Issue - meetings

This report presents management’s responses to Grant Thornton’s enquiries. In accordance with best practice, these items must be presented to Committee.

The Committee received a report presenting the management’s responses to Grant Thornton’s enquiries. In accordance with best practice, these items were presented to the Committee.

The following matters were considered:

a)            Management Response. A Member of the Committee raised that some matters have come to light within the Council that might not have been known to Officers when they compiled the responses in Appendix 1 and wished to draw Officers attention to questions 2-4 on page 34 to ensure that the answers provided are accurate. The Chair responded to assure the Committee that he will be discussing it with Officers to ensure that everything is in order. The Monitoring Officer informed the Committee that the report looks backwards and relates to the 2022/23 financial year, so any assurances regarding litigation and legal matters would have been provided by the previous monitoring officer, who was in place until May 2023, and what they were aware of as of that date.

b)            Scheme of Delegation. A Member of the Committee asked when the Committee will get sight of the Scheme of Delegation Report. The Monitoring Officer responded to inform the Committee that the proposal at present is that a report will be coming to Full council on the 12^th of December.

c)            Statutory Services. A Member of the Committee raised a query regarding page 39 question 2, where it talks about management not being aware of any factors affecting statutory services. The Member asked if there are changes coming to waste management which could have an impact on services and why there is no reference to that in the response provided. The Chief Accountant responded to inform the Committee that the Government Waste Strategy, which has been on the horizon for a number of years, might have an impact on the way the services are delivered, but it will not affect the overall statutory service being provided and that will continue unchanged. The Chief Accountant continued to explain that there might be operational changes, but the statutory duty will still be complied with, and the question raised is in reference to ceasing statutory duties rather than any changes in how they’re being delivered. The Chair informed the Committee that they have spoken to the Waste Services Manager and who has set out that there are a lot of conflicting reports regarding the Government Waste Strategy, and they are still waiting on the final results before any further comment can be made. The Chair highlighted that any operational changes won’t come into effect until next year.

Following consideration, the Committee resolved to;

(5 for, 1 abstaining and the Chair not voting)

(1)      Consider and approve the management responses to Grant Thornton’s enquiries, as set out in Appendix 1.