14-06-18 Finance & General Purposes Committee

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CHEPPING WYCOMBE PARISH COUNCIL
Finance and General Purposes Committee

Meeting to be held on Thursday, 14 June 2018 commencing at 7.45pm
in the Council Chamber, Cock Lane, Tylers Green, High Wycombe, Bucks HP10 8DS

The meeting is open to members of the public and press

Committee Members: Cllr I Forbes Cllr C Leonard Cllr J Herschel
Cllr H Darch Cllr M Wilkes Cllr L Pinner
Cllr C Dodds Cllr J Gurney Cllr K Wood (ex-officio)
Cllr L Willis Cllr J Johnson

Members of the committee are summoned to consider the following business:

AGENDA
1. Apologies for absence

2. Declarations of members’ interests in agenda items

3. Election of Chairman of Committee

4. Election of Vice Chairman of Committee

5. Staff Matters
5.1 Staff Absence Report
5.2 Deputy Clerk update

6. Policies & Procedures
6.1 Information & Data Protection Policy
6.2 Retention & Disposal Policy
6.3 Management of Transferable Data Policy
6.4 Electronic Communication Policy
6.5 Data Breach Policy
6.6 Standing Orders 2018
6.7 Councillors Email Addresses
6.8 Parish Council Website
6.9 Freedom of Information Request
6.10 Salary Transparency

7. Health & Safety

8. Legal
8.1 Magpie Wood
8.2 Queensway Feedback

9. Neighbourhood Action Group

10. Grants

11. Community Infrastructure Levy

12. In-house Audit
12.1 In-house Auditors

13. Internal Audit

14. Annual Return & Governance Statement

15. Project Summary Status

16. Reserves Position & 2017/18 Net Actuals/Budget by Committee

17. Questions from council members and the public

18. Accounts for Payment
Wendy Thompson
Clerk to the Council
8 June 2018

AGENDA ITEM 3
Election of Chairman of Committee
Members are asked to ELECT a Committee Chairman to serve until the first Finance & General Purposes meeting of the new council year.

Members are asked to CONSIDER the following suggestions put forward for the position of Chairman:

Cllr J Herschel
Cllr I Forbes

The procedure for electing the chairman and vice chairman of the committee will be by secret ballot, by elimination, suspending Standing Orders, as resolved at the last full council meeting held on 13 March 2018

AGENDA ITEM 4
Election of Vice Chairman of Committee
Members are asked to ELECT a Committee Vice Chairman to serve until the first Finance & General Purposes meeting of the new council year.

Members are asked to CONSIDER the following suggestions put forward for the position of Vice Chairman:

Cllr H Darch
Cllr J Herschel
Cllr I Forbes

AGENDA ITEM 5
Staff Matters
5.1 Staff Absence Report
Members are asked to RECEIVE a report on the sickness absence of staff since the last committee meeting in February.

5.2 Deputy Clerk update
Members are asked to NOTE that following the interviews for the above post we have not been able to recruit. The position was offered to two candidates, neither of whom for different reason could accept the position.

Members are asked to NOTE that one of the above candidates is currently assisting in the office on a temporary basis until their house sale completes.

Members are asked to CONSIDER and APPROVE re-advertising the position after the summer break.

AGENDA ITEM 6
Policies and Procedures
Members are asked to CONSIDER and, if so minded, RECOMMEND for adoption at the next full council meeting the following policy documents which have been modified in line with SLCC recommendations for GDPR requirements;
6.1 Information & Data Protection Policy APPENDIX A
6.2 Retention & Disposal Policy APPENDIX B
6.3 Management of Transferable Data Policy APPENDIX C
6.4 Electronic Communication Policy APPENDIX D
6.5 Data Breach Policy APPENDIX E

6.6 Standing Orders 2018
Members are asked to CONSIDER the changes highlighted in yellow, bold type contain legal and statutory requirements and it is recommended that these be adopted without changing them or their meaning. Items highlighted in green and particular to the parish council and have been carried forward from previous iterations.
APPENDIX F

Members are asked to NOTE that only the amended areas have been provided as part of the agenda. If any councillor would like the whole document please contact the office and an electronic copy with be forwarded.
 

6.7 Councillors Email Addresses
Members are asked to CONSIDER and, if so minded, APPROVE setting up a ‘for council use only’ email address, this could either be via our IT company Triumph Technologies who have given the following options;
1. £7.50 + VAT per mailbox per month – you can use your cwpc.org.uk name and we will store your emails in Thame and you get Triumph Tech Support.
2. Office 365 will be £4.99 + VAT per mailbox per month – you can use your cwpc.org.uk name but you will be in a very large pond for support.
3. Free emails such as Googlemail. You won’t have any control over the accounts and you won’t be able to use your cwpc.org.uk name.

6.8 Parish Council Website
Members are asked to NOTE that a draft specification for an updated website has been received and is currently being reviewed by the clerk.

Members are asked to volunteer to be part of a working party for take the project forward.

6.9 Freedom of Information Request
Members are asked to NOTE that a FOI was received in relation to the LED lighting project and this was successfully handled, with input from Cllr Herschel, Cllr Dodds and Zeta Specialist Lighting.

