Apologies for absence were received from: Councillors Janice Howard and David Williams.

None

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the meeting held on 12 March 2014 be agreed as a correct record.

The report was NOTED.

Introducing the report, Paul King (External Auditor) explained that the downward trend for the amount of fees for Certification of claims and returns (shown in the table on page 16) was due to fewer claims being certified than in previous years.

It was noted that on page 16 (3^rd para.) “audit for 2012/13” should read “audit for 2013/14”.

The report was NOTED.

It was noted that on page 20 (1^st line) “audit for 2012/13” should read “audit for 2013/14”.

The report was NOTED.

Paul King (External Auditor) explained that this report was mainly for information.

It was noted that by the time this regular report was submitted to the Committee, some of the information in the report could potentially be out of date.

As indicated below, the Committee agreed that this regular report be no longer included on the Committee agenda, but circulated separately to Committee members.  The Chair indicated that if any Councillor wished to raise an issue included in a circulated Briefing, then they should contact the Chair or the Director of Corporate Services, so that the issue could be added to the Committee agenda.

RESOLVED: That (1) the External Auditor’s Sector Briefing reports be no longer included on the Committee agenda, but circulated separately to Committee members; and

(2) the report be NOTED.

1. Introducing the report, Margaret Culleton (Head of Audit and Investigations) indicated that in relation to the 14 overdue actions related to schools (para. 4.3 on page 63 refers), the schools concerned had promised to submit responses in the next few weeks.

2. In response to a query about the Council’s new responsibilities under the Care Act and the last sentence of paragraph 2.7 (on page 37) stating “Funding will be provided to Local Authorities to support adult social care.”, Caroline Holland (Director of Corporate Services) advised that whilst the Council would receive some funding, it was not known whether this would be sufficient for the Council’s new responsibilities.

3. Reference was made to paragraph 7.21 of the Statement (on page 48) referring to the annual report presented to Council outlining the work of the overview and scrutiny function.  A Member suggested that an extra paragraph be also added referring to the report compiled annually outlining the work of the Borough Plan Advisory Committee (BPAC).  Caroline Holland undertook to look into the matter.

4. Procurement - A Member indicated that the appendix referred to in Minute (9) (Procurement) of the previous meeting (on page 5 of this June agenda) had yet to be circulated to Members.  The Chair requested that the Democratic Services Officer follow this up with Simon Williams (Director of Community and Housing).

RESOLVED: That the General Purposes Committee -

(1) agrees the Annual Governance Statement; and

(2) NOTES the Internal Audit Annual Report 2013/14.

RESOLVED: That the General Purposes Committee agrees that the compulsory review of UK Parliamentary polling districts and polling places should now take place.

1. The Committee considered each of the recommendations 1-7 set out in the Ernst and Young report “Review of anonymous whistleblowing statement” (and also detailed below in italics for ease of reference).  Each recommendation was introduced by Paul Evans (Assistant Director, Corporate Governance) with further comments as needed from Dean Shoesmith (Joint Head of Human Resources), and then discussed by Members.

Recommendation (1) That the Council should review the use of single price quotation forms, particularly in respect of the justifications required to be documented and the approval process for their use, and report back to the Committee in June;

Recommendation (2) That officers should report all prospective interim and consultancy positions to HR and that HR should be responsible for maintaining a central database of all prospective and live roles filled by interim and consultancy appointments; and that a mechanism is built in to allow monitoring of this register at Member level;

Recommendation (3) That HR should challenge departments on their use of long term interim and consultancy appointments (over six months), the rates which are being paid and ensure that external recruitment is considered;

Recommendation (4) That HR should be involved in any recruitment process, including the recruitment of interim managers;

Recommendation (5) That Council should review its interview process and the policy on the number of interviewers required, including in relation to the appointment of interim managers;

Recommendation (6) That the Council should review its policy on declarations of interest to include personal friendships; and

Recommendation (7) That the Council should communicate to all Council officers any revisions it makes to its procurement policies.

2. Recommendation (1) – Paul Evans highlighted that in future it was proposed that any exemptions from Contract Standing Orders would need to be signed off by the Head of Commercial Services in addition to the Director of Corporate Services, which would mean that managers would need to discuss the appropriateness of any proposed exemption in advance with the Head of Commercial Services. 

2.1 Paul Evans confirmed that the failure of a manager to forward plan would not be a justifiable reason to use the exemption process; and that the use of the exemption process would need to be monitored.

