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Agenda and minutes

Venue: This meeting is held remotely; to view the meeting, please click here.

Contact: Michelle Ossei-Gerning
020 8726 6000 x84246  Email: michelle.gerning@croydon.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

76/21

Minutes of the Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 251 KB

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 27 January 2021 as an accurate record.

[To Follow]

Minutes:

The Minutes of the previous meeting held on 27 January 2021 were agreed as a true record and the Committee authorised the Chair to sign them.

77/21

Disclosure of Interests

In accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct and the statutory provisions of the Localism Act, Members and co-opted Members of the Council are reminded that it is a requirement to register disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) and gifts and hospitality to the value of which exceeds £50 or multiple gifts and/or instances of hospitality with a cumulative value of £50 or more when received from a single donor within a rolling twelve month period. In addition, Members and co-opted Members are reminded that unless their disclosable pecuniary interest is registered on the register of interests or is the subject of a pending notification to the Monitoring Officer, they are required to disclose those disclosable pecuniary interests at the meeting. This should be done by completing the Disclosure of Interest form and handing it to the Democratic Services representative at the start of the meeting. The Chair will then invite Members to make their disclosure orally at the commencement of Agenda item 3. Completed disclosure forms will be provided to the Monitoring Officer for inclusion on the Register of Members’ Interests.

Minutes:

No disclosures were made.

78/21

Urgent Business (if any)

To receive notice of any business not on the agenda which in the opinion of the Chair, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business.

79/21

Presentation on Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence pdf icon PDF 352 KB

[To Follow]

Minutes:

The Committee received a report detailing the risks around domestic violence.

 

Malcom Davies, Head of Risk and Insurance introduced the item. Alison Kennedy, Local Authority Strategic Lead for Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence, delivered the presentation.

 

The following matters were raised by the Committee:

 

a)         Number of reported cases: Members noted a high number of reported cases. The Officer noted that it was encouraging to see an increase, as this suggests positive outreach among the community and any referrals.

b)         Funding sources: Following a question from a Member, the Officer confirmed that local authority funding delivered the services which they had commissioned; whereas FJC services fund training and consultation as well as the service itself

c)         Cross-functional approach: Members highlighted the current approach which included involvement from staff from a number of different service areas. The Officer noted that complex problems benefited from having a range of expertise to assist.

 

The Committee gave its thanks to the Alison and her team for all of the work completed and ongoing, with a request that it be Minuted.

80/21

Implementation of the Finance Review Phase 1 Report pdf icon PDF 684 KB

An update report on the Implementation of the Croydon Finance Review – Phase 1.

Minutes:

The Committee received a report detailing the implementation of Phase 1 of the Council’s Finance Review.

 

Ian O’Donnell, Finance Consultant, and Chris Buss, Director of Finance and Risk introduced the report.

 

The following matters were raised by Members:

 

a)         Red/Amber/Green (RAG) Column: Following a question from a Member, the Officer explained that the items listed with no RAG rating were awaiting commencement of works, and therefore the responsible officer had not yet awarded its rating

b)         Abbreviations: Following a question from a Member, the Officer explained the following abbreviations. SME: Subject Matter Expert; BI: Business Intelligence

c)         Budget setting process: The Officer noted that in the run up of 2021/2022 there was a large degree of change, changing the way executive members met and disclosed budget opportunities and options. The Priority 1 items were completed to a very tight deadline, therefore some of the work could be improved upon

d)         Percentages in Appendix 1: Following a query form a Member, the Officer made an amendment to the Appendix to include the previously reported percentage in brackets below so the reader can see what figures have moved.

 

Following consideration, it was resolved that the Committee:

 

1.         Agreed to note and comment upon the progress in implementing the recommendations of Phase 1 of the Croydon Finance Review.

 

81/21

Internal Audit Update Report pdf icon PDF 307 KB

This report details the work completed by Internal Audit so far during 2020/21 and the progress made in implementing recommendations from audits completed in previous years.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a report noting the work completed by the Internal Audit up to February 2021.

 

Simon Maddocks, Head of Internal Audit introduced the report.

 

The following matters were raised by Members:

 

a)         Budget: Following a question from a Member, the Officer explained that effectively the Council did less and paid less in 2021, and was expected to do more and pay more in 2022, suggesting that budget accrued from the previous year would cover the full year plan

b)         Fairfield Halls: Following a question from a Member, the Officer noted that the External Auditor had written to the Council at the start of the month with detailed questions regarding the structure of Fairfield Halls’ arrangements. The Council was in the process of responding to these questions.

 

Following consideration, it was resolved that the Committee:

 

1.         Agreed to note the Internal Audit Report to February 2021 (Appendix 1).

82/21

General Purposes and Audit Committee Draft Annual Report of 2020-2021 pdf icon PDF 524 KB

The General Purposes and Audit Committee Annual Report of 2020-2021 is attached.

Minutes:

The Committee received the draft report noting the work completed by the Committee 2020-2021.

 

Simon Maddocks, Head of Internal Audit introduced the report.

 

The Committee noted the draft report.