Agenda item

This report presents the Annual Governance Statement, which provides an assessment of the council’s governance arrangements for the financial year ending 31 March 2013.

Declarations of Interest:

None.

Officers:

David McNulty, Chief Executive

Members:

David Hodge, Leader of the Council

Key Points Raised During the Discussion:

1.    The Leader of the Council introduced the item.

2.    Members queried how to make the system of school place planning more robust.  The Chief Executive informed the Committee that there was a degree of uncertainty about school place planning.  Over the past four years, forecasting on a borough level has become more accurate but there is a lack of clarity over demand for particular schools.  It is also apparent that not all schools are able to expand.  It is unlikely that data can be made any more robust but tolerances can be built in.  At present, if any child does not have a place on day one of the school term, they will have been found a place by day two or day three.  Teams across the Council are working better together than they had previously. 

Members suggested that the cost of potentially empty demountables should be compared with the cost of transport to get children to schools that are far from their home.  The Chief Executive informed the Committee that the Schools & Learning service does try to slightly over-provide to avoid the scenario where a child has no school place.  He argued that that this was not a badly managed risk but that it was a risk which was difficult to control.  He went on to suggest that the Children and Education Select Committee could sensibly debate whether Cabinet was putting enough resource into school place planning.

Members expressed concern that Planning & Regulatory Committee face the possibility of retrospective planning applications.  The Chief Executive accepted that this was a risk but stressed that there is only a limited number of schools which could provide additional school places.

Members queried how demand for school places could be unexpected when data is available on birth rates, immigration, enrolment at private schools etc.  It was suggested that accessing and using this data may be too costly for the Council.  The Chief Executive refuted this and stated that all data sources were utilised, measured and analysed.  The forecast is now mostly accurate but there will still be some level of unexpected demand.  School place planning is dependent on many independent decisions made across a large county.  Negotiations then need to take place with individual schools.  There is sufficient resource to undertake this exercise.

3.    Members queried how confident the leadership was to deliver savings with additional efficiencies being announced.  The Leader of the Council reminded the Committee that the Council had been aware that the earlier years of efficiencies would be the easiest.  The Public Value Programme had done well to find savings and to track those savings.  The Chief Executive stated that the next three years would be challenging.

4.    Members queried whether the Chief Executive and Leader of the Council were happy in their jobs.  The Chief Executive had told new staff that the Members and officers of Surrey County Council were the best in public service.  The next few years would be tough but he would prefer to do that here than elsewhere.  The Leader of the Council informed the Committee that the quality of Members were better than they had ever been.  Working through the SE7 would also bring positive change. 

5.    The Chairman asked for reassurance that governance of trading activities would be strengthened.  The Chief Executive accepted Internal Audit’s comments about Commercial Services.  He stressed how the internal control environment had changed and highlighted the very effective relationships built by the Chief Internal Auditor.  As future trading activities were begun, particular attention would be paid to governance structures.

6.    Members queried how the Peer Challenge Team comments on Select Committees would be addressed.  The Leader of the Council stated that the Chairman of Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee had latitude in how he works with the other Select Committees.  Select Committees were being encouraged to be more adventurous and open and to engage in more cross-committee working.  The Chairman of Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee had been meeting with officers to discuss how to take this forward.

7.    It was requested that links to other reports such as the Annual Report are made explicitly within the Annual Governance Statement.

8.    The Chairman highlighted the absence of an updated Environment & Infrastructure Directorate Risk Register for several months during 2012/13.  The Chief Executive assured the Committee that he had discussed risk management with the Chief Internal Auditor and welcomed the support of the Committee.

9.    Referring to the Recommendations Tracker under Item 5, in relation to A43/12 (Strategic Director for Customers and Communities), the Chairman asked the Chief Executive to comment on the impact of the Strategic Director for Customers and Communities working part-time with Mole Valley District Council, on her work for Surrey County Council.  The Chief Executive responded that Surrey residents received very good value for money from the arrangement.  Residents expect two tier Councils to consider where they can share costs.  The arrangements have also brought development opportunities in both directions for staff at Surrey County Council and Mole Valley District Council.  Surrey County Council is reimbursed pro-rata, including National Insurance and on-costs, for the time the Strategic Director for Customers and Communities spends on Mole Valley District Council work.

Actions/Further Information to be Provided:

 Links to other reports such as the Annual Report to be made explicit within the Annual Governance Statement (Recommendations tracker ref: A18/13).

Resolved:

1.    That the Committee AGREED that governance arrangements are represented correctly within the draft Annual Governance Statement.

2.    That the draft Annual Governance Statement be commended to Cabinet for publication with the Council’s Statement of Accounts (Recommendations tracker ref: Ref R2/13).

Next Steps:

None.