MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF WHITEHILL TOWN COUNCIL, held on
WEDNESDAY 11 JUNE 2014 at 7.30pm at the Phoenix Centre & Arts Centre,
Station Road, Bordon, Hampshire GU35 0LR
__________________________________________________________________
COUNCIL MEMBERS
Present: Cllrs C Wherrell, Miss S Pond D Cooper, M Douglas, T Gray, Mrs J
Henson, Mrs J Maines, Mrs F Thomas, A Tree, A Waterhouse, P Wigman & D
Williamson.
In attendance: Chris Youngs Town Clerk & Minute taker for this meeting, Andrea
Mann, Deputy Town Clerk
Item
Action
2.019
APOLOGIES – Cllrs, Z Faddy, T Muldoon & Mrs M Watkinson.
2.020
DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST – None.
2.021
CHAIRMAN’S ANNOUNCEMENTS – None.
2.022
PUBLIC INTEREST REPORT & PROPOSED COUNCIL RESPONSE
The Town Council considered the report and recommendation of the
Policy Review Group, as circulated with the agenda
Cllr A Tree as Leader of the Council, introduced the report and had 2
points to make.
1. That the internal auditor had given the Council a clean bill of
health for 2013/14; and
2. Following questions to the external auditor about the concerns
of the wording of Paragraph 3.4 of their report that they had no
intention to implicate the 4 Cllrs who resigned.
Cllr A Tree then went paragraph by paragraph through the report and
Members did not amend and add any comments to the draft
recommendations. All that changed from the draft report is that more
information had been received on the VAT and the amount was added.
RESOLVED
To accept the recommendations as shown in Appendix A
(Proposed by Cllr C Wherrell, seconded by Cllr P Wigman 11 IN
FAVOUR, 1 AGAINST)
2.023
ADJOURNMENT FOR QUESTION TIME
A summary of the questions and answers given at the public question
time are shown at Appendix B
1 D:\106759340.doc
Town
Clerk
2.024
DATES OF MEETINGS (all Monday’s unless otherwise noted)
16 June; 28 July; 8 September; 20 October; 1 December
2015: 19 January; 2 March; 13 April; 18 may (Annual Town Council
meeting)
All at 7.30pm in the Council Chamber, Forest Community Centre,
Pinehill Road, Bordon.
Signed……………………………………………… Chairman
Date…………………………………………………
During the course of the meeting there were 1 members of the Press and 17
members of the public present. The meeting closed at 8.45pm.
2 D:\106759340.doc
APPENDIX A
TOWN COUNCIL Responses to recommendations contained within the Public
Interest Report
General statement
The Town Council acknowledges the findings outlined in the report and accepts
their shortcomings during the period of the former town clerks employment until
December 2012. As soon as the fraud was identified the Council procedures were
reviewed and amended. The fraud was identified by the Council and immediate
action was implemented to prevent further fraud.
The investigation was initiated and commissioned by the Town Council which
resulted in the conviction of the former town clerk.
The Town Council is disappointed that no fraud was identified by the then internal
auditors who were dismissed as soon as the fraud was identified.
Internal control failings
Recommendation
The Financial Regulations and Standing Orders should be reviewed, amended as
required and adopted by the council on an annual basis. They should be updated
to ensure that all sections reflect current practice but this is especially important for
those sections in respect to the payment of accounts and the appointment of the
internal auditor.
Town Council response
These have been reviewed and updated and adopted by the Council.
Recommendation
Bank reconciliations should be undertaken on a regular basis and brought before
the council who should review them, together with original bank statements and
sign or initial them and the statements as approved.
Town Council response
Bank reconciliation are completed on a monthly basis and signed by Cllrs on a
rotating basis at Council meetings and this is reported to the Finance Committee.
Recommendation
Councillors should only sign cheques which are fully completed, with Payee, date
and amount completed, and presented with original invoices. They should also sign
or initial the invoices as evidence of payment being made, therefore reducing the
possibility of using the same invoice more than once. The Councillors should only
approve payments at Council meetings or Finance Committee meetings and not
between them. At meetings a list of invoices to be paid should be produced by the
clerk, which is presented together with a file of invoices. The file of invoices should
be agreed to delivery notes and/or council budget by the RFO.
