COLUMN by Stroud mayor Tony Davey 

It’s a slightly drier topic this week for my update which, at the time of writing, is the opposite of the very wet weather.

Whilst not the most exciting topic, it certainly is vital…

This week we held the Finance and Policy Committee meeting.

All our committees are important in their own way, but this one is especially important when it comes to the policies that drive our council and ensuring we are properly scrutinising our finances.

The chairpersons of our committees make up this committee and we carefully review the payments made since the last meeting, in addition to ensuring the proper balances are in place.

Where any payment run is made from our bank account, it is already checked and approved by two separate Councillors (and can be seen by more). Then, at Finance and Policy Committee, we review these retrospectively.

Whilst no process that involves human beings is zero risk, measures that are more than adequate are employed to reduce risk of error and risk of fraud. That matters because this is not our money - this is the funds of the community that we are trusted to deploy for maximum positive effect.

This is not just the positive effect of the action, but also using local supply chains and businesses where we reasonably can - that then helps support our local economy, local employment and local opportunities.

The meeting was not just about money this week, it was also a focus on ensuring our data retention processes were fit for purpose, that we make the right cybersecurity choices (something very relevant following a number of cyber attacks on councils recently) and how we can further strengthen our resilience against potential fraud.

Even then, Full Council (all Councillors) review the outputs of our Finance and Policy Committee meetings to approve or note them, so there are multiple levels of scrutiny applied to protect the public purse.

We all know how much that matters.

This week there was also an opportunity to look at some plan options for the regeneration of the former Locking Hill Surgery to become our new home in just a few months time, bringing all our team together and providing much needed community space.

So not the most dynamic of updates this week, but it does address measures in place to ensure there is scrutiny in our work - a criticism I find often made of councils when the accuser doesn’t have a full understanding of what is in place.

Further, these details are available for everyone to see on our website (check out the calendar of meetings and then see the agenda packs) so you are free to scrutinise too.

I look forward to sharing another update next week - it’s going to be a very busy one!