Present: Cllr. Mrs. F M Butt (Chairman)

Public Session. There were no questions.

1. Minutes of a meeting of the Finance Committee held on 7^th January 2002

These minutes, which had been previously circulated, were taken as read agreed a true record and signed by the Chairman. There were no matters arising.

2. To receive the Account Summary, Cash Flow Statement and Bank reconciliation for 31^st March 2002

Several questions were asked of the RFO as the receipt of the money from the Westbury Consortium had altered vastly the amount of money in the Council's bank accounts. The RFO also explained that, as per instruction he had put down the deposit on the work to be done on the POS and had paid the solicitor's bill in the 2001/2002 year. Members were satisfied that the figures supplied reflected a very busy year.

The Chairman then asked questions on the background to the very large legal bill and why it covered so much work over such a long period. Cllr. McInnes was able to give the past history of the legal argument with CISWO over many years to get the Miner's Welfare Field handed over to this Council. The Recreation Field Committee prompted the long awaited account by asking the solicitor to work on other legal work - now the licence and lease of the ground to the Football Club. The RFO pointed out that, in fact over the years £3000 had been put into estimates (and thence into balances) to pay this account.

It was agreed that this Committee recommends to Council that, in future, when a Committee wished to take the services of a Solicitor, it should first get an estimate for the work and then get clearance from this Committee and Council before proceeding.

3. Appointment of Internal Auditor

Clerk said that he had advertised the appointment by putting adverts in the notice boards. Chairman said that, although she had a copy of the papers on the subject, not all members did and felt the appointment was rather premature. She was hoping that some sort of guidance would be printed in the expected Guides concerning the type of volunteer who would be classed as competent.

She proposed that the appointment should be delayed until the Guides were received and all committee members had sight of the supporting papers. The RFO said that there was no hurry to appoint and that, in future years, he could see the appointment being made at the Annual Meeting of the Council in May.

It was agreed to meet again on 13^th May 2002 at 7 p.m. to discuss the appointment further with a firm promise to recommend a person at the Annual Meeting on 27^th May.

4. End of Year Accounts 2001/2002

The end of year accounts had been circulated previously to members of this committee.

The RFO pointed out that, whatever the system of auditing decided upon the accounts still had to be prepared on an Income and Expenditure system. This he had done together with the supporting statement, although it was not now required by statute.

He said that this was as far as he could go until the I A was appointed although he was asked if it would be possible to progress past the first stage by asking Council to Approve the Accounts and give its Statement of Assurance at the Annual Meeting. The RFO said that the legal side could be debated again at the next meeting of this committee when all members had the supporting papers then, if the committee is happy, he could set the Annual Meeting Agenda to cover the next two stages.

It was agreed that every effort would be made to Approve the Accounts and get them and a Statement of Assurance signed at the Annual Meeting of the Council on 27^th May.

5. Halifax Guaranteed Reserve Account

The Clerk informed the committee that the present investment period would run out on 16^th May 2002. He asked if the committee wished to re-invest for a further period. The £50,000 that was invested 18 months ago has now attracted £3,560 in interest although the Clerk warned that the rate on offer now is not as good as 18 months ago.

Meeting closed at 9.15 p.m.