F&P 2019 Minutes

Finance and Personnel Committee

Minutes of a meeting held on Wednesday 24th July 2019, held at 7.00pm in the Town Hall, Market Deeping.  Cllr Miss Collins (Chairman) presided over Cllrs Brookes, Broughton and Mrs Redshaw. The Clerk was also in attendance.

01. Chairman’s Welcome

Cllr Miss Collins welcomed the members to the meeting

02. Apologies for Absence

No apologies for absence were received.

03. Declarations of Interest

None were declared.

04. Notes of minutes from the Finance & Personnel Committee meeting27thMarch 2019

Cllr Miss Collins asked the committee if they were to accept the minutes of the meeting dated Wednesday 27th March 2019. It was proposed by Cllr Broughton, seconded by Cllr Brookes and Resolved unanimously that the minutes could be signed as a true and accurate record of the meeting. The minutes were signed accordingly.

7.18pm Cllr Lester entered the meeting.

05. Clerk’s Report

The Clerk provided a report prior to the meeting which included the following updates:

1. The Pensions regulator requires employers to re-enrol all employees who have left a workplace pension scheme but who are still eligible.  We have no such employees but have a legal duty to report it by 31stDecember.

2. The clerk has submitted all required documentation to Barclays Bank to delete the previous clerk and councillor from the account, and to add the new deputy clerk and also Cllr Shelton as the third signatory (in addition to Cllrs Broughton and Mrs Redshaw).

3. The closure of Barclays Bank in Market Deeping has created issues with banking cash. Councillors volunteered to bank the cash if they were going to Stamford or Peterborough.

06.  Correspondence 

Correspondence F&P committee – July 2019

 07.  Review of the Council’s Risk Management Policy

Members reviewed each item in turn and agreed on the following updates:

Aim 1a (Compliance) to be marked as green

Aim 1e (Compliance) to be marked as green

Aim 2 –It was noted that Risk Assessments should be added to the quarterly Finance and Personnel agenda as a permanent item.  The Audit Commission is now closed and the reference should be updated to the ‘National Audit Office’.

Aim 2b (Priorities and risks) to be marked as green

Aim 3b (Influence on others) to be marked as greenand for the council to ensure regular effective Newsletter circulation to residents

Aim 4c (Insurance requirements) to be marked as green

Aim 5f (Accounts and banking) to be marked as green

Aim 5K (Accounts and banking) to be marked as green

Aim 6c (Use of funds) to be marked as green with communication to be included in the Newsletter

Aim 8a (Sources of income) to be marked as greenand linked in to forward planning

Aim 11a (Assets) to be marked as green

Aim 11c The clerk was asked to obtain valuations for the paintings in the Chamber

Aim 12b The clerk was asked to look into licencing requirements for CCTV cameras

08.  Review of the Council’s Committee Terms of Reference

Amenities and Open Spaces–It was agreed that as the Town Hall has only 4 hanging baskets, the responsibility for all hanging baskets would reside with the Amenities committee.  It was furtheragreed that the committee should be given delegated powers to approve banner application requests for the John Eve field railings.

Finance and Personnel–It was noted that the Grant Aid application form states that applicants must make a presentation to the committee to support their application.  In practice, as the committee meets quarterly, the Full Council usually approves the application due to time constraints.  Members therefore agreed that the Grant Aid application form should be changed, and Grant Aid applications should be submitted directly to the Full Council.

The policy reference should read ‘Review all non-committee specific policiesand their implementation in line with local authority…….’ This will ensure that all policies are reviewed annually.

Planning and Highways–The sixth point should read ‘To refer to SKDC, National, Local and Neighbourhood planning policieswhen considering applications…’

Town Hall and Cemetery -It was agreed that the committee should be given delegated powers to approve banner application requests for the Town Hall.

All of the above proposed amendments will be referred to the next Full Council meeting for ratification.

Members asked the clerk to compile a list of previously agreed delegated powers that may need to be included on the committee terms of reference, plus those powers delegated to the clerks.

