Iain Miles, Internal Audit Manager introduced the report of the Director of Resources which presented the Annual Governance Statement to Committee for consideration, detailing the outcome of the annual review of the effectiveness of the Council’s governance framework including the system of internal control. The Annual Governance Statement reflected the key governance issues up to the date of the approval of the annual statement of accounts, and therefore a final version would be reported to the Committee in November 2021 for approval alongside the final version of the financial statement.

The Committee was advised that the statement covered the period from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021 and therefore any significant governance issues identified occurred during that period. The statement reports the outcome of the annual review of the governance framework, the key elements of which included:

·  The completion of Governance Assurance Statements by each of the Council’s Senior Leadership Team.

·  Individual discussions with each member of SLT to gauge their views on progress and areas for improvement in respect of each of the seven principles in the CIPFA/SOLACE Framework for good governance.

·  Review of Internal Audit work completed in the year.

·  Consideration of any significant internal or external reviews of governance, including reviews by external audit and other review agencies and inspectorates as applicable.

As a result, the main content of the statement included a summary of the significant action taken during 2020/21 in respect of the four significant governance issues identified in last year’s statement, alongside a summary of the actions planned 2021/22 to address the three significant governance issues identified from the current year’s annual governance review.

Members acknowledged the key role the Audit and Risk Management Committee would play in managing financial risks in 2021-22 and reiterated the additional measures that could be put in place for committees to manage their risks.

Resolved – That

1)  the draft Annual Governance Statement, including the actions planned in 2021/22 to address the three significant issues identified from this year’s annual governance review be approved.

2)  the signing of the draft statement prior to publication by 31 July 2021 be delegated to the Chief Executive and Leader of the Council.