Agenda and minutes

All members of the Committee were present.  

The following Councillors declared personal interests as members of the Council’s pension scheme – Councillors Nicholas Bennett, Roger Charsley, Roxy Fawthrop, John Getgood, Russell Mellor, Gordon Norrie, Tony Owen, Ian Payne, Charles Rideout, Diane Smith, Tim Stevens and Stephen Wells.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 28^th September 2011 be confirmed as a correct record.

The following items are listed as outstanding from previous meetings:

Minute 144 (27/7/11): Reference from Pensions Investment Sub-Committee

The Committee had been requested to consider the overall impact on the pension scheme of any high earning staff wishing to take early retirement. It was resolved that this matter be retained on the “Matters Arising” list until more information was available. Proposed changes to the Local Government Pension Scheme are addressed in a report at item 6 on this agenda.

Minute 165/1 (28/9/11): Management Grade Pay Review 2011

The Committee requested a further update – a report will now be provided to the Committee’s meeting on 15^th February 2012.

The committee noted matters outstanding from previous meetings.

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, questions to this Committee must be received in writing 4 working days before the date of the meeting. Therefore, please ensure that questions are received by the Democratic Services Team by 5pm on Friday 25^th November 2011.

No questions had been received.

Report RES11145

The Department for Communities and Local Government had issued a consultation document setting out the Government’s draft proposals to achieve short-term savings of £900m within the Local Government Pension Scheme by 2014-15 following an independent review by Lord Hutton.  The Committee considered a report which informed Members of   the detail of the consultation, invited Members’ views to inform Bromley’s response and provided an update on HM Treasury’s amended proposals for longer-term reform.

RESOLVED that

(1) The contents of the report and the draft proposals for short-term reform be noted.

(2) The Local Government Group proposals be supported, with the caveat that there is concern about the administrative complexity of the proposals, and that it would be helpful if they could be simplified.

Report RES11120

The Committee considered a proposed schedule of Licensing Sub-Committee meetings for the period January to June 2012. It was noted that membership of the Sub-Committee for the meetings scheduled for after the Annual meeting was dependent on Committee appointments for 2012/13.

RESOLVED that the programme of Licensing Sub-Committee meetings for January to June 2012 be endorsed, subject to any changes being made as necessary by the Director of Resources with the agreement of the Members concerned, including reviewing the proposed meeting on 4^th May 2012, which potentially clashed with the GLA Election count, and to Councillor Bennett being replaced by Councillor Owen on one of the meeting dates. 

After the conclusion of the formal business, the Committee received a presentation on the Licensing spreadsheets that had now been uploaded to the Councillor Intranet site at the request of the Vice-Chairman, Councillor Russell Mellor. The spreadsheets had originally been set up by the Police at the time of the Licensing Act in 2005, but had since been maintained by the Licensing Team.  Members welcomed this development, and suggested that officers should investigate whether this information could be made available on the Council’s website. It was also suggested that the website information about Licensing should be reviewed to make it more useful for the public, in particular by giving more explanation about what objections could and could not be taken into account. 

The Committee is requested to consider Minute 66 – Internal Audit Progress Report – which includes revised terms of reference (set out in appendix 1) agreed by the Sub-Committee and reported to this Committee for approval. The Committee is also requested to recommend to Council that the Constitution (Part 3 – Responsibility for Functions) is amended to include the new terms of reference.  

The Committee received the minutes of the Audit Sub-Committee meeting on 22^nd September 2011 (excluding exempt information).

The Sub-Committee had considered new terms of reference which were reported to the Committee for approval. The terms of reference were set out in the Council’s Constitution, so full Council would be asked to approve the required changes to the Constitution.

The Committee supported the new terms of reference, with one change. In the penultimate bullet point, the last phrase was amended by adding the words “…demonstrated and…” The revised terms of reference were therefore as follows –

RESOLVED that the revised terms of reference for the Audit Sub-Committee be approved. 

RECOMMENDED that Council be requested to approve the amendment of the Constitution (Part 3 – Responsibility for Functions) to reflect the new terms of reference for the Audit Sub-Committee. 

The Committee received the minutes of the meeting of the Industrial Relations Sub-Committee held on 28^th June 2011 (excluding exempt information).

The Committee received the minutes of the Pensions Investment Sub-Committee meeting held on 14^th September 2011 (excluding exempt information).

The Committee received the minutes of the meetings of the Local Joint Consultative Committee held on 14^th July and 21^st September 2011.

Councillor Diane Smith noted that her declaration of interest as a member of the Local Government Pension Scheme had been omitted in minute 25 of the meeting on 14^th July 2011.

The Chairman to move that the Press and public be excluded during consideration of the items of business listed below as it is likely in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings that if members of the Press and public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information.

RESOLVED that the Press and public be excluded during consideration of the items of business referred to below as it is likely in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings that if members of the Press and public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information.

The following summaries

refer to matters

involving exempt information

RESOLVED that the exempt minutes of the meeting held on 28^th September 2011 be confirmed as a correct record.

The Committee received the exempt minutes of the Audit Sub-Committee meeting on 22^nd September 2011.

The Committee received the exempt minutes of the Industrial Relations Sub-Committee meeting on 28^th June 2011. 

The Committee received the exempt minutes of the Pensions Investment Sub-Committee meeting on 14^th September 2011.