To consider the report.

Karen Shepherd, Head of Governance, explained that the annual report on council trusts was previously submitted for consideration by the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Panel but this was now under the governance remit of the Audit and Governance Committee. The report comprised of a short covering page, the first spreadsheet listed those charitable trusts where Cabinet acted as trustees on behalf of the Council and therefore the council also administered the trust. The second spreadsheet related to trusts where the council appointed one or more trustees from its membership or in a few instances, a non-Councillor representative. For both spreadsheets, where the council undertook an administrative role, the annual accounts were also provided. Any details of returns of annual accounts to the Charity Commission were also detailed for each trust.

Each council-appointed trustee had been individually contacted to give them the opportunity to provide feedback on the trust, in particular any issues of concern about the way the trust was being administered. The report showed that few issues had been raised as a concern. Democratic Services collated the information contained in the report but a number of other officers acted as the lead officer for some specific trusts. If any questions from the Committee could not be answered because of this, a written answer would be provided after the meeting.

Additional information had also been included in the report in relation to the Working Boys Club and the Kidwells Park Trust, which Members of the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Panel had raised concerns about at the time of the previous report. The Head of Communities had confirmed that the Trustees, the Cabinet Members, were updated on the status of the two investment portfolios used by these two charities in November 2021. The Trustees noted the background and changes reported as an update, and the improved situation. The Trustees were advised that the two investment funds had recovered and were now back at values in excess of the values when the concerns about the losses in fund values were previously flagged by the Overview and Scrutiny Panel. The Trustees were satisfied that the two investment funds being used were a solid and appropriate investment base for the respective charities. No further action was identified at this stage by the Trustees.

Councillor Bond asked what the total overall value of the non-property trusts was, how they were managed and how effective it was. This would include whether it was under a digressionary management agreement or an individual investment project. Investment management was in relatively small pots and Councillor Bond suggested that there could be a better way of managing them.

Adele Taylor, Executive Director of Resources, said for the trusts the treasury management team at RBWM administered, the Head of Finance would be able to provide a further written response to the Committee after the meeting.

ACTION – Andrew Vallance to provide a written response to the Committee in relation to the issues raised by Councillor Bond.

Councillor L Jones commented on the Flood Relief Fund and that there was a conclusion in the annual report accompanying the accounts that communities downstream of the Jubilee River were not adversely affected. In the 2014 floods, the Jubilee River had been opened overnight and two properties downstream had flooded, Councillor L Jones was not sure that this conclusion should be there as she did not feel it was correct. She suggested that this could be passed back to the Flood Relief Fund.

Karen Shepherd confirmed that she would relay the comments from Councillor L Jones back to the trustees.

ACTION – Karen Shepherd to relay comments from Councillor L Jones on the conclusion of the annual report for the Flood Relief Fund to the trustees.

Councillor Sharpe said that the charities were independent in their own right. He noted that the council treasury management team was responsible for administering a number of the trusts, but if they were to be merged this could cause issues on how the charities were able to spend the money.

Adele Taylor said that the discussion had been about merging the funds rather the charities themselves, officers would look to provide a detailed answer on the management of funds.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the Audit and Governance Committee noted the report on Council Trusts.