The Council is requested to agree the following recommendation of the Constitution and Standards Committee held on 23 November 2022:

That the revised Code of Corporate Governance and the framework detailed therein be adopted as part of the Council’s Constitution.

Constitution and Standards minute 21 (23/11/22) and report attached.

The fifth matter requiring approval was the Revised Code of Corporate Governance 2022, which sought the approval of the Council’s revised Code of Corporate Governance following a review of the current version last reviewed in 2018.

On a motion by Councillor Tony Cox, seconded by Councillor Clare O’Hagan, it was –

Resolved (unanimously) – That the Revised Code of Corporate Governance and the framework detailed therein be adopted as part of the Council’s Constitution.

The Head of Legal Services introduced the report which detailed the recommendations of the Audit and Risk Management Committee in respect of the revised Code of Corporate Governance, which was last reviewed in

2018. The Code communicated the Council’s governance and decision-making processes and the principles underlining them, and had been updated to reflect the Council’s current operating model and procedures and the change on the Council’s governance arrangements in 2020 to a Committee system.

The Head of Legal Services noted a correction in Appendix 2 of the report. Under “Monitoring, Review and Reporting” it states: “All Policy and Committee Chairs will be represented on Finance and Policy Committee”, this should read as: “All Policy and Committee Chairs will be represented on Policy and Resources Committee”

Councillor P Gilchrist noted that in the table under Appendix 2 of the report there are multiple references to an “entity” and asked to confirm if this was referring to Council. The Head of Legal Services confirmed that this was the case and that the word “Council” would replace any reference to an “entity” in the final version of the Code of Corporate Governance.

Resolved – That

(1)  the revised Code of Corporate Governance be approved subject to the corrections above; and

(2)  Committee recommend to Full Council the adoption of the revised Code of Corporate Governance and the framework detailed therein as part of the Council’s Constitution.

The Head of Legal Services introduced her report which detailed the revised Code of Corporate Governance for approval, which was last reviewed in 2018. The Code communicated the Council’s decision making processes and the principles underlining them, and had been updated following the move from Cabinet to Committee-based decision making.

Resolved: That

(1) the revised Code of Corporate Governance at Appendix 1 to the report be approved; and

(2) Constitution and Standards Committee be recommend full Council to adopt the revised Code of Corporate Governance and the framework detailed therein as part of the Council’s Constitution.