Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Boutrup and Cornish. 

No declarations were received.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee were then held on 20 September 2022 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Chairman confirmed he has no urgent business.

Louise Duffield, Director of Resources and Organisational Development, introduced the report which updated the Committee on the work of the Internal Audit activity since the last meeting. Juan Fosco, Internal Auditor at Mazars LLP, provided an update on the progress of delivering the 2022/23 Internal Audit plan and Simon Hughes, Director of People and Commercial Services provided an update on Cyber Security.

The 13 outstanding recommendations are now confirmed as implemented with officers and Management. These were completed in timescales but not communicated clearly to Mazars. Of the 19 further recommendations not yet due, it has been agreed with the Director of Resources and Organisational Development these items will be included in the monthly update, with these all expected to be completed within the agreed time scales. 

The Chairman invited Members to ask questions. A Member asked for clarity on why the completed cyber security audit report had not been included, claiming that Members are entitled to receive a copy of the full report and outstanding actions. Geoff Wild, Interim Assistant Director of Legal and Democratic Services and Monitoring Officer advised in order to discuss these, the meeting would need to move to a closed session.

The Chairman asked Members if they wished to go into a closed session. This was proposed by Councillor Hicks and seconded by Councillor Gibson.

The meeting moved into closed session at 7.20pm

The Chairman brought the meeting back into open session at 7.38pm on completion of consideration of the exempt item. The Chairman moved to the recommendation to receive the report, which was agreed unanimously with 5 in favour.

RESOLVED

The Committee received the report.

Joel Goacher, of Adur & Worthing Council introduced the report, which set out the Councils Treasury Management activity from 1 April 2022 to 30 September 2022. 

The Chairman clarified for the benefit of the Committee, that Appendix 1 as referenced at paragraph 5, page 21 of the report, is the summary at paragraph 1 on page 23 of the report. The officer agreed.

The Chairman invited Members to ask questions. 

The Chairman took Members to a vote on the recommendations, seconded by the Vice Chairman, which were agreed unanimously with 5 in favour.

RESOLVED

The Committee recommended the following to the full Council:

(i)         that no new borrowing has been necessary in the 6 months to 30th September 2022 and the outstanding borrowing has reduced from £2.123m at 31 March 2022 to £1.901m.

(ii)        the increase in investments from £77.636m at 31 March 2022 to £88.175m at 30 September 2022 (both figures exclude the £6m investment in the CCLA Local Authorities’ Property Fund).

Louise Duffield, Director of Resources and Organisational Development introduced the report, setting out the Treasury Management functions of MSDC and the governance arrangements in place along with the options and alternatives when considering the renewal of the SLA. She advised given the size of the Council, the appropriate and affordable solution and appropriate risk management is to extend the SLA with Adur & Worthing Councils under delegated authority by the interim Head of Corporate Resources, Stephen Fitzgerald.

The Chairman took Members to a vote on the recommendations, seconded by the Vice Chairman, which were agreed unanimously with 5 in favour.

RESOLVED

The Committee:

(i)         Noted the contents of the report

(ii)        Made any comments on the proposed arrangements

(iii)       Approved the exercise of delegated authority by the interim Head of    Corporate Resources to extend the Shared Service Agreement

Louise Duffield, Director of Resources and Organisational Development, introduced the report which presented the programme of items for the remainder of the financial year. She advised the Committee the training session scheduled for 13^th December was confirmed and would be delivered by Link Services. She invited the Chairman to consider holding the training virtually via Teams.

The Chairman asked Members by show of hands whether to hold the training virtually, via Teams. This was confirmed by the Committee.

The Chairman took Members to a vote on the recommendation, seconded by the Vice Chairman, Councillor Stockwell which were agreed unanimously with 5 in favour.

RESOLVED

The Committee noted the Work Programme for 2022/23 as set out at paragraph 5 of the report.

The Chairman confirmed he has no questions.