Agenda item
Items Requested at Previous Meetings
Minutes:
The Committee received a presentation from C Stephenson (Interim Joint Assistant Director – Human Resources) which detailed the actions that had been taken to tackle the recommendations made in the last Annual Audit Plan regarding the issue of Officers’ Travel and Subsistence Allowances.
It was noted that the outstanding recommendations related to the development of a clear policy on all staff travel arrangements. In relation to this, it was reported that a draft document had been prepared and was about to go out to consultation. An aspect of which covered changes to the licensing policy for vehicle inspections. The consultation would run from February to March 2009.
The document had been considered by relevant officers in Environmental Services to ensure it complied with the Authority’s emerging Green Travel Plan.
It was expected that the outstanding work would be completed by the end of February/March 2009 following the outcome of the consultation.
Mr Stephenson also reported on the level of assurance attributed to the monitoring of CRB Checks.
It was reported that the outstanding action concerned developing a clear CRB policy in respect of the retention periods for disclosure information. It was noted that a report reviewing the merits of the current policy in respect of retention periods would be submitted to a future meeting of CMT. C Stephenson Agreed to check which CMT meeting the report would be submitted to.
ACTION BY: Interim Joint Assistant Director – Human Resources (C Stephenson)
A Member asked about the verification policies in place at other Authorities in relation to CRB checks and whether the third sector were involved in the inspections. A Member also asked about the frequency of the rechecks.
The Committee also received a brief presentation from Paul Evans, (Interim Corporate Director, Development and Renewal) outlining the action that had been taken to address the nil/limited assurances given in the last Audit Report to the Section 106 Planning Obligations.
During this, Mr Evans reported the following points:
- Apologised for D&R’s non attendance at the last meeting of the Committee in September 2008;
- Briefly outlined the application process and decision making process for S. 106 Agreements, which was part of the planning system. Referred to the types of schemes they may be used for and potential sources of funding;
- Reported on the pre application process and stated that pre application guidance was available to Members and Officers;
- Referred to the role of the S. 106 Officer and also the Financial Control Officer based in D&R who administered the financial aspects of the agreements;
- Commented that all of the outstanding recommendations regarding S. 106 Agreements had now been implemented save the recommendation requiring an new invoicing process for requiring funding;
- Envisaged that this process would enable better monitoring of trigger dates, however there were difficulties with the model envisage in the report;
- Therefore, consideration was being given to developing a alternative system for monitoring payments/progress with S. 106 contributions, but this would not be an automatic system.
- Considered that this process would require a strengthening of the data collection process and strong project management skills.
- Confirmed that reports detailing broad details of agreements were submitted to Cabinet on a quarterly basis.
In view of the above discussion, Mr Evans Agreed to prepare a paper on S. 106 Planning Obligations for submission to the Committee.
The report would detail the number submitted to the Authority over the last 5 years; application categories; the sums generated/expected to be generated by both past, and current S.106 financial obligations covering the last five years.
ACTION BY: Interim Corporate Director, Development and Renewal
(P. Evans)