Agenda item

Members continued their discussion of ITEM 6 concerning the Police’s financial statements in relation to the City Fund and Pensions Fund Financial Statements.

Members noted that the discussion had raised a couple of queries which could stray into exemption categories 1, 2 & 3 (information relating to an individual/likely to reveal the identity of an individual and information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person or body) under the Local Government Act 1972 and they therefore requested members of the public to temporarily leave the room. A record of the subsequent discussion is outlined below.

The Chairman noted that the Town Clerk’s proposals had been the subject of rigorous debate and had only been approved after several iterations had been rejected. He expressed the concern that the City was failing in its role as the Police Authority for CoLP. He reiterated that it should not be for officers or Members to interfere with the operational independence of the Commissioner, but, the current relationship between the City and CoLP, particularly on the subject of Finance, was flawed. How we got to a better place was up for debate and there was still nuance about the future structure (including the end game of shared services) but things had to change, He emphasised that his concerns about the Police’s financial systems and checks pre dated the end of year audit - the failings were not “a new story”.

The Commissioner responded that he had accepted the Town Clerk’s proposals at the end of last week and ultimately wanted to avoid a broken relationship. However, the discussion at Audit and Risk Management Committee was problematic, he emphasised that he was a steward of his position and wanted to ensure his successors had the tools and independence to operate effectively. He expressed concerns that, in the absence of a full time CoLP Finance Director (a previously vacant position), the Chamberlains department had not provided an adequate level of support. This had changed over recent months and the Commissioner was encouraged by the opportunities for future collaboration. He added that the discussions with IBM were ongoing, the £3.1m discussed earlier consisted of milestone payments, whilst the dispute was ongoing, payments would be rolled over to FY18/19.

The Chairman concluded by reminding Members that the latest position from the Town Clerk would form the basis of the future relationship between the City and CoLP. A Paper on the future function of the Finance Committee in relation to the Police would be brought back to Members in the autumn.

RESOLVED – that the Committee approved the following:

·         Considered the resolution from the Audit and Risk Management Committee

and, if appropriate, approve the City Fund and Pension Fund Financial

Statements for the year ended 31 March 2018; and

·         Delegate to the Chamberlain, in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy

Chairman of the Finance Committee, approval of any material changes to the

financial statements required before the signing of the audit opinion by BDO -

which is expected to be by the end of July.