Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Mrs Sterndale and Councillor D Green. 

Mr R Hills chaired the meeting.

To receive any declarations of interest.  Members are advised to consider the extract from the Standard Board Code of Conduct for Members, which forms part of the Declaration of Interest Form at the back of this Agenda.  If a Member declares an interest, they should complete that Form and hand it to the Officer clerking the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the Minutes of the Constitutional Review Working Party meeting held on 23 February 2009, copy attached.

The minutes of the meeting held on 23 February 2009 were agreed and signed by the Chairman.

Members considered the report of the Corporate Governance Officer which brought the Terms of Reference of the Governance and Audit Committee before the Working Party.

The Terms of Reference are a key part of providing assurance that the authority is effectively delivering the core functions of an Audit Committee as identified in the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) guidance.

The Terms of Reference had undergone their annual review, had been agreed by both the Standards Committee and Governance and Audit Committee in March 2009 and were set out in Annex 1 of the report.  

The Working Party agreed the recommendation;

“That Members approve the reviewed Governance and Audit Terms of Reference, and then recommend they are passed onto Council on the 21 May 2009 to be formally adopted as part of the Council’s Constitution”.