Issue - meetings

That the report be noted and actions endorsed.

The Democracy & Governance Manager introduced a report on the second informal briefing meeting between Audit Committee members and Overview & Scrutiny Chairs/Vice-Chairs held on 7 October 2013.  Notes of both the first and second meetings were appended to the report showing actions arising.  An action to consider changing the size of the Audit Committee membership was to be considered under the next item.

The Chair thanked Mr. Paul Williams for his involvement in promoting greater interaction between the Committee and Overview & Scrutiny.

The Chief Executive spoke of refinements to performance reporting to incorporate findings from Internal Audit reports.  The Internal Audit Manager said that despite having sought views from Overview & Scrutiny Chairs on the content of this information, no responses had been forthcoming.  Following similar consultation on a suggestion made by Mr. Williams on the non-implementation of recommendations, only Councillor Ellis had responded.  He suggested that this could be raised at the next informal meeting.

Councillor Tim Newhouse referred to the consultation which had been carried out by email and spoke of a problem in receiving some emails.  The Chief Executive agreed to liaise with the Head of ICT & Customer Services on this.

Councillor Ian Roberts referred to the rescheduling of one of the meetings due to the cancellation of another meeting.  Whilst accepting the need for a degree of flexibility in the Council’s diary of scheduled meetings, he raised concerns about the movement of some dates, particularly for Members who were in employment.

The Chair suggested that Members raise any issues arising from the rescheduling of meetings with the Democracy & Governance Manager.

As a point of accuracy, Councillor Glyn Banks pointed out that Mr. Williams had been listed with the councillors on the minutes of one of the informal meetings.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted and actions endorsed.