Agenda item

The Senior Policy and Performance Officer presented the final version of the report prior to it being taken forward to Cabinet in March 2019.

Members were reminded that a draft version of the report was presented to the Committee in November 2018 and drew Members’ attention to section 3.2 of the report which set out the two amendments by the Committee at their previous meeting.

Under Standing Order 34, Councillor Joyce referred to paragraph 7.5.1 (page 32) – Section 151 Officer and asked for clarification on “The Officer must be informed of any potential financial risk arising from project or service activities as it emerges.”  He added that the word emerges was broad and that the wording should be tightened up and asked what was the trigger point for a Service Manager to inform the S151 officer.  In response, the Senior Policy and Performance Officer explained that the policy was intended to be flexible and that risk was a dynamic concept with all projects.  He further commented that at the outset it was difficult to predict how the project would pan out and that the onus was on the Project Manager/Service Manager to review progress and to build in a mechanism to mitigate any issues that might arise.  The Projet Manager/Service Manager was responsible for informing the S151Officer of any potential financial risk.

Councillor Joyce asked if there was a paper trail to the S151 officer in that she had been informed of the risk in accordance with the audit requirements.  In response, the Senior Policy and Performance Officer advised that discussions and internal meetings were held in relation to projects, capital investment, etc and to review documents such as project initiation documents, businesses cases and progress reports.  Notes were taken of the internal meetings and any specific issues highlighted and actions arising were included in the notes.

The Deputy Chief Executive suggested that the word “financial” be inserted before the word security on the third line of paragraph 7.5.1 and added that the Council’s Contract Standing and Financial Regulations set out the requirements before any budget was allocated and approved.  The Committee was advised that in relation to the Council’s Capital Programme, Cabinet approved the budget.  It was noted that the Council had a Project Board for Major Projects in place which monitored major projects and minutes were taken.  If a Service Manager raised a financial concern it would be discussed at Management Team and that minutes were taken and actions recorded.

In relation to the NWES loan, Councillor Pope commented that in his opinion the Borough Council had carried all the risk.  He referred to the Cabinet meeting on 14 September 2016 when a further loan was requested to mitigate a cash flow shortfall and outlined the questions he raised at that meeting on the proposed arrangements for the repayment of the loan and the terms of the proposed loan.

In response to questions raised by Councillor Pope regarding the NWES/KLIC internal audit review, the Leader, Councillor Long commented that the example from Councillor Pope illustrated why the audit review was being undertaken which would place the Council in a more robust position to monitor projects in the future.

The Deputy Chief Executive added that the Internal audit report would be presented to the Audit Committee on 11 March 2019, which would allow Members to debate the content of the report and make any appropriate recommendations.

Councillor Dark referred to the Draft Risk Management Strategy, page 24, 1.4 that the strategy would be reviewed every 3 years to ensure it remained relevant to the needs of the Council and the next review date being March 2022 and commented that if there was a major legislative change could the review be undertaken at an earlier date.  The Committee supported the comments made by Councillor Dark and the Senior Policy and Performance Officer undertook to include the recommendation in the report to Cabinet.

Following on from the discussion on risk mitigation measures, the Deputy Chief Executive explained that all projects had been included in the Cabinet report of 5 February 2019.  The Cabinet report had a specific paragraph relating to risk setting out how any risk could be managed and mitigation if required.

Councillor Tilbrook commented that the Council could take risk and added that with regard to KLIC/NWES the Borough Council’s reputation had been damaged.  Councillor Tilbrook added that the Council needed to put robust measures in place to address risk in the most likely areas such as planning and contracts.`  He referred to the Councillors declaration of interest form and commented that he would like to see membership of masonic lodges being included in the future as the Borough Council should be aware of such memberships.  In response, the Leader, Councillor Long commented that the Members declaration of interest form currently did not stipulate membership of a masonic lodge but did ask for financial interests up to a certain level.

RESOLVED:  The Panel approved the final version of the report prior to being presented to Cabinet in March 2019, subject to the following recommendation:

“This policy/strategy will be reviewed every three years, or earlier in the light of new guidance, to ensure it remains relevant to the needs of the council.  The next review will take place no later than March 2022.