Agenda and minutes

Nominations were invited for the appointment of Chair of this Joint Committee for the remainder of the Municipal Year. 

Resolved – That Councillor Rawlinson (Preston City Council) be appointed Chair of this Joint Committee for the remainder of the Municipal Year. 

To confirm the minutes of a meeting of this Joint Committee held on 10 December 2013. 

Resolved - That the minutes of the meeting of the Joint Committee held on 10 December 2013 be confirmed as a correct record.

To receive any declarations of interest from Members. 

There were none. 

Report enclosed. 

The Section 151 Officer (Preston City Council) submitted a report on the preparation of the Shared Services Statement of Accounts which provides a true and fair view of the financial position of the Shared Service at the accounting date and its income and expenditure for the year ended 31 March 2014.

The Partnership prepared its statutory Annual Accounts and supporting financial statements in accordance with applicable laws and regulations and in line with the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting in United Kingdom 2013/14 (The Code). 

The Principal Accountant (Preston City Council) identified one error set out within the Statement of Accounts 2013/14, that being on page eight of the printed agenda, under ‘Variance’ the (A) after (122) should read (F) as it is a favourable variance. 

Resolved – That the Joint Committee approves the unaudited Statement of Accounts for 2013/14, as set out in Appendix A (as amended). 

Report enclosed. 

The Governance Director (Preston City Council) submitted a report informing Members on the content of the Annual Governance Statement for 2013/14.  The Annual Governance Statement was set out in Appendix A to the report together with a summary table documenting recent audit work undertaken in relation to the Shared Service set out as Appendix B. 

The Assistant Director (Head of Revenues and Benefits) advised Members that both the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Joint Committee were required to sign the Annual Governance Statement and therefore the Joint Committee would need to appoint a Vice-Chair if it wished to approve the Statement. 

Resolved –

(i) That Councillor Bryning be appointed Vice-Chair of the Joint Committee for the remainder of the Municipal year; and

(ii) that the Joint Committee approves the Annual Governance Statement as set out in Appendix A to the report. 

To be discussed. 

The next meeting of the Shared Revenues and Benefits Service Joint Committee will be arranged at a later date. 

To consider passing the following resolution:

“That the public be excluded from this meeting during consideration of the following item(s) of business on the grounds that there is likely to be a disclosure of exempt information which is described in the paragraph(s) of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 which is specified against the heading(s) to each item, and that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing it.” 

Resolved:

That the public be excluded from this meeting during consideration of the following item of business on the grounds that there is likely to be a disclosure of exempt information which is described in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, and that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing it. 

Report enclosed. 

The Assistant Director (Head of Revenues and Benefits) submitted a report on the formal shared service arrangement between Lancaster and Preston City Councils which was entered into with effect from 1 July 2011 to provide a Revenues and Benefits service across both City Council areas. 

In line with the agreement a refreshed Business Plan for the three year period 2014 – 2017, incorporating the key performance indicators for the service together with ongoing projects and future challenges, was submitted for consideration. The Business Plan also contained a financial appraisal of the budget requirement for 2014/15, approved at the previous meeting. 

The Assistant Director identified one error set out within the Business Plan 2014 - 2017, that being on page 38 of the printed agenda, under ‘Variance’ the (A) after (122) should read (F) as it is a favourable variance. 

Resolved - The Joint Committee approved the Business Plan 2014 – 2017,

as amended.