitoring Officer) for her update; and

(2)       notes the contents of the report.

 

 

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