Agenda and minutes

Audit and Governance Committee - Thursday, 19th December, 2019 10.30 am

Venue: HMS Phoebe, BCP Civic Centre, Bournemouth BH2 6DY. View directions

Contact: Bob Hanton - 01202 633031  Email: bob.hanton@bcpcouncil.gov.uk

Media

Items
No. Item

44.

Apologies

To receive any apologies for absence from Councillors.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Cox, Dunlop, Williams and White.

 

45.

Substitute Members

To receive information on any changes in the membership of the Committee.

 

Note – When a member of a Committee is unable to attend a meeting of a Committee or Sub-Committee, the relevant Political Group Leader (or their nominated representative) may, by notice to the Monitoring Officer (or their nominated representative) prior to the meeting, appoint a substitute member from within the same Political Group. The contact details on the front of this agenda should be used for notifications.

 

Minutes:

Councillor Borthwick attended as substitute for Councillor Williams. Councillor N Greene attended as substitute for Councillor Dunlop. Councillor Decent attended as substitute for Councillor White. Councillor Le Poidevin attended as substitute for Councillor Cox.

46.

Committee Membership

Minutes:

It was noted that, in accordance with a decision at Council on 17 December 2019, Councillor Brooke had replaced Councillor D Butt as a member of the Committee. The Chairman thanked Councillor Butt for his previous service on the Committee and welcomed Councillor Brooke to his first meeting.

47.

Declarations of Interests

Councillors are required to comply with the requirements of the Localism Act 2011 and the Council's Code of Conduct regarding Disclosable Pecuniary Interests.

Councillors are also required to disclose any other interests where a Councillor is a member of an external body or organisation where that membership involves a position of control or significant influence, including bodies to which the Council has made the appointment in line with the Council's Code of Conduct.

Declarations received will be reported at the meeting.

Minutes:

Councillor Bartlett declared an interest as the Council’s appointed representative on B H Live Enterprises Limited and Councillor Brooke declared an interest as the Council’s appointed representative on the Bournemouth Development Company.

48.

Confirmation of Minutes pdf icon PDF 433 KB

To confirm and sign as a correct record the minutes of the Meeting held on 14 November 2019.

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 14 November 2019 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

49.

Public Issues

To receive any public questions, statements or petitions submitted in accordance with the Constitution. Further information on the requirements for submitting these is available to view at the following link:-

https://democracy.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/documents/s2305/Public%20Items%20-%20Meeting%20Procedure%20Rules.pdf 

The deadline for the submission of public questions is Thursday 12 December 2019.

The deadline for the submission of a statement is 12.00 noon, Wednesday 18December 2019.

The deadline for the submission of a petition is 12.00 noon, Wednesday 18 December 2019.

Minutes:

There were no public issues.

50.

The establishment of the Capital Programme and the Management and Monitoring of Capital Project Budgets

To receive a presentation from Officers.

Minutes:

The Committee received a presentation in three parts about the BCP Council Capital Programme and about the way in which Capital Project budgets are managed and monitored. Members were reminded that the Capital Investment Programme had been agreed by the BCP Shadow Authority in February 2019 and comprised of the approved programmes of the legacy Councils.

The budget process was set out for the Committee and the description of the evolving budget recognised the context of variations and adjustments in delivery timetables since the programme was agreed and reflected new schemes coming forward. Sources of income were explained including external funding such a Governmental Grants and BCP Council sources such as reserves, capital receipts and borrowing. Details of specific Housing Revenue Account programmes were set out and the implications of the ring-fencing of these funding sources was explained. New schemes identified in-year were submitted to and appraised by the Capital Transformation Board and the process for approval by reference to capital scheme values was also explained.

The second part of the presentation outlined the implications of the Local Transport Plan (‘LTP’) process and its contribution to setting out a long-term strategic 15-year focus aimed at delivering against prescribed National transport goals. Funding was awarded on an annual basis through Integrated Transport and through Maintenance funding blocks and although the current Plan was LTP3, LTP4 was reported to be in the course of preparation. Financial support received through Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership (DLEP’) funding was also included within the detailed budgets presented.

Examples of how management and monitoring tools are used to control progress and expenditure on a staged basis and to assess and reduce identified project risks on a project by project basis were presented to the Committee. There was also a regular schedule of meetings with Contractors and Members identified the need for effective post-completion assessment of schemes so that ‘lessons learnt’ could be taken forward.

There were questions about the type of monitoring employed and the nature of the software used. There was also discussion around the specific issue of traffic improvement schemes in the vicinity of Schools and the particular challenges caused in terms of traffic planning.

Members highlighted the importance of quality Member involvement in the monitoring processes and the role of the Audit and Governance Committee in ensuring that robust programme monitoring was in place was underlined. It was also noted that the newly re-established Transportation Advisory Group was expected to have an input going forward.

It was suggested that formation of the new BCP Council was an opportunity to review current systems in place for involving the Audit and Governance Committee and setting out the key part that it could play and where the Committee could add value to the process. Officers undertook to take a fresh look at the current monitoring system and to report back to the Committee if any elements were considered to be lacking or worthy of improvement.

In the third part of the presentation the Governance model in respect  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

51.

Items for future meetings

Minutes:

The Chairman thanked the Officers involved in making the presentation to the Committee and for the questions submitted by Members and substitute members. He encouraged the Committee to continue to submit subjects such as this one for discussion at these additional meetings and invited emails on potential future areas for discussion.