The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting which was a virtual meeting and webcast.

The Chairman went through the protocol for virtual meetings.

Apologies were received from Councillors Chapman, Durant and Mugglestone.  Councillor Dilip Patel substituted for Councillor Chapman.

Members are invited to disclose any interest in any of the items on the agenda at this point of the meeting. 

Members may still disclose any interest in any item at any time prior to the consideration of the matter.

There were no declarations of interest.

Nominations to be received for appointments to Other Organisations and voted upon.

The Chairman of the meeting referred to the appointments detailed in the agenda to which members would be elected. All Groups had been invited to supply their nominations. 

The Executive Appointments were noted by the Committee and are appended to these minutes.

The Appointments to Other Organisations were considered as per the agenda and a vote taken as necessary by show of hands.  The results are documented and attached to these minutes.

The Governance Committee gave consideration to the report, which was presented, to the Committee by Looqman Desai.  This detailed a recent routine inspection of the Council’s covert surveillance procedures, which are governed by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, known as RIPA.  The inspection went well and there were no formal recommendations however, the inspector did indicate that the Council’s Policy should further incorporate some of the Statutory Home Office Guidance in relation to the use of the internet and instances in relation to those offering information voluntarily under RIPA and those registered as informants.

These recommendations were presented to the Committee in the Agenda as the new Appendices C and D to the current Policy within Appendix 1 to the report.  It was noted that there was a minor error denoting “appendix C” twice.  However, if approved this would be incorporated into the policy correctly.

There followed some discussion.  The Governance Committee receives an annual report each year in relation to RIPA, last before the Governance Committee in March 2020.  Over the past year, the Council has not made any applications under RIPA.

The Committee noted the additions to the policy contained within the new appendices C and D to the policy and recommended to the Lead Member that these additions be incorporated.