Agenda item

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 Members have all the necessary information to allow them to make a decision and that there is full transparency in place.

u  Referring to a lack of leadership, confirmation was provided that a key role of the Chief Executive and other statutory officers is to ensure good governance and decision-making.

u  With regards the dynamic nature of the action plan, it was proposed that a progress report be provided on an exception basis to each Governance Committee meeting.  Measures of how effective the actions have been would also be brought back to the Committee.

u  As the Annual Governance Statement is integral to the annual accounts, an external audit opinion would be provided on the whole.  The external auditor would be carrying out a detailed review over the summer and was unable to commit to a timescale to complete their work at this time.

u  The Director of Governance/Monitoring Officer confirmed that he had not seen any similar pattern of governance failures in his experience and stressed the importance of learning and continuous improvement.

u  Confirmation was provided that governance framework and procedures are available to Members and officers on the Council’s website, CllrCONNECT and the intranet.  The proposed Annual Governance Statement action plan includes review of some governance documents and the suggestion to include a review date on those documents would be taken on board.

u  Confirmation was provided that the Interim Chief Executive had previously offered to brief the shadow Cabinet on relevant matters.

RESOLVED:  (Unanimously)

That the Annual Governance Statement be approved in draft form for consideration by External Audit.