Members considered the Annual Governance Statement for 2018/19 along with the associated Action Plan.  Also considered was the closure of the Annual Governance Statement 2017/18 and Action Plan.

The Monitoring Officer introduced the report, adding that it was a retrospective look at how West Lindsey District Council’s (WLDCs) governance arrangements were tested, and how they performed.  The Annual Governance Statement identified issues to come over the course of the year, which included risk management, a peer review, a governance review, and Member and induction training.

Following this introduction, Members asked questions of officers present.  The following points were highlighted:

·         Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCIDSS) referred to taking cardholder payments by machine, or over the telephone.  Scans were performed on a quarterly basis on systems and firewalls to make sure that they were secure.  Access to, and movements of appliances were also logged;

·         Members of staff have to be trained in PCIDSS.  A review took place on this topic, resulting in a ‘substantial’ outcome;

·         The issue of online training for Members could fall within the remit of the reformatted Member Development Group.  Any Members interested in joining the Member Development Group should reply to an email sent to them on this topic from Democratic Services;

·         On a monthly basis Finance check the ‘higher-level’, or larger spend amounts of WLDC related organisations; contract spends were captured.  Smaller spends of £250 or less were looked at as part of Budget Monitoring reports by the Finance team;

No one officer at WLDC can spend a budget without it being signed off by a colleague;

·         Generally speaking, when WLDC enter into any partnership an exit strategy would be built in.  Most of this work would be completed in conjunction with Lincolnshire Legal.

RESOLVED to:

(1)  Approve the Annual Governance Statement for 2018/19 and the associated Action Plan;

(2)  Sign off the Action Plan for 2017/18 as completed.