Documents
Agenda
Notification
Meeting Details
Please note that this meeting will commence at 11.00 am.
Committee Members
Membership
Councillor Audrey Doig (Convener): Councillor Paul Cassidy (Depute Convener)
Councillor Annette Ireland, Councillor Andrew Morrison, Provost Mary Montague and Councillor David Macdonald (East Renfrewshire Council); Councillor Graeme Brooks, Councillor James Daisley and Councillor Innes Nelson (Inverclyde Council); and Councillor Graeme Clark, Councillor Kevin Montgomery, Councillor Sam Mullin, Councillor Bruce MacFarlane, Councillor Kenny MacLaren, Councillor Mags MacLaren and Councillor Andy Steel (Renfrewshire Council).
Standard Items
Hybrid Meeting
Please note that this meeting is scheduled to be held in the Council Chambers. However, it is a hybrid meeting and arrangements have been made for members to join the meeting remotely should they wish.
Members of the Press and Public
Members of the press and public wishing to attend the meeting should report to the customer service centre where they will be met and directed to the meeting.
Items Of Business
Apologies
Apologies from members.
Councillor Graeme Brooks (Inverclyde Council) and Councillor Sam Mullin and Councillor Andy Steel (Renfrewshire Council).
Declarations of Interest and Transparency Statements
Members are asked to declare an interest or make a transparency statement in any item(s) on the agenda and to provide a brief explanation of the nature of the interest or the transparency statement.
There were no declarations of interest or transparency statements intimated prior to the commencement of the meeting.
Minute of meeting of the Joint Board held on 21 February 2025.
1
There was submitted the Minute of the meeting of this Joint Board held on 21 February 2025.
DECIDED: That the Minute be approved.
Report by the Treasurer.
2
There was submitted a report by the Treasurer relative to the Unaudited Annual Accounts for 2024/25, a copy of which formed Appendix 2 to the report.
The report intimated that the Annual Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025 would be submitted to Azets in advance of the statutory deadline of 30 June 2025. It was noted that the Joint Board had ended the 2024/25 financial year with a surplus of income over expenditure of £575,000, as summarised in Appendix 1 to the report.
The report advised that the management commentary within the accounts provided an overview of the Joint Board’s financial performance during 2024/25 along with a summary of risks and the outlook for the future.
DECIDED:
(a) That the Unaudited Annual Accounts for 2024/25 be noted;
(b) That the Annual Governance Statement be approved; and
(c) That the final budget monitoring and reserves position for 2024/25 be noted.
Joint report by the Clerk and the Treasurer.
3
There was submitted a joint report by the Clerk and the Treasurer relative to remuneration for elected members, including the Convener and Vice Convener of joint boards, introduced by The Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 (Remuneration) Regulations 2007.
The report advised that the Regulations state that “remuneration shall be paid by the local authority of which the Convener and Vice Convener, as the case may be, is a member to one Convener and one Vice Convener for each joint board”. The remuneration costs for both the Convener and Depute Convener of this Joint Board shall be met in full by Renfrewshire Council for Councillor Audrey Doig and by Inverclyde Council for Councillor Paul Cassidy.
DECIDED:
(a) That the revised remuneration levels mandated by The Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 (Remuneration) Amendment Regulations 2025 for the Convener and Depute Convener of this Joint Board be noted; and
(b) That it be noted that the remuneration costs for each position shall be met by the local authority at which the position holder was an elected member.
Report by the Chief Auditor.
4
There was submitted a report by the Chief Auditor relative to the audit of the Joint Board’s non-domestic rates valuation system.
The summary for the internal audit review of the non-domestic rates valuation system, completed in February 2025, was appended to the report and detailed the overall assurance rating and the number of recommendations in each risk category.
DECIDED: That the summary for the internal audit review of the Joint Board’s non-domestic rates valuation system, appended to the report, be noted.
Report by the Chief Auditor.
5
There was submitted a report by the Chief Auditor relative to the Internal Audit Annual Report on the Renfrewshire Valuation Joint Board for 2024/25.
The Annual Report for the Joint Board was attached as an appendix 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 2024/25 and contained an audit assurance statement.
DECIDED: That the Internal Audit Annual Report for 2024/25 be noted.
Report by the Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer.
6
Under reference to item 5 of the Minute of the meeting of this Joint Board held on 21 February 2025, there was submitted a report by the Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer providing updates on Electoral Registration, legislation and electoral events.
The report provided updates since the last meeting of the Joint Board in relation to the 2025 Canvass; the next scheduled election being the Scottish Parliamentary Election in May 2026; the Elections Act 2022; the Scottish Parliament (Recall and Removal of Members) Bill; the Absent Voting (Elections in Scotland and Wales) Bill; the second review of Scottish Parliament Boundaries; and the People Registered to Vote in Scotland Report published by the National Records of Scotland.
DECIDED: That the contents of the report be noted.
Report by the Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer.
7
There was submitted a report by the Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer relative to the 2024/25 annual update of the three-yearly Strategic Service Plan which covered the period 2024/27, a copy of which was appended to the report.
