Archived decisions

AT A MEETING of the GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE of the HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL held at The Castle, Winchester on 27 March 2008.

PRESENT:

p Councillor T.K. Thornber, CBE (Chairman)

119 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Collett who was representing the County Council on Hampshire Police Authority business and from Councillor Maxwell.

120 DECLARATION OF INTERESTS

All members who believed they had a personal or prejudicial interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting, were asked to declare that interest and, having regard to the circumstances described in paragraphs 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the County Council's Code of Conduct, consider whether to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with paragraph 12 of the Code. The declaration should be made at the time of the relevant debate.

121 MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 14 December 2007 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

122 MEMBERS' ALLOWANCES 2008 - RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE INDEPENDENT REMUNERATION PANEL

On Minute 115 of the previous meeting, Officers were asked to apply the County Council's customary approach to minuting whereby comments were not attributed to individual Members.

123 INTERNAL AUDIT STRATEGY : 2008-2013

On Minute 116, the County Treasurer reported on the actions taken in relation to advice and guidance for headteachers and governing bodies.

124 EXTERNAL AUDIT REPORTS

Representatives of the Audit Commission presented their reports concerning the Audit and Inspection Plan 2008/09 and their Use of Resources Auditor Judgments 2007 (marked items 5(a) and (b) respectively in the Minute Book).

In relation to the former, attention was drawn to areas of potential residual risk where the Commission considered that further work should be done. The separation of the Pension Fund for individual attention was also explained, together with changes anticipated in relation to the detailed audit and inspection fee.

With regard to the Use of Resources Audit Judgments, the action plan set out in Appendix 2 was noted. The Committee was pleased to note the view of the Audit Commission that the action areas they had identified were areas which they believed the County Council should focus their attention and that there was no evidence to suggest that there were particular matters of concern. It was the significance of the subject matter which had led the Commission to consider that these were worthy of closer monitoring and the Commission sought to focus the County Council's attention with a view to the Council improving their current rating.

The Chairman thanked the representatives of the Audit Commission for their presentations. Due to another pressing engagement, the Chairman asked Councillor Knight, the Vice-Chairman to take the Chair.

COUNCILLOR T.G. KNIGHT IN THE CHAIR

125 INTERNAL AUDIT PLAN 2008/09

The Committee received and noted the report of the County Treasurer and the detailed internal audit plan for 2008/09 to 2010/11(Item 6 in the Minute Book). During discussion, particular reference was made to partnerships, partnership working and collaborative working with other councils, including consideration of efficiencies which could be achieved through improved two tier working between the County Council and Hampshire District Councils and, if appropriate, Portsmouth and Southampton City Councils. There were already examples of such collaborative working which, Members felt, should be considered further.

126 CORPORATE GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK

The Committee considered and approved the report of the Head of Corporate and Legal Services and Monitoring Officer and the County Treasurer (Item 7 in the Minute Book) seeking approval to the updated Code of Corporate Governance for the County Council. This followed the issue of revised guidance from CIPFA/SOLACE which had redefined the core and supporting principles needed to be met by Local Authorities and had also changed the reporting requirement from a statement of internal control into an Annual Governance Statement.

The Committee approved the new Code and supported the Officers' suggestion that appropriate steps should be taken to promote the new Code by way of targeted training and communication throughout the County Council.

RESOLVED:

That approval given to the updated Code of Corporate Governance for the County Council set out as Appendix A to the report of the Head of Corporate and Legal Services and Monitoring Officer and the County Treasurer.

127 REVIEW OF FINANCIAL REGULATIONS

The Committee considered and approved the report of the County Treasurer recommending detailed revisions to the County Council's financial regulations largely deriving from the new streamline decision processes and associated financial limits previously approved by the County Council. The changes required amendments to the Constitution and accordingly, the proposals would be submitted to the Cabinet before consideration by the County Council in May 2008.

RESOLVED:

That it be a recommendation to the Cabinet and County Council:

That the revised Financial Regulations appended to the report of the County Treasurer be approved.

Dh/2.4.08