Agenda item

Committee considered a report which sought Members approval to the conclusions and content of the Annual Governance Statement which it was proposed to be incorporated within the Council’s Statement of Accounts for 2024/25. Members approval was also sought for the revised Code of Corporate Governance.

The report also raised awareness of governance issues amongst Members and Employees of the Council, and more generally amongst all stakeholders.

As part of its Statement of Accounts, the Council was required to include an Annual Governance Statement. Preparation of the Statement needed to be undertaken in line with the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) / Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers (SOLACE) framework, which sets out the fundamental principle of corporate governance that needed to be addressed. The CIPFA / SOLACE Framework set out the core principles which Authorities should follow.

One of the main purposes of the Annual Governance Statement was to assess the extent to which the key principles were in place within an authority and were adhered to in practice. In short it was an annual assessment process for the Council’s governance arrangements. As part of the process, Audit Committee would also be requested to give consideration to the Council’s updated Code of Corporate Governance.

The Annual Governance Statement, together with the Code of Corporate Governance, were corporate documents which must be owned by the whole organisation.

The Draft Annual Governance Statement for consideration and approval was attached at Appendix 1 to the report. However, it was possible there may be a requirement to make some final changes before the Statement of Accounts was authorised for issue by the Section 151 Officer. It was therefore recommended that delegated powers be given to the Section 151 Officer, in consultation with the Chair or Vice Chair of the Committee, to agree any final changes. It should be noted that the only changes that would be made under these delegated powers would relate to amendments agreed with the Council’s external auditors Forvis Mazars.

Section 4 of the Annual Governance Statement showed that the review supported the assessment that there were appropriate governance arrangements in place and they were fit for purpose. Where significant issues had been identified, the Statement noted that these would be addressed to ensure governance arrangements remained robust.

In response to a Member’s query, the Monitoring Officer advised that the reporting route for the Annual Governance Statement was the Audit Committee.

Moved by Councillor Catherine Tite and seconded by Councillor Rob Hiney-Saunders

RESOLVED that: 1) the draft Annual Governance Statement as set out in Appendix 1 to the report be noted,  

2)    having reviewed the effectiveness of the Governance Framework, Audit Committee were satisfied that the Council’s governance and internal control arrangements were fit for purpose;

3)    delegated powers are granted to the Section 151 Officer, in consultation with the Chair or Vice Chair of the Audit Committee, to agree any changes which may be necessary in order to ensure the finalisation of the external audit currently being concluded by the Council’s external auditors Forvis Mazars, to ensure completion of the Statement of Accounts by the statutory deadline of 27^th February 2026.