Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 1 - Epsom Town Hall

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

Items
No. Item

22.

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.

23.

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.

24.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 103 KB

The Committee is asked to confirm as a true record the Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held on 23 November 2017 (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 23 November 2017 were agreed as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

25.

Internal Audit Monitoring Report pdf icon PDF 66 KB

This report summarises progress against the audit plan for 2017/18.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a report presenting the internal audit progress report for 2017/18. The following matters were considered:

a)            Definition of substantial and reasonable assurance. Following a question from a member of the Committee, the Internal Auditor informed the meeting that “substantial assurance” was the highest level of classification given by the Auditor. The Commitee was informed that “reasonable assurance” was the second-highest level of classification given by the Auditor.

b)            ICT business continuity plan. The Committee was informed that the Acting Head of ICT was in the process of drafting amendments to the ICT Business Continuity Plan in line with the Auditor’s findings.

c)            Emergency response training for Councillors. The Committee was informed that a Members’ Briefing Evening would be arranged to provide training for Councillors on how to respond in the event of an emergency within the Borough. This was likely to be held in late May or early June 2018 and would cover issues such as how to react, signposting to responsible authorities and the use of social media.

d)            Audit of Local Plan – application of control framework. The Committee noted that the Auditor had made one medium level recommendation with regard to this audit, relating to the Council’s statutory obligation to publish a Housing Annual Monitoring Report (AMR). Officers informed the Committee that the AMR for 2017/18 would be presented to the Licensing and Planning Policy Committee in March 2018, and that this would comply with the Council’s statutory obligations.

Following consideration, the Committee:

(1)          Agreed to receive the internal audit progress report for 2017/18.

26.

Progress on the implementation of Internal Audit recommendations pdf icon PDF 79 KB

This report outlines progress made on implementing internal audit recommendations to strengthen the control environment.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a report outlining progress made on implementing internal audit recommendations. The following matters were considered:

a)            Recommendations with outstanding actions. The Committee noted that there were outstanding actions from the audits of Information Governance, PCI Compliance and Software Licensing. The Committee requested that an update on progress toward these actions be provided at its November meeting.

b)            ICT staffing. The Committee received an update on staffing within the ICT team.

c)            General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance. The Committee was informed of the Council’s arrangements for meeting the requirements of GDPR. An officer working group was considering the issue, and a project plan had been produced.

Following consideration, the Committee:

(1)          The Committee noted the progress on the implementation of outstanding high and medium internal audit recommendations from the 2016/17 audit programme and other outstanding recommendations, and requested that an update on progress toward outstanding actions from the audits of Information Governance, PCI Compliance and Software Licensing be provided at its November 2018 meeting.

27.

Review of the arrangements for publicising and determining planning applications - Update Report pdf icon PDF 76 KB

This report updates Members on the progress made to-date in implementing the recommendations of the Scrutiny Review Task Group on the Administrative Arrangements for Publicising and Determining Planning Applications. It shows that good progress has been made and that nearly all actions have been completed. The Committee is recommended to note the report, to refer the telecommunications masts policy to the Head of Property to finalise and to undertake a customer satisfaction survey as and when resources allow.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a report updating it on the progress made to-date in implementing the recommendations of the Scrutiny Review Task Group on the Administrative Arrangements for Publicising and Determining Planning Applications. The following matters were considered:

a)            Outstanding actions. The Committee noted that only two of the actions recommended by the Scrutiny Review Task Group remained outstanding. These were to review the policy on the siting of telecommunications masts, and to undertake a customer satisfaction survey. An update on both of these actions was provided within the report.

Following consideration, the Committee:

(1)          Noted the achievements on the outstanding items referred from the April 2017 meeting.

(2)          Agreed that a review of the Council’s policy on telecommunications masts sited on Council land be taken forward by the Head of Property and reported to the appropriate Committee in due course.

28.

Corporate Plan: Key Priority Performance Targets Performance Report Phase Two pdf icon PDF 71 KB

This report provides an update against our Key Priority Performance Targets for 2017 to 2018, under our Corporate Plan.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a report providing an update against the Council’s Key Priority Performance Targets for 2017 to 2018. The following matters were considered:

a)            Status categories. Members of the Committee suggested that additional categories titled “deferred” and “achieved” could be included within the report, to more accurately record the status of some actions. It was noted that officers would consider this when reviewing the structure of monitoring reports for 2018/19 targets. Officers informed the Committee that the use of “deferred” status would only be appropriate where a decision had been taken to redirect resources from the completion of a target. It would not be appropriate if a target had been aimed for, but missed.

The Committee:

(1)          Considered the performance reported in Annexe 1 and did not identify any areas of concern.

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

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

29.

Work Programme 2017/18 pdf icon PDF 77 KB

This report updates the Committee on its work programme 2017/18.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a report asking it to agree its work programme for 2017/18.

Following consideration, the Committee:

(1)          Approved the work programme 2017/18.