Issue - meetings

Report of the Director of Governance attached.

Council considered a report of the Director of Governance which presented the Annual Governance Statement for 2018/19 and 2019/20.

The report was received by the Council in the interests of transparency and members were informed that the 2018/19 Statement of Accounts and Annual Governance Statement under the previous administration remained to be signed off by the council’s External Auditors. A number of discrepancies had been highlighted within these documents and the Leader of the Council expressed his concern with this.

Internal audits had been undertaken over the previous 12 months and the 2018/19 Statement of Accounts and Annual Governance Statement were updated as a result. Explanations had been provided to external partners, agencies and auditors around the historic misleading statements but there remained a possibility of further sanction being imposed on the Council.

Although concerns had been raised at the time, the need to accept responsibility and make better progress was acknowledged. A Management Recovery Plan was now in place and the Leader of the Council was confident that all actions in this would be completed by the end of 2020.

There was feeling within the Chamber that the findings of the Annual Governance Statement appeared to place blame on those members on the Governance Committee, despite a significant amount of cross-party challenge during meetings. In response, it was asserted that this was not the case, with the Annual Governance Statement recognising many reasons for such governance failings. However, conclusion of some fault of the Governance Committee was drawn from the committee’s approval of a draft Annual Governance Statement which was later found to be factually incorrect, but it was recognised that blame should not solely rest with the Governance Committee.

The Leader of the Council reiterated that the need to uphold transparency and informed members that all information is shared with the Scrutiny Committee by the current Labour administration.

It was proposed by the Leader of the Council, Councillor Paul Foster, seconded by the Deputy Leader of the Council, Councillor Mick Titherington, and subsequently

RESOLVED: (Unanimously)

That

1.    the Annual Governance Statement for the years 2018/19 and 2019/20 be noted and

2.    Council supports the improvements contained in the action plan of the Annual Governance Statements.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive to follow.

The Director of Governance/Monitoring Officer presented the draft Annual Governance Statement covering the financial years 2018/2019 and 2019/2020.

The Council is required to ensure it has in place a sound system of governance, that it regularly reviews the effectiveness of that system and that it continuously seeks to achieve best value in service delivery.  As part of that, the Council is required to publish an Annual Governance Statement.  The Annual Governance Statement is developed alongside the Statement of Accounts but assesses the governance framework for the whole council and all of its activities.  The form of the Annual Governance Statement and approach taken to its development is based on guidance produced by CIPFA and SOLACE.

The Annual Governance Statement for 2018/2019 was not signed off as significant governance failings that predated the submission of the Annual Governance Committee in May 2019 were identified.  As a result, it was clear that the statements within the Annual Governance Statement as presented were incorrect and did not accurately reflect the position of the Council as regards the maintenance of and compliance with a robust governance framework.  Following discussions with the Council’s external auditor and because the Annual Governance Statement is supposed to reflect the point at which it is agreed, the statement covers the 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 financial years.

The Director of Governance/Monitoring Officer took the meeting through the five key sections of the Annual Governance Statement:

u  Section one – the Council’s responsibility in producing an annual governance statement

u  Section two – the purpose of the annual governance statement

u  Section three – the governance statement and how the Council complies with its local code

u  Section four – how the Council reviews the effectiveness of the governance framework

u  Section five – the steps that have been taken to test and enhance the Council’s governance framework and the actions needing to be taken in the coming period

A number of significant governance failings were identified and follow the statutory section 24 report issued by the external auditors in 2018.  The key issues were grouped around the themes of:  leadership, culture, process and monitoring and review.

The Director of Governance/Monitoring Officer highlighted the importance of learning and implementing the remaining actions to embed effective governance across the Council.

The external auditor reported that their audit work would be ongoing over the summer period.

The Leader of the Council commented on the disappointing Annual Governance Statement and pattern of behaviour in failing to follow governance procedures.  The Leader provided assurance that since 2019 there had been a change in culture and there was now full compliance and transparency.

Committee Members raised the following queries with regards the report:

u  In response to an enquiry about achieving value for money with regards the McKenzie Arms site project, the Committee was advised that Members had been provided with all the necessary information to make an informed judgement when making their decision on this project.  Statutory officers act as a check and balance to ensure  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32