Issue - meetings

The Annual Governance Statement (“Statement”) is an important document which provides assurance concerning the Council’s governance arrangements, both financial and non-financial. It is prepared on an annual basis for inclusion in the Statement of Accounts.

The Committee received the Annual Governance Statement (“Statement”) as an important document which provided assurance concerning the Council’s governance arrangements, both financial and non-financial. It is prepared on an annual basis for inclusion in the Statement of Accounts.

The following matters were considered:

a)             Seven Best Value Themes: A Member questioned about the Seven Best Value Themes in the appendix to the report.  In Section 2 (Leadership), whilst he had previously raised that there was nothing in the ‘where we can improve’ column he also considered that the items listed in ‘what’s working well’ column was more to do with middle management and not the senior leadership team. In Section 1 (Continuous Improvement) and Section 6 (Service Delivery) he highlighted the slippage in the delivery of the ICT Strategy and that the council seemed not to have the skills to deliver much of the programme and that this should be captured under Section 6 as this affects service delivery.

The Member continued to Section 7 (Partnerships and Community Engagement) and thanked officers for including the Community Governance Review (CGR).  He stated that an item on charter trustees was due to be discussed at full council and that within the report it explained that charter trustees could have precepting powers and raise council tax just as a parish council would have done under CRG. The response to CGR was overwhelming as residents did not want a raise in Council Tax. There had been no consultation on chartered trusts which the member could not accept and asked that it be added to the log as an area for improvement. Also in Section 7 the Member stated that as the council were in litigation with the Rainbow Leisure Centre then there should be an item reflected in the ‘where we can improve’ to say that the council could improve how it works with partners.

Councillor Coley proposed a motion that Section 7 (Partnerships and Community Engagement) include consultation on any precepting powers. This was seconded by Councillor McCormick. The Motion was carried (4 for, 1 against and 1 abstention).

Councillor Coley also proposed a motion that Section 6 (Service Delivery) should include a reference to the slippage of the ICT Strategy.  This was seconded by Councillor Ames. The Motion was carried (3 for, 1 against and 2 abstentions).

b)             Vesting Day: A Member pointed out that vesting day dates in the report were given as 31 March 2027 and 1 April 2027.  This needed to be corrected.

c)             AGS Action Plan: A member highlighted the various dates given and date changes for the appeals related to the Local Plan and queried the RAG status as ‘on track’. The Corporate Governance & Strategy Manager undertook to amend this.

d)             Best Value Theme 3(Governance): A Member asked if there was monthly monitoring to ensure the backlog of 20 overdue audits was being undertaken to ensure these were cleared by vesting day.  The Assistant Director for Corporate Services explained that as one audit could generate 10 or  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7