Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence from Councillors.

Apologies were received from Cllr D Butt and Cllr L Fear.

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.

Formal notification had been received appointing Cllr M Iyengar as substitute for Cllr D Butt and Cllr L Williams for Cllr L Fear.

Councillors are requested to declare any interests on items included in this agenda. Please refer to the workflow on the preceding page for guidance.

Declarations received will be reported at the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the Meeting held on 28 July 2022.

The minutes of the meeting held on 28 July 2022 were agreed as a correct record for signing by the Chairman.

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/ieListMeetings.aspx?CommitteeID=151&Info=1&bcr=1

The deadline for the submission of public questions is 4 clear working days before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a statement is midday the working day before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a petition is 10 working days before the meeting.

There were no public statements, questions or petitions received for this meeting.

A presentation to explain the Council’s insurance arrangements, including the types of covers the Council has and does not have in place, and to provide  the Committee with the opportunity to ask questions about the Council’s insurance arrangements    

The Head of Audit and Management Assurance and the Insrance & Risk Manager gave a presention, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'A' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The presentation provided an overview of the Council’s insurance arrangements, including the types of covers the Council does and does not have in place. The Committee were told that the Council’s annual internal and external insurance spend was £4.2 million. It was explained that this gross cost was not drawn entirely from the general fund. This  also included costs charged to the Housing Revenue Account (HRA)  relating to the Council’s housing stock. The cost of the Insurance team including 5 full-time employees and also normal excess payments is also included.

The Committee were told that BCP had inherited and been operating with a variety of insurance arrangements from the legacy Councils. April 2023 would be the first time that a fully tendered BCP insurance arrangement would be in place.

Members were informed that there are around 800 claims per year on aggregate. More specifically, 100 of these claims relate to buildings and contents. It was explained that an example of when the number of types of claim was high was when the area experienced storms and strong weather earlier in the year.

Third party claims totalled 475. Members heard that these claims often related to public liability and would normally be due to trips and slips, potholes or tree damage for example.

230 of the claims involved the Council’s other, more specific insurance policies. These include: business interruption, official’s indemnity, professional negligence, libel & slander, fidelity guarantee, motor, mechanical lifting bridges, engineering inspection, engineering insurance, fine art, personal accident & marine.

It was explained that the Council repudiated around 80% of the third party insurance claims it faced but would pay claims where legally liable. The Committee were told that the Council’s Insurance Team were responsible for observing trends with the  number of claims in order to monitor the Council’s statutory responsibilities were being fulfilled, such as the maintenance of potholes.

The Insurance & Risk Manager explained that when the need to claim on insurance arose, the Insurance Team would submit an electronic form to the insurer as soon as a damage or loss occurred. It was explained that not all events were insured and that the Council can, in most intances, choose what is covered. This selection of coverage is normally listed as ‘perils’, with differing levels of coverage applying to different premises or items.

The Committee were told about the variety of assets, events and situations that were covered in the Council’s insurance policy. These premium policies included but were not limited to: insurance of the two lifting  bridges in Poole, terrorism, drone flying, and select events such as the Air Festival. Members heard that it was not economic to insure all risks and that all decision that are made around insurance policies are balanced, this includes the tendering process.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 132.