Agenda item

 The Deputy Director of Finance gave an update on the Draft Unaudited 2023-24 Annual Governance Statement. It was highlighted to the Committee that the statement had to be produced by the 31 May and would be audited alongside the Statement of Accounts. It provided an overview of internal controls and the councils governance framework. It also identified the main governance issues and the action plans in place to respond to them.

The committee raised and discussed the following main points;

·       That there was a constitution review underway and it was important to ensure that decision making was fit for purpose and governance arrangements thoroughly scrutinised to meet the pressures of a complex environment. In particular, the scheme of delegation and the council’s boards should be considered. The packaging of the document itself should also include ensuring its logical structure and readability. This should be reflected in the draft provided to the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive for sign-off.

·       That the document did a good job of placing governance in its context but future iterations could be improved by including simple explanations of the technical jargon for the benefit of residents who read it.

·       Clarification around governance issues related to leases and concession agreements.

·       That reference to ‘internal controls’ was missing from the statements section on Audit and Risk Committees performance work outcomes for 2023-24.

·       That the External Audit opinion on the 2021-22 accounts had not yet been issued due to an outstanding objection and the audit certificate and subsequent certificates were therefore outstanding and, whether the council could provide a resolution to this.

·       That the committee would receive a progress report on the key governance issues in six months and, whether the six-month review should be included in the governance statement to identify how progress would be monitored.

·       The governance statement should reflect the new scrutiny structures and should note phase two of the scrutiny review.

·       The list of the work carried out by the committee should include the deep dives into the new build programme and social care market instability.

·       On the scale of equal pay legal claims, there was no evidence of an issue but there was a systematic and comprehensive review of pay and grading underway, which was to conclude within the coming months.

RESOLVED:

a) To approve the draft unaudited 2023/24 Annual Governance Statement attached at Appendix A. To include a full statement of the scrutiny function and reference to the risk deep dives as above.

b) To authorise the Corporate Director of Resources to approve minor amendments to the draft unaudited Annual Governance Statement prior to its publication alongside the unaudited Statement of Accounts on 31 May 2024.

c) To note that the Leader and Chief Executive will be asked to provide their signatures for the final unaudited 2023/24 Annual Governance Statement.

d) To note that officers will report back on any amendments made to the Annual Governance Statement at a future meeting and provide a post audit version of the Annual Governance Statement for approval.

e) To note that there was a constitution review underway and the importance of decision making and governance arrangements being thoroughly scrutinised, particularly the scheme of delegation.