Decision details

The Director of Policy and Governance submitted a report presenting the draft Annual Governance Statement (AGS) to the Governance Committee for review and approval. The draft AGS was properly drafted in accordance with the guidance issued by CIPFA and SOLACE to be published alongside the annual financial statements once approved.

The committee were advised that the assessments which informed that preparation of the AGS demonstrated that the Council had strong governance arrangements with few identified areas for improvement.

The report highlighted that governance issues regarding information management (including GDPR) and risk management, previously agreed for improvement for the year 17/18, had been carried over for continuation in 18/19. Five further areas for improvement had been identified; these were issues that had been highlighted as needing improvement, the issues were not in themselves significant. They were areas which suggested partial compliance with requirements or where there was insufficient evidence to demonstrate full compliance. There were no areas of significant none compliance by the Council. Subsequently, the group were satisfied that there were no significant issues and assurances were made that steps would be made in the coming year to address the issues to further enhance to Council’s governance arrangements.

Following member queries, an outline of the appointments process for the Scrutiny Committee was provided. It was agreed that the Committee would write a letter to the Chair of the Scrutiny committee encouraging more involvement in the Task Groups.

RESOLVED – That the draft Annual Governance Statement be approve and referred to the Executive Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive for signature.