Issue - meetings

Report of the Director – Finance and Corporate Services

The Director – Finance and Corporate Services presented the Annual Governance Statement report and the Council’s Annual Governance Statement, to be signed by the Leader and Chief Executive, detailed in Appendix 1 to the report, which was published alongside the Council’s Statement of Accounts, in accordance with the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015. 

The Director – Finance and Corporate Services highlighted some of the principles referred to in the Annual Governance Statement, around whether or not business was being conducted to excellent standards, if the Council was compliant with the law and delivering value for money, with the appropriate controls and procedures in place. The Group was reminded that that all of the audit documents were linked to audit standards and the Council followed good practice, with this delivering good guidance in Local Government 2016, which was a CIPFA and SOLACE publication and Appendix 1 included the basic principles of that good guidance. The Group noted that this was a standard report covering the section below as detailed in Appendix 1:

·                  Section 2: Governance and Framework – covering processes and procedures

·                  Section 3: Review of Effectiveness – framework and mechanisms in place

·                  Section 4: Important Governance Issues – budget position and the CIPFA Financial Management Code

The Director – Finance and Corporate Services advised that this was a living document and was subject to change, and it would come to the Group again in September, with the Statement of Accounts, and would reflect any changes that had been made. The document referenced how the Council would deliver on the recent Peer Review recommendations and he referred to the various potential risks going forward, including legislation changes and a potential new government. An Action Plan detailing how the Council reported on the key issues was referred to on page 130 of the report.

The Service Manager – Finance referred to the Financial Management Code as detailed in Appendix A, which was adopted in 2021. The Group was advised that this year the Council had undertaken a self-assessment, with a Peer Review with other councils. This Code marked the Council against set principles that it needed to adhere to, and the recommendations made from the Peer Review have been incorporated. The Service Manager – Finance confirmed that all the points on the risk rating were green, and those had been subject to challenge by the Peer Review.

It was RESOLVED that the Annual Governance Statement 2023/24, which incorporated actions for the forthcoming year be approved.