To consider the above titled item.

Karen Shepherd, Head of Governance, explained that this was the annual report on the management and administration of a variety of bodies to which the council had appointed representatives as trustees. The report was spilt into two parts, firstly those bodies to which all Cabinet members acted as trustees, and then secondly those to which other councillors or non-councillors had been appointed as trustees.

Each trustee had been contacted to provide their comments on the workings of the organisation over the last financial year and their comments were detailed in the report. If representatives raised any issues during this process, the relevant lead officer then followed it up. No specific issues had been raised by trustees for this report.

There were a number of lead officers for the various bodies as detailed in the report, Karen Shepherd explained that she was here to present the report on their behalf. She welcomed any questions on the report but if she was unable to answer she would pass them on after the meeting and ensure that they were dealt with.

When considering the previous year’s report, Councillor L Jones had raised a query about the Working Boys Club, particularly around the depreciation of the value of the fund.

This was followed up by David Scott, Head of Communities. He had confirmed that Cabinet, in their capacity as trustees, had been informed of the reasons for the reduction in the value of the fund, which was mainly to do with uncertainty over Brexit and the US/China trade sanctions. The value of the fund had also subsequently been affected by Covid-19 and this would be reflected in the next set of accounts.

The trustees had therefore requested that David Scott, in conjunction with finance colleagues, should seek to ensure the trust did not pay out any more than the funds allowed, so as not to reduce the principal amount for future years.

Councillor L Jones said that the Working Boys Club had lost 19% of its market value investments and that was only up until March 2020. She believed that investments needed to be reviewed as the body was making a loss on capital investments. This was also similar for the Kidwells Park Trust, which had lost 12% of its market value. Councillor L Jones registered her concern about these two trusts.

Councillor Larcombe spoke about the Flood Relief Fund and questioned if it was enough for a real flood event. The fund was currently £192,000 and he believed this would not go far enough if there was an emergency situation where it was needed. Councillor Larcombe also raised concerns that RBWM had not made funding available for the new River Thames scheme.

Councillor L Jones also said that she had concerns about the Flood Relief Fund. The fund did not mention any risk downstream in Old Windsor, the Windsor to Wraysbury section of the River Thames was not referred to at all.

RESOLVED UANIMOUSLY: That the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Panel noted the report.