Agenda and minutes

Any substitute members should declare their substitution.

Members and officers must declare any disclosable pecuniary interests in relation to any business on the agenda.  Declarations should also be made at any stage such an interest becomes apparent during the meeting. 

If in doubt contact the Legal or Democratic Services representative for this meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the minutes of the Joint Audit & Governance Committee meeting held on 26 September 2023, copies of which have been previously circulated.

Resolved: that the minutes of the meeting of the 26th September 2023 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any questions from members of the public.

Questions should be submitted by noon on Thursday 16 November 2023 to Democratic Services, democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk

(Note: Public Question Time will operate for a maximum of 30 minutes)

A resident asked the following question; “In the papers it recently said there are currently 350 residents being housed in temporary accommodation outside the borough and this cost is being met through Council Tax charged to Worthing residents. What is the monthly cost to the Worthing Council Tax payers to cover this? Also, what is the total monthly cost of Housing Benefit (paid from Worthing Council Tax) that is outside Council House accommodation?”

The resident was informed that in the article they referenced there was no mention of council tax meeting costs for temporary accommodation. The majority of homeless households to whom the council owed a duty were Worthing residents prior to becoming homeless and they would have been in receipt of housing costs in their accommodation e.g. private rented sector, prior to becoming homeless

Council tax was just one element of funding of the overall Council budget contributing 26% of the funding of the  2023/24 budget. Other funding came from government funding ring fenced to meet homeless duties, income from Business Rates, Investments income and other income from fees and charges.  

Housing Benefit costs for households in temporary accommodation was paid for from grants awarded by the Department for Work and Pensions, and was not funded from council tax.

Councillors who are not members of this committee can ask questions under CPR 12  Questions should be relevant to the committee where the question is being asked and also relevant to an item on the agenda. Please contact Democratic Services for more information

Members question time is 30 minutes and questions should be submitted no later than 12.00 noon on Thursday 16th November 2023.

Questions should be submitted to Democratic Services democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk 

(Note: Members’ Question Time will operate for a maximum of 30 minutes.)

There were no questions from Members

To consider any items the Chairman of the meeting considers to be urgent.

There were no urgent items

To consider a report by the Director for Resources & Sustainability copy attached as item 7.

The Committee had a report before it attached as item 7, which had been circulated to all Members, a copy of which is attached to a signed copy of these minutes. The purpose of this and the other treasury management reports that were submitted during the year was to ensure that proper scrutiny was undertaken of the treasury and capital expenditure activities of the Councils and that the activities were conducted in a prudent manner in order to safeguard the financial position of the Councils.

Members asked about the reprofiled capital expenditure, matured investments, the difference in figures of current and estimated expenditure, the impact of the capital programme on the treasury function and the rate of some historical loans.

Members were informed that officers were not focussing so much on what had been reprofiled and more the end results with an update coming in the capital monitoring report. The timing of this report provided a snapshot as of the 31st of September 2023 and that the capital monitoring report would provide further clarity. That officers modelled the cash flow on the capital programme, looking at monthly updates on the delivery of that and that challenges faced by the capital scheme meant a lot of planned expenditure was being moved into future years.

Members debated and voted unanimously in favour that capital expenditure estimates should be included in the treasury report to the fullest extent possible so that the impact of the treasury function could be assessed

Resolved: 

The Joint Audit and Governance Committee

• Noted the contents of the report;
• Agreed that capital expenditure estimates should be included in the treasury report to the fullest extent possible so that the impact of the treasury function could be assessed.

To consider a report by the Director for Resources & Sustainability copy attached as item 8.

The Committee had a report before it attached as item 8, which had been circulated to all Members, a copy of which is attached to the signed copy of these minutes.

Local authorities were required to review their polling districts and polling places for United Kingdom constituencies at least once every five years. The purpose of the review was to assess the size of the electorate in each polling district as well as the suitability of the location and access to each polling place and the number of polling stations located at each polling place.

Members asked about St. Andrews Church, Worthing College, the consultation dates, raising more awareness when a polling station changed location and when a new polling station requirement was identified.

Members were informed their feedback on sites would be passed back to the elections team and that it was the electoral commission and parliamentary boundaries that decided on how many polling stations were required in an area.

Resolved: 

The Joint Audit and Governance Committee noted the contents of the report.