Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 1 - Epsom Town Hall. View directions

Contact: Tim Richardson, 01372 732122  Email: trichardson@epsom-ewell.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

29.

Question Time

To take any questions from members of the Public.

Please note: Members of the Public are requested to inform the Democratic Services Officer before the meeting begins if they wish to ask a verbal question to the Committee.

Minutes:

No questions were asked or had been submitted by members of the public.

30.

Declarations of Interest

Members are asked to declare the existence and nature of any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests in respect of any item of business to be considered at the meeting.

Minutes:

No declarations of interest were made by councillors in items on the agenda for this meeting.

31.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 91 KB

The Committee is asked to confirm as a true record the Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held 15 November (attached) and to authorise the Chairman to sign them.


Minutes:

The Minutes of the meeting of the Audit, Crime & Disorder and Scrutiny Committee held on 15 November 2016 were agreed as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

The following matters were noted:

a)            Minute 20 a) – Amalgamation with East Surrey Community Safety Partnership (ESCSP). The Committee was informed that the Council was attending and participating in meetings of the ESCSP, but had not yet formally been confirmed as a member by the Police and Crime Commissioner. It was felt that this confirmation would be a formality, and officers did not anticipate any issues in obtaining it.

b)            Minute 26 a) – Amber assessment of Academy system listing of NDR prepayments. The Committee was informed that the External Auditor had made enquiries with other local authorities which used the Academy system. The Auditor informed the Committee that they had not yet been able to identify any which utilised a report which met their requirements for NDR prepayment listings. In the meantime, the Auditor was able to collate the information they required from separate sources.

32.

Internal Audit Monitoring Report pdf icon PDF 106 KB

This report summarises progress against the audit plan for 2016/17.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a report summarising the progress against the audit plan for 2016/17.

The following matters were considered:

a)            Correction to page 16 of the agenda – Risk Management actions. The Internal Auditor informed the Committee that there was a typing error on the summary of the Risk Management audit assignment. The actions of the audit were corrected to read: 2 medium actions, 1 Low action. The number of high actions remained unchanged (none).

b)            Audit of Creditors – invoice authorisation limit exceeded. Following a question regarding the incident in which an invoice authorisation limit had been exceeded, the Head of Corporate Governance informed the Committee that the financial limit had not been exceeded by a significant amount. It was noted that further information regarding the exact amount would be provided to the Chairman and committee member who raised the question.

c)            Monitoring of building control performance indicators. The Committee noted that in response to the finding of the Building and Planning Control audit assignment that performance indicators were not monitored by senior officers, an action had been agreed to put monitoring in place.

33.

External Audit Update, Grant Certification and Annual Audit Letter pdf icon PDF 88 KB

This report covers three updates from Grant Thornton, who are the Council’s external auditors.

 

These include an update on the Audit letter and an update Grant Certification letter for the year ended 31 March 2016. Both of these items have to be received by this Committee in accordance with the Audit regulations.

 

Finally there is general progress report on latest issues from Grant Thornton who will be attendance at the meeting to present this short item and the letters.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a report covering three matters from the Council’s external auditor – a progress update, the annual audit letter and grant certification letter.

The following matters were considered:

a)            Grant certification – unqualified opinion. The Committee noted the unqualified opinion issued by the external auditor with regard to grant certification, and expressed its thanks and congratulations to officers for achieving this.

b)            Earlier publication of accounts. The Committee noted that from July 2018, the Council was required to publish its audited financial statements by 31 July each year. The Head of Legal and Democratic Services informed the Committee that this did not require the Council’s municipal calendar of meetings to be amended for 2017-18, but that it would be considered when proposing dates for future years.

Following consideration, the Committee:

(1)          noted the Progress and Update report presented by Grant Thornton.

(2)          noted the Annual Audit Letter for 2015/16.

(3)          noted the Grant Certification Letter.

(4)          requested that its thanks and congratulations to staff in the Council’s Finance and Revenues & Benefits Teams, and external auditor be recorded for their work to achieve such positive reports.

