Issue - meetings

The Chairman invited the Monitoring Officer to present a report for the Committee to consider the final version of the Annual Governance Statement, and the revised Local Code of Governance. It was explained that the Council was legally required to publish an Annual Governance Statement, to be included within the 2024/25 Financial Statement. Whilst there was no legal requirement to have a Local Code of Governance, it was recommended by CIPFA/SOLACE (Delivering Good Governance in Local Government Framework 2016) that local authorities should produce a Code that illustrated how they achieved good governance across the organisation. The previous version had been in place since 2019, and so revisions included updates to current branding.

In response to a question regarding actions arising from the peer review, it was confirmed that actions were ongoing and aligned with the refresh of the Corporate Plan. Additionally the Annual Governance Statement and Local Code of Governance were reported through the Governance and Audit Committee only, with the draft AGS and final version being an annual report, for inclusion in the Statement of Accounts.

In expressing content that matters were being progressed, and the Committee would be kept up to date with actions as required, the recommendations within the report wee duly moved, seconded, and voted upon, and it was

            RESOLVED that

a)    the updated Annual Governance Statement 2024-25 had been reviewed and its inclusion within the 2024-25 Financial Statement be approved; and

b)    the revised Local Code of Governance be approved.