Agenda

To take any questions or statements from members of the Public.

To receive declarations of any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or other registrable or non-registrable interests from Members in respect of any item to be considered at the meeting.

The Committee is asked to confirm as a true record the Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held on the 28 March 2024 and to authorise the Chair to sign them.

This report presents the External Audit Plan for 2023/24. In accordance with audit regulations, these items must be presented to Committee.

This report provides an update of the Council’s performance, containing:

·         The end of year corporate performance report, with respect to the 2023-2024 Annual Plan objectives, key performance indicators, corporate risks and annual governance statement actions (Appendix 1); and

·         A progress report on the Four-Year Plan, which highlights key achievements between April 2020 and March 2024 (Appendix 2).

This report accompanies the council’s first ‘Productivity Plan’, publication of which is a new requirement introduced by Government as part of their review of productivity across all public services and Local Government.

In accordance with the Council’s Scheme of Delegation to officers, this report sets out urgent decisions taken by officers in consultation with committee Chairs for the period 31 May 2023 to 3 June 2024.

The Annual Governance Statement (AGS) 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.

This report seeks the Committee’s approval of the draft AGS 2023-2024.

This report presents the Committee with its annual Work Programme.

This report contains information on recent council complaint decisions from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

This report summarises progress against the Internal Audit Plan 2023-2024.

This report presents the Committee with the Annual Internal Audit Report and Opinion 2023-2024.

Under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the Committee may pass a resolution to exclude the public from the Meeting for Part Two of the Agenda on the grounds that the business involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 2 and 3of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act (as amended) and that pursuant to paragraph 10 of Part 2 of the said Schedule 12A the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.