34.

Review of CCTV Provision pdf icon PDF 89 KB

This report provides an update on the progress of the review of CCTV to date.

Minutes:

The Committee received a report providing an update on progress towards a review of CCTV systems operated by the Council. The report informed the Committee that officers had been working to document compliance with the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice, and provided specific updates with regard to town centres’ (streetscene) CCTV.

The following matters were considered with regard to streetscene CCTV:

a)            Date for transfer of monitoring to Reigate police station. The Committee was informed that it was hoped that the transfer of CCTV monitoring from Runnymede to Reigate would be completed by 1 April. This was dependant on the completion of physical cabling works by BT.

b)            Actions to mitigate short-term loss of monitoring. Officers would emphasise the need to complete works by 1 April to BT. However, if the transfer of monitoring could not be completed by 1 April, officers would seek a short-term extension of the monitoring contract at Runneymede, to cover the interim period. If Runnymede Council did not wish to accept such an extension, officers would seek alternative solutions, such as record-only management of footage.

c)            Agreement with Surrey Police regarding monitoring. The Committee was informed that Surrey Police would monitor the Council’s CCTV footage at no cost, and that the Council would continue to hold responsibility for maintenance and provision of cameras. The agreement enabled either party to exit if they so wished.

d)            Current use of footage from streetscene CCTV. The Committee noted that footage from the Council’s streetscene CCTV was currently utilised by Surrey Police and Surrey County Council Highways Service, but not by Epsom and Ewell Borough Council during the operation of its core functions.

e)            Contribution from Surrey County Council. The Committee noted that no response had yet been received from Surrey County Council with regard to provision of a financial contribution toward maintenance of the CCTV system, which was utilised by the Highways Service.

f)             Capacity for additional cameras. The Committee was informed that there would be capacity for additional streetscene cameras to be added in the future, but that in the current environment, it was highly unlikely that they would receive funding or approval.

 Following consideration, the Committee:

(1)          Noted that the streetscene CCTV service was proposed to be continued at the current levels of service, subject to agreement being reached on a range of issues.

(2)          Agreed to receive a further report at its meeting of 8 February 2018 reviewing compliance with the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice.

35.

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 - Monitoring Report pdf icon PDF 96 KB

This report summarises the current position in relation to the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, and considers how the Act has been used in recent years by the Council.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a report summarising the current position in relation to the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA), and how the Act had been used in recent years by the Council.

The following matters were considered:

a)            Number of authorisations. The Committee noted that no requests for authorisation to use powers under RIPA had been requested by officers since 2010.

b)            Amendment to paragraph 72 of the Council’s RIPA Policy. It was noted that the words “Scrutiny Committee  in paragraph 72 of the RIPA Policy would be amended to “Audit, Crime & Disorder and Scrutiny Committee”.

Following consideration, the Committee:

(1)          Noted the contents of the report and did not identify any action required with regard to it.

(2)          Agreed to receive an annual report with regard to RIPA, providing the following information:

·                     Changes in the law

·                     Changes in authorised officers

·                     Whether training had been provided to authorised officers

·                     Usage of RIPA powers by the Council

36.

Corporate Plan: Performance Report Two 2016 to 2017 pdf icon PDF 83 KB

This report provides an update against our Key Priority Performance Targets that are either on amber or red for 2016 to 2017, under our new Corporate Plan.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a report providing an update on progress against Key Priority Performance Targets.

Following consideration, the Committee:

(1)          Noted the Key Performance Priority Targets at amber or red, and did not identify any areas of concern.

(2)          Noted the actions that had been proposed or taken where performance was currently a concern, as detailed in table 3.1 of the report.

(3)          Noted the overview of Key Priority Performance Targets detailed in Annexe 2 to the report.

37.

Work Programme 2016/17 pdf icon PDF 86 KB

This report updates the Committee on its work programme 2016/17.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee noted the current position of its work programme 2016/17.