Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors James Fardoe, Chris Holz and the co-opted member, Parish Councillor Alan Smith. Apologies were also received from Councillor Ian Woodall, in his capacity as the Portfolio Holder for Finance.

To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and/or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests.

There were no declarations of interest.

Members of the public have an opportunity to speak at meetings of the Audit, Governance and Standards Committee. In order to do so members of the public must register by 12 noon two working days in advance of the meeting. A maximum of 15 minutes will be allocated to public speaking.

There were no public who had registered to speak at this meeting.

(Report to follow) The report and associated documents for this item will follow in an additional papers pack at a later date.

This item was withdrawn and was not considered at this meeting.

The report on Risk Management was presented by the Interim Director of Finance and Section 151 Officer who reported that all corporate risks and the outstanding high-risk actions to be undertaken by the Council had been subject to rigorous consideration and were independently reviewed by the internal auditor. The actions had also been reviewed by the Council’s senior leadership and steps were being taken to complete those actions which were overdue. The progress and improvement made as a result was significant and opportunity was taken to thank the Assistant Director – Corporate Services and Transformation for oversight and input into this work.

It was explained that the Council faced a significant potential risk in the short-term that merited addition to the Corporate Risk Register - Cash Flow & Treasury Management. The Interim Director of Finance clarified that this was not a risk from a single event but arising out of a combination of a series of related factors.

As local authorities relied on income from council tax to support cashflow, there was a significant risk over the next few months that Worcestershire County Council’s (WCC) plans to raise their element of council tax by 8.98%, if approved by WCC at their Full Council meeting, could contribute to the increase in the numbers of residents not paying / being able to pay council tax, affecting the Borough Council’s cash flow in the short term, especially as the Borough Council was the billing authority for council tax.

Whilst the Council hoped to be credited by HMRC in VAT refund in the near future, there remained a cash flow risk to the Council as long as the funding was not in the Council’s account and there remains reliance on the council tax income to sustain the revenue budget at the time of year (February and March). The Interim Director of Finance explained that as part of the set of recommendations on the Budget, it was recommended that a review of cash flow and treasury management, including such areas as Council’s use of supportive financial facilities, should take place in quarter 1 of 2026/27 financial year. It was explained that this would provide an opportunity to apply latest best practice to the Council’s policy in these areas.

In response to a Member question, the Interim Director of Finance explained that once the Council received the VAT rebate the risk to cash flow would be alleviated to a large extent. Currently, this money was still with HMRC and the Council continued to work with its tax advisors to expedite the resolution of this issue. It was explained that the Council provided a series of commitments to the HMRC that the previously reported issues experienced by the Council with VAT accounting would not occur again. In response, the HMRC had been fair and reasonable and the process was now nearing an amicable resolution. It was noted that from the date the correction notice was accepted by HMRC, interest on the money was paid until that money was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 51.

It was requested that an update report on the plan to address the backlog in fire remedial actions in social housing properties be added to the work programme for the next Committee meeting which was due to take place on 9^th April 2026. The other items scheduled on the agenda for that meeting were noted.

RESOLVED that

the Audit, Governance and Standards Committee Work Programme be updated as per the pre-amble above.

Should it be necessary, in the opinion of the Chief Executive, during the course of the meeting to consider excluding the public and press from the meeting on the grounds that either exempt and/or confidential information is likely to be divulged, it may be necessary to move the following resolution:

"That under Section 100 (A) (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following matter(s) on the ground(s) that it/they involve(s) the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the relevant paragraphs (to be specified) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the said Act”

The paragraphs under Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act are as follows:

Subject to the “public interest” test, information relating to:

·         Para 1 – any individual;

·         Para 2 – the identity of any individual;

·         Para 3 – financial or business affairs;

·         Para 4 – labour relations matters;

·         Para 5 – legal professional privilege;

·         Para 6 – a notice, order or direction;

·         Para 7 – the prevention, investigation or prosecution of crime

which may need to be considered as ‘exempt’.

RESOLVED that

Under S.100 (A) (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following matters on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12 (A) of the said Act, as amended:

Minute Item 54 – Response and Recovery to a Possible Cyber Attack on the Council – Presentation (Exempt)

Minute Item 55 – Minutes (of 20^th January 2026) – including exempt minutes record.

This item contains exempt and confidential information and might need to be considered in exempt (private) session.

A presentation was provided by the providers of emergency resilience and business continuity for the Council, Applied Resilience, covering the Council’s preparedness for a cyber attack and processes that were in place for dealing with cyber incidents of different degrees of severity.

RESOLVED that

the presentation provided on the Council’s response and recovery in the event of a cyber attack be noted.

(During consideration of this item, Members discussed matters that necessitated the disclosure of exempt information. It was therefore agreed to move to exclude the press and public prior to any debate on the grounds that information would be revealed that included information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)).

The minutes of the meeting of Audit, Governance and Standards Committee held on 20^th January 2026 will be considered at this meeting.

Please be advised that should Members wish to discuss the content of the exempt minutes record, the Committee will need to consider moving into exempt (private) session.

The minutes of the meeting of Audit, Governance and Standards Committee held on 20^th January 2026, including the minutes record for the exempt item considered at that meeting, were submitted for Members’ consideration.

RESOLVED that

the minutes of the Audit, Governance and Standards Committee meeting held on 20^th January 2026 be approved as a true and correct record and signed by the Chair.

(During consideration of this item, Members discussed matters that necessitated the disclosure of exempt information. It was therefore agreed to move to exclude the press and public prior to any debate on the grounds that information would be revealed that included information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)).