FGPC May 2019 Minutes
Deeping St James Parish Council
The Institute, 38 Church Street, Deeping St James, Peterborough PE6 8HD
e-mail: clerk.dsjpc@btconnect.com
Tel: 01778 343266
Webpage: parishes.lincolnshire.gov.uk/deepingstjames
Parish Clerk: Julie Fortnum
The minutes of the meeting of the Finance and General Purposes Committee held on Thursday 23 May 2019 at 7.45pm in the Meeting Room at The Institute.
Present: Councillors Blessett, Bowell, Gilbert, Halls, Hosking and Shinkins-Hoppe
The minutes were taken by the Parish Clerk
1.20 To elect a Chairperson.
Councillor Shinkins-Hoppe proposed that the former Chairperson Councillor Gilbert continued in the role, however Councillor Gilbert is now Chairperson of the Council so he did not feel this was appropriate. Councillor Halls then proposed Councillor Bowell which was seconded by Councillor Shinkins-Hoppe and Resolved
2.20 To receive apologies of absence.
Apologies had been received from and were accepted from Councillor Stevens
3.20 To receive any declarations of interest.
None declared.
4.20 To adopt the minutes of the previous meeting held on Thursday 21 March 2019
Agreed and signed as a true copy
5.20 To receive a report of matters arising from the minutes not dealt with elsewhere on the agenda.
Councillor Gilbert provided an update on the process that was required to remove and add signatories to the Barclays Bank account which had taken up a lot of both the Clerks and his own time. Any amendments to the account needed to be authorised by Councillor Gilbert as the Chairperson so he had been required to visit the Peterborough branch to verify his identity. This would also be required of any new signatories who were not Barclays customers.
6.20 To receive a report on the Internal Auditor’s findings and consider future requirements.
The Clerk had contacted the Internal Auditor on 16 April 2019 setting out the Parish Council’s requirements for future internal audits after guidance had been printed in the Society of Local Council’s Clerk magazine The Clerk which had led to the Internal Auditor offering to complete the audit for the financial year 2018/19 but do not more work for the Parish Council. The internal Auditor has completed and signed the Annual Internal Audit Report section of the Annual Governance and Accountability return but no report was provided. Another provider has offered their services to the Parish Council and is available to complete future audits however it was suggested that the Parish Clerk contacts neighbouring Council’s and LALC to see if any other applicants were available and also places an advert in a local publication. Councillor Hosking and Gilbert also offered to see if the organisations they are involved in knew of anyone who would be interested.
7.20 To receive an update on the new accounts package.
Set up had been completed on the new accounting package which was now ready for use and the Parish Clerk would share the first reports from it at the committee meeting scheduled to be held on 18 July 2019
8.20 To consider the revised Strategic plan
After lengthy discussion which included acknowledging all the work Councillor Bowell had done to date and airing concerns about how onerous having a plan could be and apprehensions about how the contents would be perceived the committee agreed to recommend to full council that the Parish Council should have a strategic plan and that a working party should be formed to progress towards creating one.
9.20 To consider the terms of reference and delegated powers for this committee that are within the Parish Council’s Standing Orders
Terms of reference
It was agreed to recommend that the wording ‘the requirements of the Accounts & Audit Regulations 2015 state in point (v) should be changed to read ‘current legislation’ and that the wording in point (vi) should be changed to ‘Ensure that the Annual Governance and Accountability Return has been prepared by the Responsible Financial Officer for approval by Council prior to the required deadline’
It was agreed that the delegated powers should remain the same.
10.20 To review the following policies:
Complaints – It was agreed to recommend to Council that the following changes should be made:
The wording should be amended to become gender neutral
Health and safety – It was agreed to recommend to the Council that the following changes should be made:
Any mention of specific regulations should be altered to read current regulations
The wording should be amended to become gender neutral
The Shed the Village Cross and the leased self-storage container unit should be added under point 2.2
An additional First Aid Box should be purchased for the newly appointed maintenance worker and details added to point 3.1
A time scale of twice a year to check the contents of the First Aid Boxes should be added to point 3.2
Point a) of Annex 1 – Offices should be amended to read ‘temperature must be maintained as stated in current legislation
Risk management – It was agreed to recommend to the Council that the following changes should be made:
Financial controls and records - the words ‘Accountant and checked by’ should be removed, the word ‘quarterly’ should be added after Council and the words ‘triple authorisation of BACS payments’ should be added.
Comply with VAT regulations – the words ‘Bookkeeper and checked by’ should be removed and the words ‘as Responsible Financial Officer’ should be added after Parish Clerk.
Legal Liability as a consequence of asset ownership – change the word playgrounds to play equipment, add the words ‘quarterly inspection of bus shelters and report on condition provided by an external contractor’ and add the words ‘weekly inspection of defibrillator and cabinet’
Comply with HMRC requirements – change the word ‘Accountant’ to ‘Payroll Provider’
Code of Conduct, registers of interest and gifts of hospitality – add the words ‘a copy of these documents is kept in the Parish Council offices, shared with SKDC and made available to the public on via the webpage’
11.20 Date of next meeting
It was agreed that the next meeting would be at 7.45pm on 18 July 2019