LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOUNDARY COMMISSION FOR WALES
17 MARCH 2005 AT CARADOG HOUSE, ST ANDREW'S PLACE, CARDIFF
Present:
Commission
Mrs Susan Smith (Chairman), Mr John Davies (Deputy Chairman), Mr Dennis Roberts (Member)
Secretariat
Mr Edward Lewis (Secretary), Mr Steve Halsall, Mr Dave Carr
1. DECLARATION OF INTERESTS
1.1 There were no new interests declared. The Commission congratulated the Deputy Chair on his reappointment as non-executive director of NW Wales NHS Trust.
2. MINUTES OF COMMISSION MEETING HELD ON 24th FEBRUARY 2005
2.1 These were agreed subject to minor amendments.
3. MATTERS ARISING
2.1 Merlin Issues
3.1.1 It was reported that the issue of connectivity had not been resolved. Merlin had inspected the Commission's link and had stated that they required the permission of the landlord to undertake work necessary for the upgrade.
3.1.2. It was reported that NAO had been informed that the Commission had now received the Assembly's permission to write off the disputed charges raised by Siemens in respect of the lease of IT equipment for 2003/04. It was expected that this would be reflected in their Management Letter for the 2004/05 audit.
3.2 Brackla Community Review
3.2.1 It was reported that the Draft Proposals Report had been translated and checked. However, It was not expected that it would be possible to publish the report before the end of March due to the Easter break. It was agreed that the report should be printed and published as soon as possible.
3.3 Community Councillors
3.3.1 It was reported that the Secretary had raised the issue of reviewing the 1976 advice on community councillor / elector ratios with LGM2 Division. It was noted that the Aberystwyth report made no reference to the ratio of electors to community councillors in Wales. It was agreed that the Commission would raise this issue at their meeting with their sponsor division.
4. REVIEW OF THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN PEMBROKESHIRE AND CEREDIGION IN THE AREA OF CILGERRAN
4.1 The Commission considered the representations received in response to their draft proposals. It was noted Cilgerran Community Council had reluctantly agreed with the Commission's proposal that there be no change to the existing boundary and that all the other representations with one exception had also supported no change. It was agreed that the Final Proposals should confirm the Commission's decision that the existing boundary should be retained and a draft of the Final Proposals report be submitted to the April meeting.
5. DIRECTIONS TO REVIEW THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN THE COMMUNITIES OF BLAENHONDDAN AND DYFFRYN CLYDACH - TIMETABLE
5.1 The Commission considered the proposed timetable for the review. It was considered that it would be possible for the review to commence a month earlier than the proposed date in June 2005. It was agreed that the review would be started in May 2005.
6. ANNUAL OPEN MEETING
6.1 The Commission considered the paper providing a choice of venues in Aberystwyth and Machynlleth. The best options appeared to be the Celtica in Machynlleth or the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth. It was agreed that the National Library of Wales would be the most suitable venue as it was known to have good car parking facilities. The Commission considered that it would be desirable to provide a buffet for delegates as it provided them with an opportunity to exchange ideas during the lunch break. It was agreed that a buffet should be provisionally ordered for 30 people and that this number could be reviewed closer to the AOM.
6.2 It would be necessary to hire a room for the Commission meeting to be held the evening before the AOM. It was agreed that the Secretariat would make the necessary arrangements.
6.3 A provisional date of Tuesday 11 October 2005 was set for the AOM.
7. REFURBISHMENT - ORAL REPORT
7.1 Mr Lewis reported that the timetable for refurbishment had now been significantly altered in light of recent correspondence from LGM Division.
8. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
8.1 Sealing of Documents
8.1.1 Mr Lewis reported that advice had been sought from the Commission's legal advisors regarding the use of the Commission's seal on official documents and reports. The advice received was that a seal was not required and the only statutory requirement for submissions made to the National Assembly was that Members sign them. The Commission noted this advice.
8.2 Web Site
8.2.1 It was reported that Steve Halsall had recently attended a seminar organised by the Assembly on web site design. One of the issues raised at the seminar was compliance with government guidelines issued on web site accessibility. The Commission's web site was now being redesigned to comply with the guidelines but this would involve considerable work, possibly taking 3 months to complete. The Commission's existing web site would still continue to run whilst this work was being undertaken. The Commission noted this development.
8.2.2 It was reported that Internal Audit had noted that the Commission's web site only held minutes of the Commission meetings up to January 2004. Mr Halsall explained that the minutes of subsequent meetings had been entered onto the web site but had been lost when the Assembly's server had broken down and been restored to a much earlier state. In addition to this there are current technical difficulties preventing the website from being updated. The Commission noted this matter.
8.3 Annual Accounts
8.3.1 The Secretary had noticed that other ASPBs only published a summary of their accounts in their annual reports and provide a full set of accounts only on request. It had always been the Commission's practice to publish full accounts in their annual report and on their web site. However, it may be possible to reduce the cost of producing the annual report by adopting the practice of including a summary rather than full accounts. It was noted that there would still be a requirement to produce a full set of accounts for audit purposes. The Commission considered that it would be helpful to check the requirements of the Financial Memorandum and ascertain whether the sponsor division had any objections.
8.4 Resource Accounting
8.4.1 The Secretary reported that he and the Finance Officer had met with Mr Laurie Pavelin, Head of Finance Accountability, to discuss the proposal from the NAO that the Commission consider adopting resource based accounting. Mr Pavelin had concluded that the Commission was too small a body to justify introducing full resource based accounts but that it may be helpful if a simplified approach was adopted. His staff would provide assistance to achieve this. Mr Pavelin also raised the issue of the Commission's audit fees. It was agreed that the issue of internal and external audit fees should be raised at the next Audit Committee meeting and that the Secretary would write to the sponsor division.
9. DATE OF NEXT MEETING
9.1 Dates for the next meetings were set for 20 April 2005 and 16 May 2005.
29/9/2005