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Minutes Approved by Chair / Acting Chair : ………………………………… Date: ……………………………
BRERETON AND RAVENHILL PARISH COUNCIL
DISTRICT OF CANNOCK CHASE COUNTY OF STAFFORDSHIRE
Minutes of the
FINANCE ASSET & RISK
COMMITTEE MEETING
To be held at: the Parish Hall, Ravenhill Park, Brereton, Rugeley. WS15 1DU
Thursday 7th March at 8.00pm – 9.30PM
WELCOME
Miles Blackham
Dana Blocksidge
Kay Paul
Kev Theobald
Sue Merriman
Carl Boulton
APOLOGIES
Cllrs Absent: None
In Attendance: J Smith (JS)(Caretaker), L. Featherstone (LF)(RFO), PR Whibley (Clerk),
1. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST IN ANY ITEMS ON THE AGENDA
None.
2. ELECTION OF CHAIR
MB was proposed, seconded and unanimously elected as Chair.
3. ELECTION OF VICE-CHAIR
KP was proposed, seconded and unanimously elected as Vice Chair.
4. NOTICES FROM THE CHAIR AND CLERK
4.1. Payment made for HDMI cable of £11.99 by clerk under FR 4.1 Budget Code 5 (C)
4.2. The reason for the need of an updated Version 2 of the agreed BRPC Financial Regulations 2024 was explained to the meeting, following the Internal Auditor’s visit. If supported this will need to be put to the Full Council for approval. This was supported and agreed.
4.2. Resolved: That the clerk ask the Full Council to agree the alteration in section 11.1 (h) of their Financial Regulations.
4.3. The Internal Auditors Initial Report (February 2024) was presented to the Committee.
4.3a. Resolved: That the clerk would find out why the external report from Mazars had not been received and inform the Council.
4.3b. Resolved: That a working group of KP/DB/LF/C would meet on Thursday 14th 10.00-12.00 to discuss the findings of the Internal Auditors report and Earmarked Funding.
5. AGREEING THE MINUTES FROM THE PREVIOUS MEETING
None.
6. MATTERS ARISING (from the February Full Council meeting as appropriate)
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Minutes Approved by Chair / Acting Chair : ………………………………… Date: ……………………………
6.3. The clerk to place Earmarked Funds on the agenda of the Finance Committee’s next meeting. See item 12. Completed
20.2a.The clerk to place CIL as an item on next month’s Finance Committee’s Agenda. See item 13 Completed
7. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
None.
8. BUDGETARY CONTROLS (C) (see attached: Guidance on invoicing….)
The Financial Regulations surrounding sound governance along with the Internal Auditors recommendations were highlighted. The Finance Committee have been made aware of their role in the scrutiny and process concerning the recommendation of all invoice payments to the Full Council, prior to any such payments being made, with the exception of utilities. It was noted that the scrutiny also involved inspecting whether the job or goods met an acceptable standard before a recommendation was made to the Full Council for payment.
9. INCOME AND INVOICES FOR COMPLIANCE (LF) (see attached tables)
The meeting was informed that at all subsequent meetings they will be issued with a bank reconciliation statement alongside an income verses expenditure table (including unpaid invoices) which they will scrutinise and decide whether they will recommended them for paying).
The RFO and Clerk presented the meeting with the financial position for the month of February. It showed a significant loss. However, on closer inspection, it was shown that this was caused by the carried final payment to a former member of staff appearing in this month’s accounts and some quarterly utility bills. The RFO is working on a method of spreading the known yearly, half yearly and quarterly bills into an average monthly amount, so the members can more easily see the usual cost of running the hall each month.
The advice from the Internal Auditors also highlighted the fact that at present the council pay their staff themselves. They recommend that the Council engage an outside firm to take charge of this exercise. A firm (Bradley’s) was highlighted as being well respected and their ‘start-up’ cost to organise this was £190.
9.1. Resolved: That the Full Council engage the services of an outside agency (i.e. Bradley’s) to administer the payroll et al for its staff.
10. ZURICH INSURANCE (C) (see attached: Insurance Policy Assets 2023-2024 table) for items 11 and 12.
The insurance Schedule was discussed and it was highlighted that the insured assets do not correlate with our own Asset List. The assets which the council presently insure are hugely undervalued.
The Parish Hall’s postcode was incorrectly entered on the insurance form. The clerk has altered it to the correct postcode.
The previous council bought items at budget prices and insured them as such. However, to replace these items will cost considerably more. At present the assets within the hall itself are covered for £86,831.47, totally under-insured, but to replace them the cost would be nearer to £150,000.
There are assets which appear on our present insurance schedule which we have no idea where they are located. Two of our members have visited a previous councillor’s home to verify where the assets are. One visit was successful and some of the heavy equipment was able to be collected.
