MAIDSTONE BOROUGH COUNCIL

COUNCIL

25 APRIL 2012

REFERENCE FROM AUDIT COMMITTEE

1.           REQUEST FOR AUDIT COMMITTEE QUORUM TO BE REDUCED FROM FOUR TO THREE

1.1       The Audit Committee, at its meeting held on 19 March 2012, considered an oral report of the Head of Democratic Services regarding a request to reduce the quorum of the Audit Committee from four to three.

1.2       Members were informed that Cabinet had recently reduced their quorum from 4 to 3 as there are now 5 Members of Cabinet and, although, having a quorum of 4 had not caused a problem for the Audit Committee to date, when new members join they do need to undertake training before being able to serve on the Committee and this could cause a problem in the future.

1.3       Having considered the recommendation, the Committee:-

          RECOMMENDED: That Council, following an evaluation by the Standards Committee, be recommended to reduce the quorum of the Audit Committee from four to three and that the Constitution be amended accordingly.

EVALUATION BY THE STANDARDS COMMITTEE – 4 APRIL 2012: That it be noted that, in accordance with Article 15.02 (a) of the Constitution, the Standards Committee has evaluated the amendment of the Constitution as a consequence of the proposed reduction in the quorum for meetings of the Audit Committee, and believes that its implementation will help to ensure that the aims and principles of the Constitution are given full effect by putting in place arrangements to enable business to be transacted in the event of two Members of the Committee being unable/ineligible to attend a meeting of the Committee, thus enabling decisions to be taken efficiently and effectively.