Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

In the event of a fire, please await direction from staff members who will help assist with the evacuation. Please do not return to the building until instructed to do so by the fire warden(s).

The evacuation procedure was noted.

To receive apologies for absence from Members.

No formal apologies had been received prior to the meeting.

Members who consider that they have an interest to declare are asked to state:

a) The item number in which they have an interest;

b) The nature of the interest, and;

c) Whether the interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest, non-disclosable pecuniary interest or non-pecuniary interest.

Any Member who is unsure about the above should seek advice from the Monitoring Officer prior to the meeting in order to expedite matters at the meeting itself.

No declarations of interest were declared under the Localism Act 2011.

To consider a report of the Interim Monitoring Officer and Section 73 Officer under the provisions of Section 5(2)(a) of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 and Section 114(2)(a) of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 in relation to what is considered to be unlawful expenditure.

The Committee expressed the view that the expenditure was clearly unlawful for the reasons set out in the report. However, it was not content to pass a formal resolution to that effect because it felt very strongly that a representative from Bristol City Council should have attended the meeting to contribute to the debate and vote. It therefore

Resolved:-

To make no formal finding on unlawfulness and directed the Head of Paid Service to:-

i)              Invite the Authority’s external auditors to carefully consider the way in which this matter has proceeded, with particular reference to the existing statutory recommendations.

ii)             Implement a code of practice or protocol to be followed in all mayoral marketing and communications activity.

iii)           Carry on with the implementation of the corrective measures set out in the report and report progress on the same back to the Audit Committee.

iv)           Take a line by line report to the Audit Committee on spend against the mayoral budget in the 22/23 and 23/24 financial years in order to assist and inform the code of practice/protocol referred to in paragraph (ii) above and to inform organisational learning for the future.

The meeting was reconvened following adjournments on 1 & 12 December 2023.  Cllr Guy was in the Chair.  The following additional persons were present:

·         Cllr Claire Young.

Also present was the Chair of the Authority’s Audit Committee, Cllr Geoff Gollop, who was invited to address the meeting on this item.  The comments received from the Audit Committee had been published and circulated prior to the meeting.

The Interim Monitoring Officer introduced the report which sought the Committee’s view on the report relating to the unlawful expenditure.

The Committee noted the concerns expressed by the public at the Extraordinary Committee held on the 1 December 2023 and requested that the Interim Chief Executive provide the costs of the investigation and additional meetings, to the Committee.

The Committee expressed the view that the expenditure was clearly unlawful for the reasons set out in the report. However, it was not content to pass a formal resolution to that effect because it felt very strongly that a representative from Bristol City Council should have attended the meeting to contribute to the debate and vote.

Resolved:

That no formal finding on unlawfulness be made and the Head of Paid Service be directed to:-

i)              Invite the Authority’s external auditors to carefully consider the way in which this matter has proceeded, with particular reference to the existing statutory recommendations.

ii)             Implement a code of practice or protocol to be followed in all mayoral marketing and communications activity.

iii)           Carry on with the implementation of the corrective measures set out in the report and report progress on the same back to the Audit Committee.

iv)           Take a line by line report to the Audit Committee on spend against the mayoral budget in the 22/23 and 23/24 financial years in order to assist and inform the code of practice/protocol referred to in paragraph (ii) above and to inform organisational learning for the future.