Councillor Denis Johnston and Councillor Alan Moir (both East Dunbartonshire Council); Councillor Kenny MacLean (Glasgow City Council); Councillor David Wilson (Inverclyde Council); Councillor Alistair Fulton (South Lanarkshire Council); and Councillor Jonathan McColl (West Dunbartonshire Council).

There were no declarations of interest intimated prior to the commencement of the meeting. 

There was submitted the Minute of the meeting of this Joint Committee held on 8 March 2021.

In relation to item 5 of the Minute, the Convener advised that negotiations between Renfrewshire Council and Clydeplan were ongoing.

DECIDED: That the Minute be approved.

There was submitted a report by the Strategic Development Plan Manager relative to changes agreed by the Glasgow and Clyde Valley Green Network Partnership at a Board meeting held on 12 May 2021.

The report intimated that the Green Network Planning Manager indicated his intention to retire in June 2021. The Green Partnership Board and Clydeplan Steering Group considered the evolution of the Green Network Partnership into a more delivery focussed partnership working model and proposed not filling the Programme Managers post, putting a stronger focus on delivering the core elements of the Green Network blueprint. The proposal also sought to change the funding model with partners focusing their current financial contributions from partnership support to delivery related activity and the local authority contributions supporting the existing staffing resource costs and also sought to integrate the work of the Clydeplan Environment Topic Group into a new partnership.

At a meeting held on 12 May 2021, the Green Network Partnership Board agreed to evolve the Green Network Partnership to the new Strategic Environment Partnership, the remit, governance and staffing structure of which was appended to the report.

The local authority annual funding contributions for the staffing resource for financial year 2022/23 would be considered at the meeting of this Joint Committee to be held on 13 December 2021.

DECIDED: That the evolution of the Green Network Partnership to the new Strategic Environment Partnership be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Auditor relative to the Internal Audit Annual Report on the Glasgow and the Clyde Valley Strategic Development Planning Authority for 2020/21.

The report intimated that the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards required that the Chief Auditor prepare an annual report on the internal audit activity’s purpose, authority and responsibility as well as performance relative to its plan. The annual report must also provide an annual audit opinion on the overall adequacy and effectiveness of the internal control environment of the audited body.

The annual report for the Glasgow and the Clyde Valley Strategic Development Planning Authority was appended to the report and outlined the role of internal audit, the performance of the internal audit team and the main findings from the internal audit work undertaken in 2020/21 and contained an audit assurance statement.

It was noted that the heading in section 5 of the annual report should read ‘Planned Work for 2021/22’.

DECIDED: 

(a) That the Internal Audit Annual Report for 2020/21 be noted; and

(b) That it be noted that the heading in section 5 of the annual report should read ‘Planned Work for 2021/22’.

There was submitted a joint report by the Treasurer and the Strategic Development Plan Manager relative to the unaudited annual accounts for Clydeplan for 2020/21, a copy of which were appended to the report. 

The report intimated that the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2021 would be submitted to Audit Scotland in advance of the statutory deadline of 30 June 2021. The accounts showed that the Joint Committee had ended the 2020/21 financial year with a surplus of £91,777 against a budgeted break-even position. The Management Commentary within the accounts provided an overview of the Joint Committee’s financial performance during 2020/21 together with the outlook for the future.

The Local Authority Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2014 required that the Joint Committee prepare and publish a set of accounts, including an annual governance statement, by 30 June each year. The unaudited accounts were then required to be formally considered by the Joint Committee no later than 31 August and the Annual Governance Statement should be formally approved at this time. 

In accordance with the Local Authority Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2014, the unaudited annual accounts would be signed only by the Treasurer as proper officer.  The accounts would then be subject to external audit by the Joint Committee’s appointed auditor, Audit Scotland, by 30 September. The 2020/21 audited annual accounts were scheduled to be presented to the Joint Committee on 13 September 2021 for approval and signing by the Convener, the Lead Officer and the Treasurer, in accordance with the regulations.

DECIDED: 

(a) That the annual accounts for the year ended 31 March 2021 be noted; 

(b) That the annual governance statement be approved; and

(c) That the final budget monitoring position for 2020/21 be noted.

There was submitted a joint report by the Treasurer and the Strategic Development Plan Manager detailing the list of expenses incurred through corporate procurement card payment by type and employee for the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021. 

It was noted that Internal Audit regularly audited corporate purchasing card processes as part of the Renfrewshire Council audit plan and that the outcomes of these reviews were reported to the Joint Committee within the Chief Auditor’s annual report.

DECIDED: 

(a) That the report be noted; and

(b) That it be agreed that the corporate purchasing card expenditure report no longer required to be submitted to the Joint Committee on an annual basis.

DECIDED: That it be noted that the next meeting of the Joint Committee would be held at 11.15 am on 13 September 2021.