Decision details

The Director of Resources sought Committee’s approval of the Annual Governance Statement for 2020/21.

Members were reminded that all councils are required to prepare an Annual Governance Statement each year in accordance with the “Delivering Good Governance in Local Government Framework” and to publish the extent to which they comply with their own Local Code of Corporate Governance.  This code includes how the Council has monitored the effectiveness of its governance arrangements in the previous financial year and details any planned changes in the coming period.

The report noted that:

·         The Annual Governance Statement is a backward-looking review of how the Council had performed in relation to the principles set out at the beginning of each year in its own Local Code of Corporate Governance.

·         In reviewing how the Council and its staff and members had acted over the period of the review, evidence had also been gathered to support the Report’s conclusions.

·         There had been several issues raised in the review and progress on these issues had been detailed in the report.

·         The Annual Governance Statement had to be published alongside the Council’s Statement of Accounts and that this is currently on the Council’s website together with a draft (subject to audit) copy of the Statement of Accounts.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

Approve the Annual Governance Statement 2020/21 as outlined in the report.