Issue - meetings

Consideration was given to a report which presented the draft Annual Governance Statement for 2020/21.  The Committee were asked to review its content and identify any additional issues they considered should be contained in the associated action plan, prior to receiving the final document for approval at its next meeting 

Ordinarily, the Authority was required to produce an Annual Governance Statement for approval by 31^st July each year to accompany the Council’s Statement of Accounts. Members noted the timeframe, as last year, had been extended to 30 September 2021.

Having reviewed the year; taken account of progress against the AGS 2019/20 action plan and having also considered recommendations made within various governance related reports/audits, the matters suggested for possible inclusion in the action plan were: -

·         Living with Covid-19 roadmap#

·         Complete review of corporate procurement procedures#

·         Ensure compliance to meet the standards of the Financial Management Code

·         Produce a Cultural Strategy*

·         Clarify what ‘social regeneration’ means to the Council, what it will deliver and how to resource it*

·         # Carried forward from the 2019/20 AGS action plan

·         Emanating from the Peer review action plan.

The draft statement and action plan have been shared with Internal Audit who had raised no concerns.

Discussion ensued and the Chairman recognised that a number of areas had not been completed, simply, due to the additional duties placed upon the Council during the Pandemic.

Assurance was sought that the impact working remotely had on staff had been assessed. In response Officers advised that staff have been regularly surveyed, with the results being reported to the Joint Staff Consultative Committee. These results had also been shared in the Members’ update.  In response to further questions around the nature of the surveys,  it was recognised that it was often difficult for individuals to recognise stress within themselves. Surveys had been anonymous but grouped within teams allowing trends to be identified, the results of which were shared with Assistant Directors for addressing through their relevant team managers. Further Assurance was offered that the Covid-19. Roadmap, having been identified as an action for the AGS, would mean Members would receive regular reports around the impact and mitigating actions. The Chairman questioned whether there was an action around culture giving the significant changes within the senior management team. In response Officers advised that the peer review process could be revisited in two years time.  Furthermore there was an audit planned around culture and ethics, similar to that undertaken approximately 3 years ago, and as such the tracking of culture would be overseen through these pieces of work. Given the information provided the Chairman indicated he would welcome an update at a future Chairs Briefing, regarding the peer-review and whether there was any intention for a follow-up review to be completed.

RESOLVED that

(a)         having reviewed the draft Statement, no additional governance related matters be included in the draft statement; and

(b)         Having reviewed the proposed set of issues, arising during the year and intended to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17