Issue - meetings

To receive and consider the report of the Director of Governance. 

Chris Moister, Director of Governance, presented the report which included the Draft Annual Governance Statement.  Chorley Council are required to continuously review our system of Governance.  As part of this review we publish an Annual Governance Statement (AGS) alongside the annual financial statements.

The CIPFA SOLACE Framework defines proper practice for the form and content of the AGS.  The assessments which have informed the preparation of the AGS demonstrate that the Council have strong governance arrangements.

The AGS includes a corporate self-assessment and Service Assurance Statements.  The Council was found to have strong governance arrangements with few identified areas for improvement.  These are issues that have been highlighted as needing improvement, the issues are not in themselves significant.  They are areas which suggest partial compliance with requirements or where there is insufficient evidence to demonstrate full compliance.  There are no areas of significant none compliance by the Council.

The Business Continuity plans and Emergency Plans have been reviewed in light of Covid-19. 

Members noted that the Head of Paid Service, Monitoring Officer and Statutory Finance Officers are all working across two sites; Chorley and South Ribble.  All three officers have deputies and are experienced officers and members commented on the professionalism of the officers in question. 

Decision: That the draft Annual Governance Statement appended to this report be approved and referred to the Executive Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive for signature.