Agenda item

Click here to find the recording of this item on YouTube.

The Monitoring Officer presented the report.

The Chair thanked the Monitoring Officer and invited questions and comments from the Committee, a summary which is set out below.

Councillor Long commented this was a good adoption of the CIPFA guidance and questioned if there were any other organisations which provide guidance on this framework.

The Monitoring Officer advised the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny developed a framework which one Council tried to incorporate the framework however it was complex. She added further there would be scope for a review if the Council was not undergoing Local Government Reorganisation.

In response to Councillor de Winton, the Monitoring Officer advised this report sets the framework against which the Annual Governance Statements was produced therefore receives attention annually. She added corporate governance training was undertaken with service areas and highlight to Officers how this applied to their day-to-day roles.

Councillor de Winton commented the current framework from 2019 had been working and therefore this update was tweaks and evolution from the framework.

Councillor Bearshaw sought clarification on when the Code of Corporate Governance was to be reviewed.

The Monitoring Officer confirmed it was on the workstream but had taken a backseat.

Councillor Devulapalli referred to principal two of the report which was Stakeholders engagement and questioned what the Council was doing compared to other Local Authorities.

The Monitoring Officer advised as a result of the Peer Review carried out last year, further engagement and consultation was needed. She advised further the communication and engagement strategy was being developed.  She commented the Annual Governance Statement would identify progress made.

Under Standing Order 34, Councillor Ryves sought clarification of the reason of this document as the Annual Governance Statement was clear and covered what was included in this report. He referred to page 39 and the Golden Thread in relation to the Capital Programme and sought further clarification.

The Monitoring Officer confirmed it was the framework against which the Annual Governance Statements was produced. She explained the Annual Governance Statement highlighted if corporate governance was incomplete. She added she recommended to adopt the CIPFA guidance.

In response to Councillor Ryves further question, the Monitoring Officer advised the golden thread is a fundamental part of the governance framework and how the Council works. She explained on page 39 of the report, this explained the governance around project management as this was significant to the budget and statement of accounts. She added further there was a clause in the report to review in three years.

Portfolio Holder, Councillor Morley commented the Code of Corporate Governance and Annual Governance Statements were useful expansions of the Knowles Principles in relation to Local Government and how these were applied to the governance of this Council. He summarised the gold thread was part of the quality management system for translating the corporate strategy into Officer objectives.  

RESOLVED: The Audit Committee were recommended to:

1. Review and consider the draft Code of Corporate Governance

2. Provide feedback and recommendations prior to the Code being present to Cabinet on 15^th April 2025