Agenda and minutes

To note the attendance at this meeting of any duly appointed Reserve Members.

Reserve Members may attend meetings:-

(i)                 to take the place of an ordinary Member for whom they are a reserve;

(ii)               where the ordinary Member will be absent for the whole of the meeting; and

(iii)             the meeting notes at the start of the meeting at the item ‘Reserves’ that the Reserve Member is or will be attending as a reserve;

(iv)              if a Reserve Member whose intention to attend has been noted arrives after the commencement of the meeting, then that Reserve Member can only act as a Member from the start of the next item of business on the agenda after his/her arrival.

RESOLVED:  To note the attendance at this meeting of the following duly appointed Reserve Member:-

To receive declarations of personal or prejudicial interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from:

(a)               all Members of the Committee, Sub Committee, Panel or Forum;

(b)               all other Members present in any part of the room or chamber.

RESOLVED:  To note that the following interests were declared:

Agenda Item 5 – Internal Audit Review: Grants to Voluntary Organisations

Councillor Nana Asante declared a personal interest in that she had chaired the Scrutiny Challenge Panel that had originally considered the audit report.  She would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered and voted upon.

Councillor Susan Anderson declared a personal interest in that she had been a Member of the Scrutiny Challenge Panel that had considered the audit report.  She would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered and voted upon.

To receive deputations (if any) under the provisions of Executive Procedure Rule 50 (Part 4D of the Constitution).

[Note:  The Panel’s policy (Minute 60:  28.07.03) in principle is not to receive deputations relating to individual grant applications].

[Note:  The Panel's policy (Minute 13: 06.07.06) is to receive deputations annually at its November meeting].

RESOLVED:  To note that no deputations were received.

To resolve that the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business, on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of confidential information in breach of an obligation of confidence, or of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972:

RESOLVED:  That the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item for the reasons set out below:

Report of the Director Legal and Governance Services.

The Panel received a confidential internal audit report, which had been requested by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to consider the way in which the Council’s Grants Programme operated and agreed by Internal Audit for inclusion in the 2010/11 Internal Audit Plan as an emerging risk.  The Chairman informed Members that the meeting had been called to allow the Grants Advisory Panel to consider the report before considering the grant applications for 2011/12.

An officer explained that the audit report had requested that the Grants Advisory Panel respond to the following two recommendations:

·                    that, in the future, all funding decisions should be made in line with the set criteria to ensure that there is transparency of recommendations made by Members;

·                    that the criteria, once set, are adhered to in order to prevent overspending and to avoid placing further pressure on the Council’s overall budget.

Members stated that they agreed with the recommendations in principle, but that the Panel should be involved in the development of the assessment criteria.  It was also felt that the Panel should have the opportunity to consider the audit report in full at a future meeting.

RESOLVED:  That

(1)               the report be noted;

(2)               the internal audit review be considered in full at a future meeting of the Grants Advisory Panel.