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Minutes Approved by Chair / Acting Chair : ………………………………… Date: ……………………………
It was decided that a solicitor’s letter would be sent requesting a detailed answer to where all the assets were located.
Due to the fact that, even after the best efforts of many members, the completed table with the three different amounts (£) for each asset will not be completed in time for this year’s AGAR. This section of the AGAR will remain blank. However, a decision must be made in the coming months concerning what assets the council will insure and their value.
10.1a. Resolved: That MB will instruct a solicitor to send a legal letter to the Chair of the previous council requesting the location of all assets.
10.1b. Resolved: That the RFO will update the present Asset List to include those new assets which correctly appear on the insurance policy.
10.1c. Resolved: That, after an updated list has been agreed with more realistic valuations, the clerk will secure three different insurance quotes and bring to the FAR committee, prior to our present policy expiring.
11. ASSET LIST DETAILS (LF/C) (see attached: Fixed Assets MARCH 2024 v1) ɸ
See above in Section 10.
12. RISK ASSESSMENT (SM/C)
(see attached: BRPC RISK ASSESSMENT updated)
12.1. There still needs a section on keeping emails secure and free from inappropriate use by ex-members. Advice from the Internal Auditor and Joint Panel on Accountability and Governance (JPAG) is to change all emails to .gov.uk. This will incur as yet an unknown cost. Items in Italics still need assurances. The Risk assessment document has been scrutinised and approved by this committee.
11.1a. Resolved: That the clerk bring an empty envelope to the next Full Council meeting so that each member can put their council email address and password in and seal.
11.1b. Resolved: That the clerk insert the agreed addition concerning emails into the Risk Assessment document for approval at the Full Council meeting.
13. EARMARKED FUNDS (RFO) (see attached: EarMarked Reserves 2024 v1) ɸ
The items identified as EarMarked funds by the previous council didn’t all seem to fall within the criteria of either:
 To be used during this year or
 To be built-up so that in future years a specific goal could be met.
The LF(RFO) has begun to rationalise this and will continue to help the FAR committee in creating an Earmarked Fund based correctly on the two criteria mentioned.
Initial suggestions include the:
 Community Café
 Solar Panels for the Parish Hall (Initial quote for work is £12,000)
 Building a car park
 Defibrillator Maintenance
 Health Visitor Clinic’s
Incorrect data
External website company employed to update site.
Email Addresses
Use of Gmail addresses for Clerk and Councillors
Council to continue to monitor cost of .gov.uk email addresses. Risk is that Gmail address cannot be closed by Council after the Councillor has left the Council. To mitigate this risk, the Clerk will ask the retiring Councillor to delete their email address.
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Minutes Approved by Chair / Acting Chair : ………………………………… Date: ……………………………
 Longer Term Qualifications for Councillors
It was proposed to have a meeting to discuss a Community Café at the Parish Hall. It was thought that the creation of a Working Group to formulate a proposal should be set-up. A date for the first meeting is to take place on Monday 11th March at 6.00pm in the Meeting Room.
13.1a. Resolved: That the RFO would create an EarMarked Fund list based on the strategic planning of the FAR committee.
13.1b. Resolved: That the EarMarked Funds list completed by the Working Group would be presented to the Full Council at their next meeting.
13.1b. Resolved: That an open invitation was made to anyone willing to attend the Community Café meeting on Monday 11th March at 6.00pm in the Meeting Room.
14. COMMUNITY INFASTUCTURE LEVY (C)
The LF(RFO) informed the council that it had been allocated £6875. Several projects were mentioned in a 2022/2023 District schedule plan of possibilities. Some involving the creation of a footpath, or a cycleway or increasing primary school places due to future building. The ones that interested the committee concerned social leisure and green infrastructure.
The committee wondered whether the green infrastructure initiative would help benefit the council in moving forward with their solar panels idea. Whilst the social and leisure element would benefit the community café proposal.
15. HIRE OF HALL (KP)
It was proposed that the council do not pay for the use of the hall, as agreed previously, when calculating the budget for 2024-2025. It was stated that if in the event of the hall being unfit for meetings that the council would probably have to pay for other suitable premises from their bank reserves.
The discussion then led to the fact that the council has three loosely joined accounts. It was decided to return to this issue at the next meeting, but the clerk was asked to investigate the possibility of having an interest savings account.
16.1a. Resolved: That the FAR committee recommend to the Full Council not to include the Hire of the Hall in their submitted Budget calculation for 2024-2025.
16.1b. Resolved: That the clerk would investigate a savings interest account with Unity Trust Bank.
16. GDPR (CD)
16.1. Process for keeping email passwords safe. See Item 12.
16.2. DPO needed. Staffing Committee informed. To recommended member to FC
16.1. Resolved: That CD be recommended to the Full Council as the Data Protection Officer for this council.
17. CAR PARK (CD) See Item 13.
16.1. Moving forward with the car park extension
18. DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Thursday 4th April 2024 at 8.00pm