Tag: Cllr Phil Davies

Corporate Governance Committee (Wirral Council) 26th October 2011 5.00pm (Committee Room 1) Part 7

Cllr Ann McLachlan said they should not be diverted from their primary purpose or stretching too thin. She said they needed focus. Cllr Foulkes said to tell him what they wanted but it would have a direct effect on resource implications (which he said was not unique to Wirral Counci). Cllr Phil Davies said Jim … Continue reading “Corporate Governance Committee (Wirral Council) 26th October 2011 5.00pm (Committee Room 1) Part 7”

Cllr Ann McLachlan said they should not be diverted from their primary purpose or stretching too thin. She said they needed focus. Cllr Foulkes said to tell him what they wanted but it would have a direct effect on resource implications (which he said was not unique to Wirral Counci). Cllr Phil Davies said Jim Wilkie would bring a report back to the next meeting about the turnaround team. Cllr Foulkes said there was an issue of resources and backfilling people if they were diverted from their job. Jim Wilkie said they would use whatever resources were necessary.

Anna Klonowski said they had to make sure they had the right people with the right experience. Cllr McArdle said [to Anna] that she “may be surprised at the talent”.

David Smith introduced the Internal Audit report and said it was important to mention Internal Audit and there were a couple of things in paragraph 4.2 that might justify diverting attention and it would be worthwhile to seek external views. Ian Coleman would be reporting back at the beginning of December which was a challenging timescale. Cllr Foulkes asked if people were happy, so the report was agreed.

Bill Norman talked about the review of Legal and Committee services. He said they had started the process of reviewing one of the key support areas and that Anna’s corporate governance report was a spear in terms of going forward. It did create additional areas of pressure, but the approach in 4.14 should help councillors take decisions and for them to be implemented.

Corporate Governance Committee (Wirral Council) 26th October 2011 5.00pm (Committee Room 1) Part 6

Cllr Harney said he agreed with all that, but he’d appreciate a flowchart with the key dates. He said the approach with reviews and milestones would be helpful as each stage was reached, this way he would know they were “all singing from the same hymn sheet”.

Jim Wilkie agreed and said that in the report perhaps he had not expressed himself clearly enough. Cllr Phil Davies said he agreed a dedicated budget, councillor involvement and prioritisation but he asked what the priorities are? He said it has “to be given time and space”. Cllr Foulkes mentioned the drafting in of external resource. Cllr Green said it would be subject to appropriate procurement. Jim Wilkie said it would have to do, they would revisit the prioritisation but as an organisation they needed to think where they wanted to be in six months or so.

Cllr Foulkes said that councillors needed to have discipline, be calm and that they couldn’t have Notices of Motion to Council instructing the Chief Executive to take on new work as this would be consuming lots of people’s time. The democracy issue and the budget reminded me of a quote from the Goon Show “quickly surround Africa”.

Jim Wilkie said the comments useful and that the fund would be open to the group under the new committee structure. Cllr Foulkes said he was anxious not to confuse the two. He talked about the perception of councillors and the Democracy Working Group. He was anxious to keep two strands and not to do that at this point of time. He needed to look at the consensus of the new system of governance and asked councillors if they were happy with what was decided?

Corporate Governance Committee (Wirral Council) 26th October 2011 5.00pm (Committee Room 1) Part 5

Cllr Foulkes said they had additional recommendations so that all councillors and all political parties were involved. He said they needed more work as part of a wider program specifically around councillor involvement at every stage. The Budget was serious and they would be putting resources in. The Cabinet committee agreed in principle to a specific budget, with further reports on how and where the money would be identified. He asked if they agree to delegate to the Chief Executive over the staffing?

Jim Wilkie said it would be helpful.

Cllr Foulkes said there would be a basic structure initially. Jim Wilkie said there would be the three statutory officers plus David [Smith] and Rob Beresford. He said one other officer was on holiday so he couldn’t mention the name, but they would allocate considerable resources to support the work which would include procurement and Internal Audit.

Cllr Foulkes asked if they could add at 2.6 to delegate to Jim and the initial team?

Cllr Green said with the program and portfolio there was a need for discipline and project management. He wanted to know how much it would cost and where they were getting to which would require targets and analysis. He said it would be useful to have clarity as a way for councillors and officers to identify costs.

Jim Wilkie said the work would be directed through the committee, but they needed to recognise it was currently not working.

Cllr Foulkes said they needed the team to sit down and create a project, so he was happy to delay. Cllr Phil Davies agreed.

Wirral Council Cabinet 13/10/2011 Statement of Accounts 2010/11, Annual Governance Report Part 6

Ian Coleman, Director of Finance said he agreed with the comments except the last comment. They had closed the accounts on the 4th July. Complying with International Financial Reporting Standards had been a lot of work. He said that 75% in the North West had not achieved the 30th September deadline. He said it had been a battle to the last-minute regarding the auditors’ requirements. The auditors had commented on the level of resources and he said they will be acting on that. Ian Coleman said they will look at the whole process and what can be improved. However, he said many problems shouldn’t re-occur as they now know what to do. There would not be restating of the previous year’s accounts to International Financial Reporting Standards standards.

Cllr Steve Foulkes said that he and Jim would sign them.

Ian Coleman, Director of Finance then introduced the Audit Commission’s Annual Governance Report. He said this was another statutory report which covered two areas. He said the Audit and Risk Management Committee had put on record its views on the Value for Money analysis which was qualified for the first time. He said he would look at the reasons why.

Cllr Phil Davies said on the last point, there was a clear and damning comment on page 21 about the HESPE contract and its operation for the last two and a half years. He said there was no performance management information which was a basic issue, he asked for suggestions?

Cabinet 1st September 2011 Part 7 – Setting the Scene for Wirral Waters – A Green Infrastructure Investment Framework M53 Junction 3, Woodchurch – Major Safety Scheme – Cost Variation, Pothole Funding

Item 8 and its appendix were considered next. Kevin Adderley said there was a change in 4.2 which refers to the Housing and Community Agency which they had been informed of yesterday. The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills was taking forward the Green Infrastructure Framework but it was not confirmed yet. There would be some costs but they did not know what they were.

Cllr Phil Davies said it was a “really good report”. He referred to the £1.4 million of North West Development Agency money to be spent over four years. He said hopefully there would be job opportunities for local people. He was happy to accept the report and agree its recommendations.

Cllr Anne McArdle spoke next about the bidding process. The report was agreed.

Dave Green introduced the next report on M53 Junction 3, Woodchurch – Major Safety Scheme – Cost Variation. He said these were the final scheme costs, one overran but it was working very well. Cllr Harry Smith said the work caused deterioration to the highway due to the Winter weather conditions and that the Highway Agency was keen to reduce disruption to road users. The report was accepted.

Dave Green then introduced the report on Pothole Funding. He said this was a specific grant, where it had been used had been posted on the internet. Cllr Harry Smith said he had “not much to add” as the potholes had been identified after inspection he had no problem. The report was agreed.