3 D:\106759340.doc
Town Council response
This has been the current practice since December 2012.
Recommendation
The Council should ensure that the list of payments is put before every meeting,
approved and adopted and included with the minutes.
Town Council response
This is the current practice at Finance Committee since December 2012.
Recommendation
The wages, HMRC and pension accounts should be regularly reconciled and
brought before the Council or a committee for approval. This may appear to be an
administrative task but the Councillors are responsible for the employment of
various employees and as such should ensure that the staff are correctly paid and
all payments are paid over correctly to other bodies.
Town Council response
The Town Council use the services of an independent qualified bookkeeper to
calculate salaries, Tax and NI and pension contributions who reconciles these
payments and then they are approved by the Finance Committee.
Recommendation
The Council should contact HMRC concerning the payments incurred, and the
VAT reclaimed, in respect to large payments made where VAT was incorrectly
claimed.
Town Council response
The Town Council will liaise with HMRC and the internal auditor to rectify this. The
internal auditor has provided the figure of £6,936.61.
Recommendation
The budget reports should be put to the Council on a regular basis and the
monitoring of the actual income and expenditure against budget should be minuted
at regular intervals during the year. This is a key internal control the importance of
which cannot be overstated. This will highlight any increased costs being incurred
by the Council so immediate action can be taken to investigate and control those
costs.
Town Council response
Every Finance Committee receives a budget comparison reports that analyses
budget against spend.
4 D:\106759340.doc
Recommendation
The Council should ensure that the asset register is regularly updated for additions
and disposals by the clerk and this should be reviewed by the council on an annual
basis. It is common for such a review to take place before the end of the financial
year.
Town Council response
The asset register has been updated with 1 item in 2013/14 and will be reviewed
annually.
Recommendation
An expenses system should be introduced where staff members have their claims
authorised by another staff member and any amounts over a certain monetary
value must be approved by a councillor. Authorisation should only be given if the
claims are made with supporting invoices. If necessary, these invoices should be
agreed back to budgets to ensure they are valid Council costs.
Town Council response
This is the current practice since December 2012.
Recommendation
Petty cash should be regularly checked and reconciled and only receipted council
expenditure should be made from it. The tin should be reconciled to the petty cash
summary, at least on a monthly basis.
Town Council response
This is the current practice since December 2012.
Corporate Governance failings
Recommendation
The Council should ensure all external and internal reports are put before them for
review and adoption. Any areas of concern drawn to the attention of the Council
should be acted upon as soon as possible and an action plan drawn up to ensure
action is taken.
Town Council response
This is the current practice since December 2012.
Recommendation
The Council should write and adopt internal policies on employment, PAYE, and
the approval of all other payments. There should be one for employment
procedures, which should include checking terms of references for new employees,
one on general employment issues such as sick pay and covering grievances, for
example.
5 D:\106759340.doc
Town Council response
A Staffing Committee has been formed who will undertake this role and a staffing
handbook is been developed.
Recommendation
The Council should ensure they minute on an annual basis the staff salary costs.
This can be done in a confidential minute and scale points can be referred to, if
wished, for roles undertaken within the council.
Town Council response
This is the current practice since December 2012.
Recommendation
The management accounts and budget reports should be produced from the
accounting package. It is important that key reports are produced from prime
records and these are approved at regular council meetings. The accounting
package may also be able to produce detailed budget reports which refer to the
previous year’s budgets and actuals as well as the current year’s budget and
actuals.
Town Council response
This is the current practice since December 2012.
Recommendation
The Council should ensure it complies with the requirements of the Accounts and
Audit Regulations 2011 and undertakes a review of its internal controls which
should include its risk management as soon as possible.