2.2 Members noted that the proposed guidance to mangers included a statement in bold block capitals “PLEASE NOTE AN EXEMPTION CAN ONLY BE GRANTED IN EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES” (as shown on agenda page 83) but were concerned that managers were made aware that exceptional does mean exceptional circumstances such as an emergency or where normal processes hadn’t produced the necessary results.  The Committee agreed that the wording of the guidance to managers on exemptions to Contract Standing Orders be reinforced (as shown below), and Paul Evans confirmed that this could be done.

3. Recommendations (2), (3) & (4) – There was extensive discussion of the proposed response to these recommendations relating to the recruitment of (temporary) interim or consultancy staff, and particularly the requirement for HR to be involved in any recruitment process including  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

Reference was made to the monitoring report on the recruitment of interim or consultancy staff to be submitted to the September meeting further to the discussion on the previous item (10) (Response to Ernest and Young Report – “Review of anonymous whistleblowing statement”).

Paul King (External Auditor) also indicated that the work programme should be updated as follows -
(a) move “External auditor: Fee letters for audit for the Council and Pension Fund” from March to June; and
(b) move “External auditor: Audit results report” from November to September.

Street Management Advisory Committee (SMAC) - Reference was made to possible governance issues arising from SMAC not being re-established by Cabinet for 2014/15.  It was noted that such matters came within the purview of the Leader’s scheme of delegation. 

A Member indicated that future SMAC meeting dates were still on the Council calendar.  The Democratic Services Officer undertook to check on this.

Reason for Urgency: The Chair had approved the submission of this report as a matter of urgency so as to enable the Committee to make recommendations for consideration by the Council on 9 July 2014.

RESOLVED: That the General Purposes Committee recommends to the Council the following for adoption:

A. Not to exercise the discretion on Shared Cost Additional Pension Contributions – (SCAPCs) or Shared Contribution AVCs (SCAVCs) but to review annually (see paragraph 2.4 Option d)).

B. Flexible retirement - agree to the option whereby the Council exercises the discretionary power to continue to adopt a Flexible Retirement policy from 1 April 2014 but only to exercise the discretionary power to waive the actuarial reduction in exceptional cases where the Director of Corporate Services considers it to be justified on financial, equal opportunity or other relevant grounds (see paragraph 2.19 Option c)).

C. Waiving Actuarial Reduction for early payment of benefits - not to waive the actuarial reduction for early payment of pension benefits at the request of a current employee but to review annually (see paragraph 2.23 Option c)).

D. Not to exercise the discretion to ‘switch on’ the 85 year rule for members who choose to voluntarily draw their benefits from age 55 (see paragraph 2.24 Option c)) but to review annually.

E. Award of additional pension – not to use the discretion to award additional pension contributions (see paragraph 2.25 Option c)) but to review annually.

F. To agree to continue the discretion to continue the provision for deferred benefits to be brought into payment on compassionate grounds for pre 2014 deferred members.  The discretion will not normally be exercised, but the Director of Corporate Services will consider applications (see paragraph 2.28 Option b)).

(Note: Under A, C, D and E, an annual review would be undertaken by CMT (Council’s Management Team) and the General Purposes Committee.)

1. Reason for Urgency: The Chair had approved the submission of this report as a matter of urgency so as to enable the Committee to comment before the final date for signing off the Statement (30 June 2014).

2. Caroline Holland (Director of Corporate Services) introduced the report and then responded to queries including on the increase in Capital Receipts, the restrictions on the use of Capital Receipts for revenue projects; and the use of reserves and Capital Receipts to decrease borrowing requirements; and advised that, despite the increase in reserves, there would still be a need to borrow funding to build any proposed new secondary school. 

3. Caroline Holland undertook to circulate to Members details of the reasons for the unexpected increase in Capital Receipts.

4. Caroline Holland also advised that the Pension Fund Account had been submitted to the Pension Fund Account Panel on 24 June 2014 and that whilst the Panel members had some queries, they had been on the whole happy with the accounts.

5. Caroline Holland indicated that the recent Government restrictions on the use of CCTV vehicles to enforce parking restrictions would have little effect on Merton’s parking revenues as the Council carried out little on-street CCTV enforcement.

RESOLVED: That the General Purposes Committee notes the draft Statement of Accounts for the Council for the year ended 31^st March 2014 before they are authorised (subject to any final minor drafting, numerical and amendments) by the Section 151 Officer at a date up to the latest of 30 June 2014.