Councillors and committees

Agenda item

ANNUAL GOVERNANCE STATEMENT

This report presents the Annual Governance Statement, which summarises the council’s governance arrangements for the financial year ending 31 March 2015.

 

The council is required to undertake an annual review of governance and prepare an Annual Governance Statement under the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2011.

 

Minutes:

As the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive had arrived, it was agreed to bring Item 13 Annual Governance Statement forward on the agenda.

 

Declarations of interest:

None

 

Witnesses:

David Hodge, Leader of the Council

David McNulty, Chief Executive

 

Key points raised during the discussion:

1.    The Chief Executive proposed some additional wording to be included in the Annual Governance Statement regarding concerns about performance in Children’ Services and the establishment of an Improvement Board chaired by the Deputy Leader and comprising the Lead Member for Children and representatives from the Liberal Democrats, Independents and UKIP.

2.    Members agreed that the presentation of the Annual Governance Statement was much improved and commented on the useful discussion at an informal consultative meeting. 

3.    Members felt that the programme of finance briefings for Members could be improved as there were not many briefings held and very little information was provided.  It was suggested that a briefing should be held after the budget envelope has been set to give oversight of what was happening across the council.  Also, very few Members attended the briefings.  The Chief Executive agreed that the finance briefings could be improved on but stressed that Council had signed off on a planning cycle which included quarterly finance briefings.  Information is as full and accurate as can be provided at the time of the briefings.  Information may also seem repetitive because the same issues continue to challenge the council, eg Adult Social Care and school places.  The Chief Executive agreed that larger groups of Members attending would be welcome as knowledge develops over time.  Those attending do have robust conversations.

4.    Members suggested that communications with councillors was not as good as it could be.  The Chief Executive understood the frustration of Members when they are not informed about local issues.  The Think Resident Think Member initiative was intended to improve communications.  The Leader informed the committee that People Performance and Development Committee was driving forward a repeat of the Think Resident Think Member programme.  The Chairman suggested that the 81 county councillors were a useful communications tool for the council.

5.    There was concern that budget cuts could begin to damage the council’s services.  The Leader assured the committee that conversations were being held with key people to develop an understanding about the costs of running services.  The Chief Executive reminded the committee that in February the Council had recognised the need to revisit the Medium Term Financial Plan in summer once uncertainties such as the general election and the budget statement were out of the way.  A Cabinet Away Day as been arranged to look at implications and give direction to officers.  A plan will also be developed to apprise all Members of the implications.

6.    Members queried the additional wording concerning performance in Children’s Services.  The Chief Executive explained that a pilot Ofsted inspection had taken place in Autumn 2014.  The council had volunteered for this due to complex changes to Children’s Services, volume pressures and other constraints.  There was a desire to understand how this had affected performance.  Oral feedback led the leadership to believe that an Improvement Board would help the situation. 

7.    In response to concerns raised about the Highways Services, the Leader of the Council accepted that highways engineers were not renowned for customer service skills.  However, in the past year the service had met a national standard for customer service.

 

Actions/Further information to note:

None.

 

RESOLVED:

      i.        That the Committee is satisfied that the governance arrangements are represented correctly in the AGS; and

     ii.        That the Committee COMMENDS the draft AGS to the Cabinet, subject to additional amendments, for publication with the council’s Statement of Accounts and Annual Report (Recommendation tracker ref: A26/15).

Committee next steps:

None.

 

 

 

Supporting documents: