Issue - meetings

To consider the Armed Forces Covenant Trust Grant in respect of Debden Village Hall.

The Director – Finance and Corporate Services gave a summary of the report that had been prepared by the Chief Executive following Members’ requests at the previous meeting. The report related to a grant received by the Council from the Armed Forces Covenant Trust (AFCT) for Debden Village Hall Trust (DVHT) to build a new hall. He outlined the history of the grant that had initially been dealt with by the previous Chief Executive. He said that it was clearly inappropriate for the Council to have paid the grant over in full to the DVHT in 2015. He then took questions.

Councillor Khan expressed concerns about the delay in the sign-off of the annual accounts.

The Director – Finance and Corporate Services said that this matter had no relevance to the accounts sign-off as it was a contingent liability.

Councillor Khan said that money had been sent out and that due process had not been followed. He said there should be an extraordinary meeting arranged to discuss this item. He asked specific questions as to when the current Chief Executive became aware of this situation and when the Director – Finance and Corporate Services was informed.

The Director – Finance and Corporate Services said that he could not answer precisely when the current Chief Executive had become aware of this but referred to Paragraphs 10 and 11 of the report in that he presumed that the current Chief Executive would have been aware of this situation in 2017. He said that in February 2020 he was informed that the project had reached a point where the AFCT were likely to request repayment of the grant monies due to lack of progress and he ensured that contingent liability provision was made, as would be reported in the statement of accounts. He said that the requirement at the time was for the grant less reasonable expenses to be repaid. The contingent liability sum referred to the whole grant.

In response to a further question from Councillor Khan in respect of audit trail timelines, the Director – Finance and Corporate Services said that he believed that the AFCT had requested repayment of the grant but that extensions had subsequently been granted with the latest extension being made in June 2020.

Councillor Khan expressed his concerns that due process had clearly not been followed and requested that the Chief Executive be asked to appear before the Committee to provide an explanation.

The Chair said that the next meeting of the Committee was scheduled for 30 November 2020 when the Chief Executive would be in attendance for the accounts sign off and whether the Committee would want the matter deferred until then.

Councillor Khan referred to the fact that the auditors had refused to sign off the accounts, not because of this issue, but because of an investigation. He asked whether this investigation was internal or being carried out by an external authority.

The Director – Finance and Corporate Services said that he had replied  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7