Agenda and draft minutes

There were none.

Councillors Hutchison and Hylands declared pecuinary interests in agenda item 9. They left the room and took no part in the discussion or voting there on.

To sign as a true and correct record the minutes of the meetings held 27 November 2024 and 2 January 2025 as a true and correct record.

RESOLVED: That subject to a minor amendment to the minutes of the meeting held on the 27 November 2024, the minutes of the meetings of the Board held on 27 November 2024 and 2 January 2025 be signed as a true and correct record.

(NOTE: The Board is required to receive a deputation(s) on a matter which is before the meeting of the Board provided that notice of the intended deputation and its object shall have been received by the Borough Solicitor by 12 noon on Friday 17 January 2025.  The total time for deputations in favour and against a proposal shall not exceed 10 minutes).

There were none.

(NOTE: The Board is required to allow a total of 15 minutes for questions from Members of the public on matters within the terms of reference of the Board provided that notice of such Question(s) shall have been submitted to the Borough Solicitor by 12 noon on Friday 17 January 2025).

There were none.

To seek the Board’s approval to add a Network support technician post to the IT Team.  This role will work alongside our Senior PC/Network officer who deals with our Information Technology infrastructure.

Consideration was given to a report of the Head IT detailing the need to recruit to an additional post.

The Board acknowledged that there was a need for additional resource, particularly following the CPC and it was important that the IT function was adequately resourced.

Members sought clarification on what a self service machine is, this was explained.

Members expressed caution at releasing information about a person’s employment at the Council.

RESOLVED: That the Board approves the creation and then recruitment of a Network support technician role within the IT Team.

To update the board with the next steps required to finalise and publish the 2023/24 Statement of Accounts which includes the audit opinion.

Consideration was given to the report of the Borough Treasurer updating the board with the next steps required to finalise and publish the 2023/24 Statement of Accounts which includes the audit opinion.

Members felt that this item should be discussed in conjunction with agenda item 8 as the letter in question was an appendix of agenda item 8. This was agreed.

It was felt that had been a lot of confusion regarding signing off accounts as a result of the delays and incompletion over the past few years. As there was no closing balance for 2022/23 it was not possible to follow the usual audit process, however it was assured that the summary in appendix a showed that the work was substancially accurate. The full assurance could bounce back in 2026/27 when all the work was back up to date and complete.

The Board was advised that the Value for Money concern that had been raised around the succession planning in accounts had been reassessed as not a significant weakness.

A full programme of work had been completed and the Letter of Representation was in the process of being drafted. This accounted for a number of the optional choices listed.

It was clarified that the letter provided was a template and would be worked on before the backstop date of 28^th February 2025.

The Board expressed concern that they were being asked to provide delegated authority for something they had not seen to be signed. The Board was reminded that they were being asked to delegate authority to sign, not to approve the content.

Members accepted this but it was requested that they be given sight of the letter which was almost ready.  

The Board was advised that the pension query was the only one outstanding to complete the work.

RESOLVED: The Board delegate the approval and signing of the 2023/24 Letter of Representation to the Borough Treasurer and Chairman of the Policy and Organisation Board.  It was originally hoped that the letter would be available for approval at Board.  However, delays with legislation mean that only a draft is available at this time (part of the EY update) and not the final version.

This report summarises the status of our 2023/24 audit. We will update the Policy and Organisation Board at its meeting scheduled for 30 September 2024 on further progress to that date and explain the remaining steps to the issue of our final opinion.

Consideration was given to the report of the External Auditor summarising the status of our 2023/24 audit. We will update the Policy and Organisation Board at its meeting scheduled for 30 September 2024 on further progress to that date and explain the remaining steps to the issue of our final opinion.

The Board noted the report

This report sets out details for amendments to Gosport Boroughs Council current  Discretionary Rate Relief for charities, not for profit and other organistaions, including the Retail Hospitality and Leisure relief and seeks approval to delegate decisions to the Section 151 for  discretionary reliefs that are introduced via Section 47  by Central Government where funding  and the qualifying criteria are provided by The Government

Councillor Hutchison and Hylands left the room and took no part in the discussion or the voting thereon.

Consideration was given to a report of the Head of Local Taxation setting out details for amendments to Gosport Boroughs Council current  Discretionary Rate Relief for charities, not for profit and other organisations, including the Retail Hospitality and Leisure relief and seeks approval to delegate decisions to the Section 151 for  discretionary reliefs that are introduced via Section 47  by Central Government where funding  and the qualifying criteria are provided by The Government.

The Board was advised that there were 3 parts to the recommendation, including a request to delegate authority where reliefs are introduced by the Government using Section 47 discretionary powers as a vehicle to provide businesses support quickly. Qualifying criteria is specified and the cost of the relief is compensated via a grant, in effect restricting the discretionary decision

There were also clearer updates with regard to the backdating of claims.

It was anticipated that there would be additional changes to the scheme over the coming years, with some grants removed in their entirety by 2026.

Members acknowledged that there were changes that were not discretionary but advised that they would still like to be made aware of them possibly through a MIB.

In answer to a Member’s question, the Board was advised that the Council were sometimes compensated for the additional work caused by the grants but that this was an average across authorities, but sometimes not at all.

Members were advised that a dataset of businesses receiving rate relief was published and that there were currently 143 in the Borough.

Members thanked the Head of Local Taxation for the work that had been undertaken.

RESOLVED: That the Board

i)              Approves the amendments  to the Discretionary Rate Relief guidelines

ii)             Approves the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Relief (RHL) guidelines

iii)           Approves delegation of authority to the S151 Officer to approve amendments to Section 47 reliefs where the Government uses Section 47 to provide a new relief, including the qualifying criteria and compensates the Council for the costs of such reliefs.

The Board was advised that an extraordinary meeting of the Board would take place on the 5^th February 2025 and would discuss insurance.

In addition the Board was advised that ongoing discussions were being held with regard to Devolution and the Local Government Reorganisation and that the Group Leaders would be liaised with and kept informed.