FINANCE COMMITTEE

Minutes of the meeting of the Finance Committee held at 7.30pm on Wednesday, 20 November 2002 at The Institute. Councillor Lewis, Chair, presided over Councillors Anderson, Chambers, Fisk, Stevens and the clerk. There were no members of the public present.

026 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE - none as all were present.

027 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST - none.

028 MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING

It was noted that the minutes of the meeting held on 17 October 2002 had been received at the Council Meeting held on 31 October 2002 without adverse comment. It was agreed that the minutes were a true and correct record and resolved to accept the minutes as read and adopted.

029 MATTERS ARISING

1.    The clerk confirmed that the External Auditors had indicated that the audit was expected to be completed before 31 December 2002. No problems have been reported to date.
2.    Members were delighted to learn that Mrs Carol Precey had accepted the role of Internal Auditor and noted that the first meeting with the clerk would be held shortly to identify the work programme.

030 CURRENT FINANCIAL POSITION

Members studied income and expenditure to date against the various budget heads and noted that the significant variance in the administration budget was caused through the additional workload on the clerk, approved at the meeting on 29 August 2002. It was further noted that some projects would probably not start in this financial year and this would need to be taken into account when setting next year’s budget at the precept meeting. The Committee was satisfied with the overall financial status of the Council.

The Committee agreed to meet every three months in order to assess the financial position and requested that the clerk provided a month-by-month analysis of income and expenditure against budget heads for these meetings. The clerk reported that, as a further measure of internal control, in future all accounts presented for approval would have the specific power in statute notated against the item in order to enable members to satisfy themselves that the Council was acted properly in incurring the expenditure. Items of expenditure that could only be met under the S.137 powers of the Local Government Act 1972 would be specifically highlighted.

031 FINANCIAL REGULATIONS

Members studied the draft document prepared by the clerk in accordance with the Council’s current practices, regulations contained within from the Accounts & Audit Regulations1996 and the recommendations of the National Association of Local Councils. Subject to two minor additions, the document was unanimously approved by the Committee and will be submitted to the next Council meeting for adoption.

032 FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT AND RISK ASSESSMENT

Members considered the clerk’s report which had been deferred from the last meeting and identified that progress has already been achieved in some areas. It was noted that this would require a rolling programme of work in order to review and document the Council’s policies and procedures but once in place, would provide a clear framework of practice. The Finance Committee agreed to recommend that:

·    Priority should be given to the Council’s information storage and handling systems.
·    All other areas identified should be in place by the end of the financial year.
·    The Finance Committee be delegated responsibility for ensuring that the Council approves policies in all areas identified other than those relating specifically to the cemetery, which should be delegated to the Cemetery Committee.
·    These Committees determine the frequency of subsequent reviews.
·    These Committees provide a regular report to the Council on the status of each item identified until all have been completed.

033 DATE OF NEXT MEETING To be arranged.

The meeting closed at 8.45pm.