09. Review of Council Staff related policies:

• Council vehicle policy –The committee agreed that no changes were required
• Disciplinary and Grievance policy –The clerk was asked to email the council’s HR advisor to ensure all current legislation and other updates were included
• Equality policy -The clerk was asked to email the council’s HR advisor to ensure all current legislation and other updates were included
• Health and Safety policy –The clerk was asked to refer to Peninsula to enquire whether all items listed were relevant to the council, and what is the best way to adhere to the requirements
• Leavers’ policy -The clerk was asked to email the council’s HR advisor to ensure all current legislation and other updates were included
• Lone working –The clerk was asked to contact Peninsula to ensure the policy is current and includes all relevant legislation
• Performance appraisal policy –The committee agreed that no changes were required
• Shared parental leave policy -The clerk was asked to email the council’s HR advisor to ensure all current legislation and other updates were included
• Sickness absence policy -The clerk was asked to email the council’s HR advisor to ensure all current legislation and other updates were included
• Sickness leave scheme policy -The clerk was asked to email the council’s HR advisor to ensure all current legislation and other updates were included
• Training policy –The committee agreed that no changes were required

10.  Review of Ear Marked Reserves

The clerk had provided members with a list of the ear marked reserves and advised that during the year end process it had been recommended by the accounting system auditor that the number of accounts be reduced to one per committee plus other necessary reserves. Members discussed this and it was Resolved unanimously to allocate the reserves as follows:

Cemetery reserves to include account 320 -cemetery, 326 -£2000 of the funds held, 327 –Spinney project, 351-CCTV cemetery.

The library -321 and the youth club –322 are to remain unaltered.

AOS reserves to include 323 –tractor, 325-AOS contingency, 334-New vehicle, 335 –allotments, 338 £18,000 to play equipment, £3,000 to tractor, 343 –Grounds maintenance AOS, 344 –supplies AOS, 345 –BMX track, 346 –Wet pour area, 347 –Godsey Lane hedge, 350 –AOS work,352 –CCTV John Eve field, 353 –Electricity JE field.

Town Hall reserves–324 –Town Hall (to be allocated as refurbishment once the property transfer is complete), 326 -£1636.17 of the funds held, 336 –double glazing, 339 –defibrillator, 349 –digital council.

Planning and Highways reserves –328 –interactive speed sign, 329 –bus shelters, 331 –Neighbourhood Plan, 337 –grass verges.

Finance and Personnel committee (including admin) –332 –community assets, 333 –war memorial, 340 –civic allowance, 341 –election costs, 342 –volunteer event, 348 –legal fees.

The clerk was asked to ascertain which of the finger posts, columns and bollards in the Market Place belonged to the council.

11. Council Finances

The Clerk had issued members with an update on Council Finances prior to the meeting. Cllr Miss Collins asked the members if there were any questions and there were none. Members were happy with the information provided.

12. Grant Aid

No applications had been received for this meeting.4 Finance & Personnel 24th July 2019

13. Update on the year end closedown

The Clerk informed members that no feedback had so far been received from the external auditor.

14. For members to receive reports from the internal auditor

The clerk had issued members with copies of the reports prior to the meeting.  Sample transactions audited had all been handled correctly and members were satisfied with the reports. The clerk asked members if there were any questions and there were none.

15. For members to receive an update on the provision of Council email addresses

Cllr Brookes informed members that he had investigated several providers following the introduction of the new GDPR regulations. Due to the work and costs involved, the clerk had been asked to contact LALC to establish how strongly this was recommended.  LALC had advised that they strongly recommended separate personal and council email addresses for each councillor.  Cllr Lester asked for a ‘Digital Council’ item to be put on the next Town Hall agenda for further consideration.  Members also agreed that the email address issue should be put on the next Full Council agenda.

16.  Personnel –Consideration to go into Closed Session. To include Staff matters

It was proposed and unanimously Resolved to go into Closed Session to members of the press and public in accordance with the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960, which included: staff matters.  It was Resolved to allow the 2 members of staff to join the requested pension fund on condition that they took financial advice and that they accepted that their own contributions to the scheme would be higher than those made to their current scheme.  It was then unanimously Resolved to come out of Closed Session.

The Chairman thanked all members for their attendance and declared the meeting closed at 8.50pm.

The next committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday September 25th 2019 at 7pm in the Town Hall chambers.