Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence from Charter Trustees.

Apologies were received from Councillors S Anderson, N Hedges, C Johnson, T Johnson, A Jones, B Lawton and T Trent.

Charter Trustees 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 received for this meeting.

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 25 August 2020 and to consider any matters arising.

The minutes of the meeting held on 25 August 2020 were confirmed as a correct record.

There were no matters arising from the above meeting.

The Charter Mayor will report on her recent activities.

The Mayor reported on her activities since the last meeting of the Charter Trustees meeting on 25 August 2020 which included various virtual meetings such as Mayoralty Team catch ups and briefings, attending a meeting of Chesthelp and opening an Art Gallery in Bournemouth.  The Mayor confirmed that if anyone wanted to visit the Gallery it was in the Victorian arcade in Bournemouth Centre which included beautiful artwork from talented artists.

The Mayor reported that she had been contacted by the Moordown Traders Association indicating that the organisation was expected to cease shortly. She explained that there was a surplus of funds and that it was written into their constitution that should this happen there was a section which indicated that any leftover funds were allocated to the Mayor’s Charities which sadly but happily she would pass on to Streetscene and CALM which were the Charities she supported.  The Mayor reported that she looked forward to updating the Charter Trustees later in the year.

The Mayor highlighted that her escort Mrs Rae Stollard had been awarded the MBE for her services to the community.  She also reported that she had recommended five people for recognition for their work in the community at the request of the High Sheriff of Dorset who has also asked to extend his thanks to everyone for all their work during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Charter Trustees of Bournemouth achieved a favourable outturn position for the 2019/20 financial year, carrying forward reserves of £7,994 against a budget of £4,400.

The forecast for the 2020/21 financial year is that the Charter Trustees of Bournemouth will underspend significantly against the budget due to reduced activity caused by the Covid-19 restrictions. The forecast is that £37,519 of reserves could be achieved in-year against a budget of £4,400.

The Responsible Financial Officer (RFO) presented a report which provided an update on the budget, 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 Charter Trustees were advised that the report covered three areas backward looking into the financial outturn for 2019/20.  The RFO reported that at the August meeting of the Charter Trustees the high-level accounting statements had been approved and it was agreed that the detail of the statements would be submitted to this meeting. He explained that Appendix A to the report detailed the outturn position for last year against the approved budget and indicated a contribution to reserves of nearly £8k.  The RFO explained that the second part of the report looked at this year’s budget which shows due to Covid-19 that civic budgets had not been spent and if that continues in the same way it was expected that an additional £37k contribution would be made into reserves with closing reserves of just over £45K.  Officers recommended that arrangements be made for a budget workshop for the Charter Trustees towards the end of November in preparation for the budget for next year to take account of aspirations for Council tax, understanding the tax base, recharges and the use of reserves.

The Charter Trustees considered the nominations for the budget workshop.  It was suggested that this include the budget signatories, the current Mayor, previous Mayor and one other Charter Trustee.  It was also suggested that this workshop could be undertaken jointly with Poole and Christchurch if appropriate.

The Mayor called on Councillor Kelsey to report on the development of the risk register as detailed at item 7 on the agenda.  He reported on the work of a small group of Charter Trustees to ensure that the risks associated with the Charter Trustees including the role of charter trustees, governance arrangements, health and safety, equality and diversity, accommodation, consultation were addressed in the risk register.  He explained that it was proposed to report back to the Charter Trustees in January 2021. 

RESOLVED that

(a)  The Charter Trustees note the budget outturn position for 2019/20.

(b)  The Charter Trustees note the in-year budget position for 2020/21.

(c)  The Charter Trustees nominate members to form a budget workshop in November to discuss the draft budget for 2021/22 in accordance with the suggestion detailed above.

Voting: Agreed

Officers have made an application for the Charter Trustees to be registered under Section 33 of the VAT Act. If there are no delays to the statutory instrument then the Charter Trustees will be able to reclaim VAT from 4 November 2020, but will not be able to reclaim VAT retrospectively.

The Responsible Financial Officer (RFO) presented a report which updated on the VAT position, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'B' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The RFO reported that this report updated Charter Trustees on the process taken by Officers to make an application for the Charter Trustees to be registered under Section 33 of the VAT Act. He explained that if there were no delays to the statutory instrument then the Charter Trustees would be able to reclaim VAT from 4 November 2020 but, would not be able to reclaim VAT retrospectively.

The RFO reported that HMRC had advised officers that the Statutory Instrument had been laid before Parliament and from 4 November 2020 onwards the Charter Trustees can claim VAT but not respectively.  He explained that the report set out the process for registering and claiming VAT which depended on the legislation used to establish the Charter Trustees. The RFO reported that there were complexities which had been shown in the dealings with the HMRC in referring issues to their policy team. The RFO reported that the Charter Trustees had been set up alongside BCP Council and the priority was on a safe and legal landing.  The RFO reported that the initial assumption had been that the Charter Trustees in the first year would be able to reclaim VAT under the BCP Council umbrella and the reason was due to the complex precept setting rules that applied to the Charter Trustees in that first year.  He explained that BCP Council would anticipate the amount the Charter Trustees needed to run its budget, but that amount scored against the BCP Council’s Council Tax requirement and referendum limits so in terms of Council Tax legislation appeared to be part of the BCP Council funding.  As officers went through the process with the HMRC it became apparent that this was not the case and the Charter Trustees needed to be registered under section 33 of the relevant legislation in its own right.

RESOLVED that the Charter Trustees note the content of the report.

Voting: Agreed

The Charter Trustees will be updated on the development of the draft risk register.

Please see comments set above under the budget update report

To consider the role and responsibilities for the budget signatories.

The Deputy Head of Democratic Services reported on the roles and responsibilities framework which had be prepared for the budget signatories following the recommendation set out in the Internal Audit report agreed by the Charter Trustees at its last meeting.  Charter Trustees were asked to consider the document and make any amendments including considering the governance role of the budget signatories.

RESOLVED that the roles and responsibilities as circulated be agreed.

Voting – Agreed