Issue - meetings

Committee is asked to review and approve the draft Annual Governance Statement.

The Committee is asked to review and approve the draft Annual Governance Statement as outlined in Appendix 1.

The Committee considered the Annual Governance Statement for 2024-25 from the Deputy Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer. The Deputy Chief Executive advised that reference to organisational development framework on page 122 of the draft statement should be removed. The Council has a statutory duty to prepare and publish an Annual Governance Statement. The statement provided an overview of how the Council’s governance arrangements for the financial year 2024-25 operated, provided an assessment of their effectiveness, identified areas of weaknesses, and outlined the actions the Council would take over the next year to strengthen its governance arrangements. The Annual Governance Statement was a key component in the Draft Statement of Accounts which would be issued later in the year.

Issues and recommendations raised in the Grant Thornton Audit report and the Best Value Inspection report had been incorporated. A key mechanism for addressing those concerns would be through the Improvement and Recovery Plan which had yet to be approved by Council. The Deputy Chief Executive confirmed that Commissioners had reviewed the draft Annual Governance Statement.

Some members of the Committee felt that the draft statement should incorporate more information about what actions the Council was currently undertaking to address concerns raised. Some members of the Committee challenged the accuracy of some of the information provided in the draft statement, and the governance arrangements being identified as satisfactory following the Best Value Inspection and Grant Thornton Audit. The Deputy Chief Executive acknowledged that improvements that would be addressed as part of the Best Value Intervention process.

The Committee resolved not to approve the draft Annual Governance Statement as outlined in Appendix.