Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest made in accordance with the Code of Conduct.

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the General Purposes Committee held on 23 June 2014

RESOLVED:  That the Minutes of the meeting of the General Purposes Committee held on 23 June 2014 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Finance and Transformation inviting endorsement of the External Auditors Report on the outcome of the audit of the Statement of Accounts for 2013/14.  It was also recommended that the Chairman be authorised to countersign the Letter of Representation prepared by the Director of Finance and Transformation, a revised copy of which had been circulated together with a schedule of uncorrected misstatements, at the appropriate time when the Engagement Lead issued the audit opinion.  Mr D Wells (Engagement Lead) and Mr T Greenlee (Audit Manager) attended the meeting to present the report and answer questions raised by Members.

It was noted that there were no material issues that needed to be brought to the attention of the Committee and the Engagement Lead anticipated being able to issue an unqualified opinion on the financial statements and value for money conclusion.  However, attention was drawn to one recommendation in the action plan in the Audit Report and the management response.

Mr Wells commented on the high quality of the Statement of Accounts presented for audit, the Council’s good governance arrangements and the value for money conclusion which had been assessed as “green” across all areas.

RESOLVED: That

(1) the External Auditors Report on the outcome of the audit and action plan of the Statement of Accounts 2013/14, as set out at Annex 1 to the report, be approved;

(2) the Chairman be authorised to countersign the Letter of Representation set out at the revised Annex 2 to the report in due course; and

(3) the Chairman be authorised to sign the Accounts in the appropriate place.

The Chairman to move that the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting during consideration of any items the publication of which would disclose exempt information.

The Chairman moved, it was seconded and

RESOLVED:  That as public discussion would disclose exempt information, the following matters be considered in private.

(LGA 1972 Sch 12A Paragraph 1 – Information relating to an individual)

The report of the Director of Central Services presented for approval a number of establishment changes recommended by the Management Team.  It was noted that the changes contributed net permanent savings exceeding £45,000 per annum which could be set against the corporate savings target and incorporated in the Medium Term Financial Strategy.

RESOLVED:  That the following proposals and establishment changes be endorsed:

(1)                            post DJ0213 Building Control Technician (37 hours) scale ¼ be deleted    with immediate effect;

(2)    the payment of an annual Out of Hours allowance to Building Control post numbers DJ0202, DJ0205 and DJ0206 be confirmed; and

(3)    post DA0703 Printing Assistant (37 hours) scale 1/2  be deleted with immediate effect.