Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

There were no declarations of apologies.

To receive any declaration of Personal Interest.

No declarations of personal interest were received.

To note any items that are a matter of urgency in the view of the Chair for consideration.

None to note.       

The Chair shall propose that the minutes of the previous meeting held on 24th March, 2023 be signed as a true record.

The Chair signed the minutes of the previous meeting held on 24 March, 2023, as a true record.

Report to be presented by Iwan G.D. Evans, Monitoring Officer Cyngor Gwynedd.

1.    To adopt the following to be included in the Constitution:

·       Code of Conduct for Members and Co-opted Members

·       Standards Sub-committee Terms of Reference

·       Finance, Contracts and Legal Matters

·       Contracts Procedural Rules

2.    To delegate the power to the Monitoring Officer to make editorial changes to the Standing Orders for their publication.

The report was submitted by the Monitoring Officer.

DECISION

1.    To adopt the following to be included in the Constitution:

·         Code of Conduct for Members and Co-opted Members

·         Standards Sub-committee Terms of Reference

·         Contract Regulations and Legal Matters

·         Contracts Procedural Rules

2.    To delegate the power to the Monitoring Officer to make editorial changes to the Standing Orders for their publication.

DISCUSSION

The report was submitted confirming the need to publish the constitution in order to conform with the Corporate Joint Committees (General) (Wales) Regulations 2022 and the Local Government Act 2000.  It was noted that all the documentation was needed to ensure a foundation for propriety processes.

Four elements of the constitution were looked at in detail, which were:

Code of Conduct for Members and Co-opted Members

The Statutory Code of Conduct was presented without any amendments. It was confirmed that it would be possible to amend this code in the future by establishing and holding a Standards Committee for the Corporate Joint Committee. 

Standards Sub-committee Terms of Reference

It was noted that it would be sensible for the membership of the Corporate Joint Committee’s Standards Sub-committee to be elected from the members that were currently on local authority standard committees for the North Wales region and Eryri National Park. It was explained that this would lighten the training workload. It was suggested that the Standards Committee would include 7 members - one from Eryri National Park and others from every local authority that was a part of the Joint Committee.  

Contract Regulations and Legal Matters

It was explained that these regulations would confirm how contracts would be signed and who would have the rights to do so.

Contracts Procedural Rules

It was suggested to adopt Cyngor Gwynedd's framework for now and it would be possible to adapt the rules to be more specific to the Corporate Joint Committee in the future.

Report to be presented by Dewi A.Morgan, CJC Head of Finance (Statutory Finance Officer) and Sian Pugh, CJC Assistant Head of Finance.

1.    To note and accept the Corporate Joint Committee's actual expenditure for 2022/23 as submitted in Appendix 1 to the report.

2.    To obtain the approval of the Corporate Joint Committee to the underspend in 2022/23 and for this underspend to be transferred to a reserve fund to be earmarked to finance future one-off costs.

3.    To approve the Corporate Joint Committee’s Official Annual Return for 2022/23 (subject to External Audit), in line with the statutory deadline of 31 May 2023. It has been duly completed and certified by Cyngor Gwynedd's Head of Finance, as the Statutory Finance Officer for the Corporate Joint Committee (Appendix 2).

The report was submitted by Section 151 Officer and the Deputy Section 151 Officer.

DECISION

1.    To note and accept the Corporate Joint Committee's actual expenditure for 2022/23 as submitted in Appendix 1 of the report.

2.    To obtain the approval of the Corporate Joint Committee to the underspend in 2022/23 and for this underspend to be transferred to a reserve fund to be earmarked to finance future one-off costs.

3.    To approve the Joint Committee’s Official Annual Return for 2022/23 (subject to External Audit), in line with the statutory deadline of 31 May 2023. It has been duly completed and certified by Cyngor Gwynedd's Head of Finance, as the Statutory Finance Officer for the Joint Committee (Appendix 2).

DISCUSSION

It was confirmed that the out-turn report confirmed the Joint Committee's expenditure and balances during the previous financial year.  It was explained that at the end of the financial year 2022/2023, there was an underspend of £238,098 in the Joint Committee's budget. It was noted that there was underspend in every aspect of the Joint Committee's expenditure, excluding Finance and Legal Services Support (including the Monitoring Officer).  

It was explained that the 2022 estimate of local authorities’ population was used instead of the census results since that was what was agreed upon whilst deciding the original budget. It was explained that different population figures had been used for Cyngor Gwynedd and Conwy County Borough Council to allocate the costs of planning functions in comparison with all other costs, since the cost for planning were allocated to the Eryri National Park Authority for the population that lived within the Park's boundaries rather than the councils.