FPPC April 2024 Minutes
DEEPING ST JAMES PARISH COUNCIL
The Institute, 38 Church Street, Deeping St James, PE6 8HD
E-mail: clerk@deepingstjames-pc.gov.uk
Tel: 01778 343266
Webpage: //deeping-st-james.parish.lincolnshire.gov.uk
Facebook: Deeping St James Parish Council
Parish Clerk: Julie Fortnum
Dear Councillors Bowell, Gilbert, Halls, Hosking, Shinkins-Hoppe, Smith and Stevens.
The minutes of the Finance, Policy and Personnel Committee meeting held in the meeting room at the Institute 38 Church Street Deeping St James PE6 8HD at 8.00pm on Tuesday 9 April 2024.
Present: Councillors Gilbert, Halls, Hosking, Shinkins-Hoppe and Stevens
24.45 To receive apologies of absence.
Apologies had been received and were accepted from Councillors Bowell and Smith
24.46 To receive any declarations of interest.
None declared.
24.47 To adopt the minutes of the previous meeting held on Tuesday 12 December 2023.
Agreed and signed.
24.48 To receive the Clerk’s report.
-The Clerk will arrange for the British Telecom account for broadband line calls and one domain (dsjpc.co.uk) to be reviewed along with the cancellation of a second domain (org.uk) to reduce the monthly costs.
-Councillor Gilbert has reviewed the current insurance schedule and upon receipt of the renewal paperwork (renewal is 1 June 2024) this will be amended if felt necessary.
-The ongoing issues with Barclays Bank are being resolved as the view only restriction to the accounts has been lifted and a dual authorisation system is now in place.
It was noted that of the three signatories Councillors Shinkins-Hoppe and Stevens had online access to act a dual authorisers however Councillor Gilbert had not. The Clerk was asked to contact the bank to resolve this.
-A request for information relating to the non-domestic rating of the Cemetery and premises (?) has been received which hopefully, when completed and returned, with an explanatory covering letter, will lead to the Cemetery once again receiving small business rate relief
24.49 To receive a report of the financial position as at 3 April 2024.
The contents of the report was noted.
24.50 To receive a report on the income and expenditure against budget for the period up to 31 March 2024.
The contents of the report were noted.
24.51 To consider the Internal Auditor’s interim report dated 18 March 2024.
Councillor Shinkins-Hoppe asked if the general reserves could be increased as recommended as those being held were at the lower end of the range identified within the Practitioners Guide (2023) for a Parish Council with expenditure approaching £200,000 pa. The Clerk advised that this could only be increased if a figure was included in the precept request so could not be considered until later this year. It was noted that the reserves had been increased by £7,464.00 to £61096.26 since the issue of the Internal Auditors report.
24.52 To agree to amend the wording of Standing Orders which were adopted in June 2023 to clarify a contradiction of responsibilities.
Councillor Gilbert advised that a previous resolution had been resolved bestowing delegated powers on the finance policy and personnel committee to prepare all councils policies and procedures, standing orders and financial regulations rather than them being reviewed at the annual parish council meeting as this meeting was always a busy one. It was agreed that the discovered contradiction of responsibilities could be rectified at eh June 2024 committee meeting as there were several other changes to standing orders that needed to be considered at that meeting too.
It was RESOLVED to move into closed session in accordance with the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 due to the confidential nature of the business to be discussed in relation to the following matter.
The Parish Clerk left the meeting.
24.53 To consider the minutes from the Personnel sub-committee meeting held on Monday 25 March 2024.
The recommendations brought forward by the Personnel sub-committee were agreed by this committee.
24.54 To agree the date of the next meeting – future dates to be agreed at the annual meeting of the Parish Council to be held on Tuesday 21 May 2024.