Town Council response
The Council does comply with the requirements of the Accounts and
Audit Regulations 2011. Risk management is reviewed quarterly at Finance
Committee
Recommendation
The Council should ensure that minutes are produced for all meetings and these
are made publicly available for all to see and in accordance with Section 228 of the
Local government Act 1972. Items which are discussed in confidence should have
summary minutes produced which can just document the decision taken, and not
the discussion. The council should also ensure that all attachments are included
with the published minutes and made available for all to see.
Town Council response
This is the current practice since December 2012.
Conclusion
Whilst acknowledging the deficiencies outlined in the report early last year much
has changed and the Council’s new Internal Auditor has commented that the
Council can rightly congratulate themselves for having moved fast when the
6 D:\106759340.doc
problem became clear and then moved on (for the benefit of the community) while
having the bravery to allow a public report that was circulated to other local
councils which will hopefully save other councils from such problems.
There has been tight financial control and the general reserves have improved from
£13,196 in April 2013 to £91,608 in April 2014.
7 D:\106759340.doc
APPENDIX B
Summary of Public question time & responses
PUBLIC QUESTIONS
Was tax, national insurance & pension
paid on duplicate salary payments
Still concerned at the phrase on
paragraph 3.4 and the Cllrs were
elected not appointed
Was disappointed that the Internal
auditors did not pick anything up and
could the fraud have been picked up
earlier?
Is there any recompense from the
Internal auditor because of their failings
Why are the Cllrs that resigned not
present
Paragraph 3.4 was changed by the
Council
With so many irregularities and poor
procedures why did not the Finance
Committee pick the fraud up
There were clear failings by the internal
auditor why is this not mentioned in the
report; who were the internal auditor;
they should return their fees and would
insurance cover this
Lessons need to be learned and have
steps been taken by the Council and
have wider lessons been learned by
others
8 D:\106759340.doc
RESPONSE
Not HMRC but claims on VAT were put
through as pension payments.
Comments valid but it was a final report
of the external auditor
Valid point Cllrs are volunteers and
there is a reliance on both the internal
and external auditors. As the judge
stated at the criminal proceedings the
former town clerk was the responsible
financial officer.
Now the Chairman of F&A is present
when the internal auditor is in the office.
The amount paid to the auditors is small
compared to the reclaim of stolen
monies stolen by the former town clerk.
But a motion could come to Council, but
it would mean spending more money on
lawyers for example
WTC would need to ask the insurer
whether they are covered.
They are present
Yes it was as it was much worse in the
first draft
The fraud was identified by the
Chairman of Finance and he reported it
to the Police
Mr A Harland 2009/10
AW Controls 2010/11 & 2011/12
Do the Numbers 2012/13 onwards
It could be considered if the Council
decides on this course of action and HW
Controls could be asked
Mr A Harland raised some concerns
direct to the former town clerk which
evidently were not passed on to Council
members. He could have raised it
directly with Cllrs
Yes they have and the Council allowed
a report on lessons learnt that were sent
to Councils
Use of the pen to change cheques, how
is this being addressed
In my first 10 minutes of becoming a Cllr
the former town clerk informed me that
she would sue if we said anything she
did not like. Did anybody else have this
Cllrs should pay attention to detail
This has been addressed by Central
Government. Staff and utility bills are
now paid by BACS
Cheque signatures have been reduced
from 8 to 4
She was a very strong character
Agreed – Cllr should also not be afraid
to ask questions. The Council’s culture
has changed
If there is any reimbursement could a
The Council will determine how to apply
village play area be provided
this money to the benefit of the
community
In view of the concerns of Paragraph 3.4 The Council has resolved to make
could the Council write about this
comments and to respond to the
recommendations only and it is not our
report
Can we make the explanation on
This will be included in the minutes
Paragraph 3.4 clear and public
Can’t you change the report if the
The Council does not control its
Council paid for it
contents
The external auditors should be asked
This can be done
for their explanation in writing
Why was it not on the website
We are changing the website and the
staff member has just gone on maternity
leave
There was a wrong year on some
Thanks for the feedback
minutes
9 D:\106759340.doc