Councillor Richard Marston moved, and seconded by Councillor Nick Draper.

RESOLVED:

That Councillor Nick Emmerson be elected as Chair for 2016/17.

Councillor Agatha Akyigyina , and seconded by Councillor Richard Marston.

RESOLVED:

That Councillor David Williams be elected as Vice- Chair for 2016/17.

Apologies were received from Councillors Trish Fivey (LB Sutton), and Graham Whitham (LB Sutton).

Councillor Nick Emmerson declared in the interest of openness and transparency he was a Sutton Council Nominee as a Board Member on Sutton Housing Partnership

That the minutes of the meeting held on 26 February 2016 are agreed as a correct record.

The Board then sought updates on a number of the actions detailed in the minutes, including on the re-negotiation over the lease for the Green Lane Stables, where the Board were informed that the break clause proposal was accepted and the new leases should be finalised by the end of the month.  In respect of the specification for a scheme to resolve the flooding issues a report on this should be ready for an autumn meeting of the Board.

It was noted that the update on the pension information would be dealt with under item 9.

RESOLVED:

That Lisa Jewell, Democratic Services Officer, London Borough of Merton, be appointed as the Clerk to the Board with effect from 1 September 2016.

The Board asked that their thanks be recorded to the departing Clerk to the Board, Chris Pedlow, for all his hard work supporting the Board.

The Board’s Treasurer presented the report which set out the Merton and Sutton Joint Cemetery Board’s Accounts for 2015-16. It was noted that the accounts needed to be approved to comply with the CIPFA Accounting Code of Practice which was compliant with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

The board received a tabled updated version of the Capital accounts for the year ended 31st March 2016.

The report provided the Board with a copy of the Draft Abstract of Accounts for 2015-16, Annual Audit Return for 2015-16 and Risk Register for their consideration and approval. It was noted that the accounts had been scrutinised by Merton’s internal auditors and that the report also sought approval to appoint an external auditor Littlejohn LLP to audit and sign off the accounts.

In considering the report the Board asked the Treasurer a number of questions including seeking clarification over the buildings being categorised as depreciative items, rather than cost neutral facilities like other council buildings.

RESOLVED

That the Board:

1).    notes the contents of paragraph 2.8 within the report

2).    approves the Draft Abstract of Accounts for 2015-16

3).    approves the Annual Audit Return for 2015-16

4).    approves the Risk Register attached as Appendix H of the report

The Board’s Treasurer presented the Annual Governance Statement, which was required in order to comply with Regulation 6 (1b) of the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015. It was noted that the statement provides assurance to all stakeholders that the Board utilised the established processes and systems of Merton Council’s processes and systems to ensure that decisions were properly made and scrutinised, and that public money was being spent economically and effectively to ensure maximum benefit to all citizens of both boroughs.

The Board noted the report and the audit requirement for having the statement. They asked as it was a yearly report, would it be possibly that the changes from year to year be highlighted via bolding new elements within the report and striking through aspects which have been deleted. The Treasurer confirmed it would possible to do this and she would be happy to commence this process going forward.

RESOLVED

1).    That the Annual Governance Statement be noted and agreed

2).    That for future years that any changes made to the Annual Governance Statement, be shown by bolding new elements and striking through aspects which have been deleted.

To RESOLVE that the public are excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following report(s) on the grounds that it is (they are) exempt from disclosure for the reasons stated in the report(s).

RESOLVED

That the public were excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following reports on the grounds that they were exempt from disclosure for the reasons stated in the reports.

The minutes for this item are not for Publication

By Virtue of paragraph 1 and 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A

Of the Local Government Act 1972

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Councillor West, through the Chair presented the Board’s Surveyor with a request from a junior football club (Motspur Park FC) over a proposal to rent some of the Board land for training pitches. The Board asked that the Surveyor examines the proposal and provides a report back for the next meeting on its viability.