DECIDED: That the report be noted.
Report by the Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer.
8
There was submitted a report by the Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer relative to the Joint Board’s report to the Scottish Parliament on the number of assessors and availability of resources, required under Section 24 of the Non-domestic Rates (Scotland) Act 2020, a copy of which was appended to the report.
The report required to be submitted to the Scottish Parliament by 31 May in the reporting year, with the first reporting year being 2025 and three-yearly thereafter.
DECIDED: That the draft report, which formed Appendix 1 to the report, be approved and that the Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer be authorised to submit the report to the Scottish Parliament by 31 May 2025.
Report by the Assistant Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer.
9
Under reference to item 6 of the Minute of the meeting of this Joint Board held on 21 February 2025, there was submitted a report by the Assistant Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer providing an update to the ongoing reporting of performance for the period April 2024 to March 2025.
The report advised that the time taken to enter new houses into the Valuation (Council Tax) List met both the target of 95% within three months and 97% within six months, by achieving 95.22% and 98.33% respectively; that the average number of days taken to add a house in each constituent authority area in the reporting period was 37.98 days, just below the target of 38 days; and that the time taken to make statutory amendments to the Valuation Roll, excluding appeal settlements and amendments to the prescribed entries, met both the target of 60% to be actioned within three months and 75% to be actioned within six months, by achieving 62.99% and 77.13% respectively.
The report intimated that the management team had reviewed the targets for Council Tax and Non-domestic Valuation in light of the pressures on staff as detailed in the report, and proposed that the key performance indicators for both Council Tax and Non-domestic Valuation be as detailed in the table in paragraph 5.0 of the report and that the average number of days taken to add a house be increased to 42 days.
The summary of performance returns for 2015/16 to 2024/25 was appended to the report.
On behalf of the Joint Board, the Convener commended staff for the work undertaken in dealing with statutory amendments to the Valuation List for Council Tax and the Valuation Roll.
DECIDED:
(a) That the contents of the report be noted;
(b) That the performance targets for financial year 2025/26 be approved; and
(c) That the publication of the summary report be approved.
Report by the Assistant Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer.
10
Under reference to item 7 of the Minute of the meeting of this Joint Board held on 21 February 2025, there was submitted a report by the Assistant Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer relative to progress on the disposal of 2017 Revaluation and Running Roll proposals and the 2023 Revaluation and Running Roll proposals and appeals.
DECIDED: That the contents of the report be noted.
Report by the Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer.
11
Under reference to item 8 of the Minute of the meeting of this Joint Board held on 21 February 2025, there was submitted a report by the Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer relative to developments and expenditure arising from the Barclay Review.
In relation to staffing, the report advised that, since the last meeting of the Joint Board the Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer had used his delegated authority to restructure and that the positions of Divisional Assessor and Principal Valuer had been filled. Recruitment was currently underway for a further Principal Valuer. In addition, a further qualified Valuer had been recruited on a temporary seasonal basis, again, a former / retired member of the team who would be able to provide an invaluable additional resource.
The report noted that the submission of a report to the Scottish Parliament was the final part of the Non-domestic Rates (Scotland) Act 2020 to come into force and that all other changes within the Act were now embedded as business as usual. The report recommended that this be the final update report to the Joint Board.
DECIDED:
(a) That the report be noted; and
(b) That it be agreed that this would be the final Non-domestic Rates Reform update report
Report by the Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer.
12
Under reference to item 9 of the Minute of the meeting of this Joint Board held on 21 February 2025, there was submitted a report by the Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer providing an update on the move from the Robertson Centre to Renfrewshire House.
The report provided detail on the background to the move which took place over the weekend of 25 to 27 April 2025 and advised that some adaptation works would be required in the coming months to make the office space fit for purpose.
The Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer and the Convener, on behalf of the Joint Board, recorded their thanks to both Lindsey Hendry, Assistant Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer who organised and co-ordinated the move and Pip Hignett, Senior IT Manager who along with his team ensured that the IT infrastructure was fit for purpose and available when required.
DECIDED: That the contents of the report be noted, including the requirement for future works to be undertaken to the premises at Renfrewshire House.
Report by the Assistant Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer.
13
There was submitted a report by the Assistant Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer relative to the two-yearly progress report on how the organisation was meeting the equality duty, a copy of the Public Sector Equality Duty 2025 was appended to the report.
DECIDED: That the report be noted.
Report by the Assistant Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer.
14
There was submitted a report by the Assistant Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer relative to the Joint Board’s Parenting Leave and Pay Policy, a copy of which was appended to the report, which was designed to offer staff support and flexibility and encourage shared parenting responsibilities. The Policy supported the Joint Board to address its gender pay gap priorities.
DECIDED: That the Parenting Leave and Pay Policy be approved.
Note that the next meeting of the Joint Board will be held at 11.00 am on 12 September 2025 in the offices of East Renfrewshire Council.
15
DECIDED: That it be noted that the next meeting of the Joint Board would be held at 11.00 am on 12 September 2025 in the offices of East Renfrewshire Council.
Attendance
Declarations of Interests
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