6.10 Salary Transparency
Members are asked to CONSIDER and APPROVE one of the following options for inclusion on the parish council website. The following extract taken from THE GOOD COUNCILLOR’S GUIDE TO FINANCE AND TRANSPARENCY as a guideline;

‘Senior salaries and organisation chart
Local councils must publish:
• number of employees whose remuneration in that year was at least £50,000 (in brackets of £5,000)
• pay multiple – the ratio between the highest paid taxable earnings and the median earnings figure
of the whole of the council workforce
• an organisation chart covering staff whose salary exceeds £50,000 – Information for each member of staff included in the organisation chart required:
• grade
• job title
• department and/or team
• permanent or temporary staff
• contact details
• salary in £5,000 brackets
• salary ceiling (maximum salary for the grade)’

Alternatively, a chart as attached at APPENDIX G which shows the current salary levels of members of staff.

AGENDA ITEM 7
Health & Safety
Members are asked to NOTE that there have been no incidents since the last committee meeting in February 2018.

AGENDA ITEM 8
Legal
8.1 Magpie Wood
Members are asked to NOTE that the current owner of Plot is now wishing to put the wood on the market. The clerk has contacted the owner to ascertain the potential price of the wood and is waiting for a reply.

8.2 Queensway Feedback
Members are asked to NOTE the minutes of the meeting held at the Wycombe District Council offices with Elaine Jewel relating to the use of the above piece of land for a cemetery. No further action by this Council is proposed. APPENDIX H
 

AGENDA ITEM 9
Neighbourhood Action Group
Members are asked to NOTE the minutes of the last NAG meeting held on Wednesday 28 February 2018 at Tylers Green Village Hall. APPENDIX I. The next meeting is due to be held on Thursday 12 July 2018.

AGENDA ITEM 10
Grants
Members are asked to CONSIDER the four grant requests as follows, with a view to making a recommendation to full council; the budget this year is £2,000.

The P&TGRS Village Pre-School – grant for contribution towards equipment for sensory area at £5,000
Requested amount £2,000.00 – form at APPENDIX J
Accounts provided only up to December 2016

Flackwell Heath & Loudwater Age Concern Day Centre – grant for contribution towards new minibus at £35,000
Requested amount £2,000.00 – form at APPENDIX K
Accounts provided up to March 2017

Tylers Green Middle School will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the school. We have plans to commemorate the event and also use this as a link to the community to rekindle those relationships with former parents, pupils, staff and governors as well as open our doors to the residents of the village today, to show what learning looks like in 2018.

Some suggestions of projects that we are focusing upon as part of our 50th anniversary.

• A commemorative rose bush/tree £300
• A time capsule for 2018 £250
• A whole school art project working with an artist to create a mosaic to be hung inside school reflecting the ethos and values of the school £1000

Crosses on the Common – grant would cover the cost of the Public Liability Insurance, materials for the crosses, paint, notice board, flagpole, lighting, low fencing around the crosses.
Requested amount £500.00 – form at APPENDIX L
AGENDA ITEM 11
Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)
Members are asked to NOTE that a further amount of £7,456.36 has been received for the financial year 2017/18 The CIL total now stands at £16,159.02 and this must be spent by 2021/22.

Members are also asked to NOTE that Wycombe District Council have asked us as a service provider to put forward projects for the use of the CIL funding held by WDC.

‘Project submissions should be submitted to cil@wycombe.gov.uk by 15 September 2018. Thereafter projects will be assessed against the funding that is available being put forward as part of the Council’s Capital Programme process which is typically considered by Cabinet and Council in February/March (2019).

WDC Cabinet made a decision on the broad allocations of CIL funding available to the District Council for three financial years at their September 2016 meeting. The broad allocation agreed from 2017/18 to 2019/20 is as follows;
Physical and Green Infrastructure* Social Infrastructure**
80% 20%
*Includes town centre regeneration, transport, green infrastructure, community and economic development initiatives that require infrastructure such as broadband provision
** Education (15%), Health (5%) ‘

AGENDA ITEM 12
In-house Audit
Members are asked to NOTE the in-house audit report attached at APPENDIX M

12.1 In-house Auditors
Members are asked to APPROVE a new member to the in-house audit team, Cllr Dodds being the audit lead for the current financial year 2018/19. The audit team will be asked to use the Governance and Accountability – A Practitioners Guide to undertake the audit.

AGENDA ITEM 13
Internal Audit
Members are asked to NOTE the report from the internal auditor. APPENDIX N

Members are asked to NOTE that the Clerk will be preparing a revised Fixed Asset Register for early submission to the internal auditor to seek his agreement to our new approach. Whilst the values have no apparent value and had been frozen in the light of advice received from Mazars they are in the public domain and we would wish them to be seen as correct.

AGENDA ITEM 14
Annual Return & Governance Statement
Members are asked to CONSIDER and, if so minded, RECOMMEND for approval and signature at the next full council meeting on 26 June 2018. APPENDIX O

AGENDA ITEM 15
Project Summary Status
Members are asked to NOTE the updated Project Summary Status form. APPENDIX P
AGENDA ITEM 16
Reserves Position & 2017/18 Net Actuals/Budget by Committee
Members are asked to NOTE the overview of the reserves at APPENDIX Q using the current advice from the internal auditor.

Members area also asked to NOTE the 2017/18 net actuals by committee APPENDIX R

AGENDA ITEM 17
Questions from council members and the public
A maximum of fifteen minutes will be given to members of the public, who may make representations, ask and answer questions and/or give evidence in respect of any item of business included in the agenda. If the chairman of the meeting agrees, representations and questions may be taken at the beginning of the meeting. Members of the public wishing to speak at the beginning of the meeting should inform the Clerk of this request as soon as possible.

AGENDA ITEM 18
Accounts for Payment
Accounts for payment are to be circulated at the meeting for consideration by councillors.

Date and time of next meeting: Thursday 11 October 2018 @ 7.30pm