Decisions

The Committee received an update on progress with implementing the Council’s new governance assurance approach to risk management. It was noted that, following approval of the Governance Assurance Policy and Framework by the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee (CPRC) on 19 January, work to embed the new arrangements was now underway.

Lee O’Neil, Deputy Chief Executive and Rob Winter, External Adviser attended to present the update. They confirmed that the transition of the former Corporate Risk Register into the new format was in progress, with all risks now reconciled to the 12 assurance areas set out in the briefing. Risk Governors had been identified for each area. It was intended that the new register would be implemented in April 2026, with a view to presenting it to Committee by the start of the new financial year.

Training sessions for Members and Officers were scheduled for 9–11 March to support wider understanding of the governance assurance model. Representatives from SIAP and Grant Thornton had also been invited to attend. Positive engagement had been received from officers, with ICT producing PowerBI activity to support implementation.

During the discussion, Councillor Howkins raised concerns regarding the housing demand figures reported to CPRC, noting that earlier information had proved inaccurate. She queried how Members could have confidence in the data provided.

The Deputy Chief Executive acknowledged the concerns raised and explained that the new framework was designed to provide clearer accountability and enable Members to more effectively challenge officers where required. He confirmed that if a service committee required specific information, such as detailed housing need figures, this could be raised with the relevant officers.

The Interim Chief Executive highlighted that the Community Wellbeing and Housing Committee was the appropriate forum for scrutiny of housing matters, including the homelessness strategy. He reported that recent independent assurance work by MHCLG on temporary accommodation included extensive metrics, which would be reported to that Committee. The refreshed governance assurance model would support service committees in fulfilling their roles more effectively.

Rob Winter emphasised that the new arrangements distinguished more clearly between governance assurance (for the Audit Committee) and operational performance (service committees). Service committees would receive performance reports to assess delivery against outcomes, while the Audit Committee would focus on the assurance underpinning those arrangements. He noted that data quality was a common theme in assurance reviews and would form part of the Committee’s focus.

He added that where service reviews identified improvements in governance arrangements, these would be reported to the Audit Committee, while implementation of recommendations and operational performance would be monitored through the relevant service committee.

The Chair encouraged Members to confirm their attendance at the upcoming training sessions, and it was confirmed that the invitation would be followed up and extended to the Committee’s independent members.

The Committee resolved to note the update.

The Committee received a report on the Council’s Counter Fraud, Bribery and Corruption Strategy from the Group Head of Corporate Governance, Linda Heron, who advised that this was a routine annual review to ensure the document remained up to date and aligned with good practice. It was not considered necessary to undertake a full rewrite of the Strategy due to the Local Government Reorganisation, and therefore only minor amendments had been proposed to reflect contextual changes; these were shown using tracked changes.

The Group Head of Corporate Governance clarified that the deleted narrative in sections 3.4 and 3.5 no longer reflected current operational arrangements. She also explained that the issue with the embedded link to other policies was due to the format of the agenda and would be resolved on publication.

Councillor Woodward provided positive feedback, noting that the presentation of tracked changes made it much easier to understand the proposed alterations.

The Committee resolved to:

1. acknowledge the annual review of the Council’s Counter Fraud, Bribery and Corruption Strategy;
2. approve the proposed amendments to the Council’s Counter Fraud, Bribery and Corruption Strategy; and
3. Recommend to Council that the Constitution be updated with the revised Council’s Counter Fraud, Bribery and Corruption Strategy.