Issue - meetings

Report of the Chief Executive.

The Committee received the report of the Chief Executive to seek the Committee’s recommendation for the adoption of the Annual Governance Statement for the 2015/16 financial year.

It was reported that a review had been undertaken of the Council’s position and performance against the Code of Governance approved in September 2012. The results of the evaluation exercises showed that there had not been any dramatic changes in the evaluation over the last year.

The document compiled to detail the identified “sources” of assurance for each element of the Code had been updated and individual “assurance statements” in relation to internal control and governance arrangements had been sought from managers at the level immediately below Chief Officer level and assurance had been built into the overall evaluation.

The Internal Audit and Assurance Manager’s Annual Report and Assurance Statement for 2015/16 had concluded that the Authority had a significant ongoing governance issue in relation to its information management arrangements, which should be disclosed in the Governance Statement. Whilst the completed audit had not identified significant issues regarding the Council’s framework of governance, risk management and control, reductions in the amount of assurance work meant that only a ‘Limited’ assurance could be provided for this particular period.

No issues had been identified for disclosure in the Governance Statement following the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS) review.

Members considered the Annual Governance Statement, which had been drafted following the evaluation exercise.

Members asked a number of questions regarding the Council’s current position regarding capacity in the Governance Service’s senior management. Members also asked questions in relation to Performance Management arrangements, Information Governance, Member/Officer relations and personal development, and the potential impact of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union.

Resolved:

That the draft Annual Governance Statement for 2015/16 (attached as Appendix B of the report) be recommended for adoption and for signing by the Leader of the Council, Chief Executive, Section 151 Officer and Monitoring Officer.