Archived decisions
AT A MEETING of the HAMPSHIRE FIRE AND RESCUE AUTHORITY GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE held at The Castle, Winchester on 9 March 2006.
PRESENT:
Councillors: P R C Hutcheson (Chairman); M G Cooper; D Harrison; H Jones;
R McIntosh; R Smith; R Williams.
11 APOLOGIES
Apologies for absence were received from Councillors M F Cartwright and D A Kirk.
12 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Members were mindful that, where they believed they had a personal or personal prejudicial interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting, they should, normally at the time of debate, disclose their interest and having regard to the circumstances described in paragraphs 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the Fire Authority's Code of Conduct consider whether to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed.
There were no declarations of interest made by Members under this item.
13 MINUTES
The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 26 July 2005 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman subject to substituting "spokesman" for "spokesperson" in Minute 5.
14 DEPUTATIONS
There were no deputations.
15 INTERNAL AUDIT STRATEGY - 2006/07 REVIEW
The Committee considered the report of the Treasurer (Item 5 in the Minute Book) on a review of the Internal Audit Strategy and seeking approval to various revisions for 2006/07. The Treasurer highlighted these as referred to in the report including a proposed change to the terms of reference. Members were advised of and welcomed the current practice of reporting audit reports to the Authority's Performance Review Committee.
RESOLVED:
(i) That the Committee approve the internal audit strategy for 2006/07.
(ii) That the Committee approve the changes to paragraph 25 of the terms of reference for the internal audit service provided to Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority as set out in Appendix B to the submitted report.
16 STANDARDS OF CONDUCT IN ENGLISH LOCAL GOVERNMENT, THE FUTURE GOVERNMENT DISCUSSION PAPER
The Committee considered the report of the Clerk (Item 6 in the Minute Book) about the Government's Discussion Paper: Standards of Conduct in English Local Government. The Clerk reported that local government in this sense was a generic term and included the Fire Service.
During discussion Members welcomed the main principles underlying the Government's proposals but were disappointed that, after a long period of consultation, they contained very little detail. Also, it meant that once more detailed proposals had been formulated, further consultation would be necessary delaying matters still further.
RESOLVED:
That the Committee supports the general thrust of the proposals contained within the Government's Discussion Paper: Standards of Conduct in English Local Government : The Future and requests the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to implement the proposals as quickly as possible.
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