Agenda item

Report of the Strategic Director, Resources and Digital

The Committee received a report and were asked to review the evidence of assurances provided on the Council’s internal controls, risk management and governance arrangements, and approve the Annual Governance Statement 2019/20 which was appended to the main report.

The Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 require Councils to produce an Annual Governance Statement giving an assessment of governance arrangements and their effectiveness.  This accompanies the Annual Statement of Accounts and is signed by the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive

The Audit and Standards Committee agreed on 9 March 2020 the assurance framework which would provide evidence for the completion of the Annual Governance Statement.  Para 3 of the report sets out the areas where assurances were required, and paragraphs 5-22 summarise how the assurance was obtained in each area.

As reported to the Audit and Standards Committee on 9 March, a corporate group uses the findings from these sources of assurance to form a view on the adequacy of the Council’s overall internal control and governance arrangements.  Using evidence from this assessment the Group prepares the Annual Governance Statement for approval by this Committee, which will then accompany the Councils Annual Statement of Accounts.

This Group, the Internal Control Group, which is chaired by the Strategic Director, Resources and Digital and includes the Strategic Director, Corporate Services and Governance along with representatives from Internal Audit and Corporate Risk Management has reviewed the evidence from the sources of assurance reported and prepared the Annual Governance Statement for 2019/20 which is attached at Appendix A. 

This AGS has been prepared during the outbreak of COVID-19. During this period

the Council has operated within the framework of its Business Continuity Plans which

have been developed to enable the Council to operate effectively in times of crisis.

Critical activities were prioritised and support services were delivered at a reduced

level to comply with Government guidance and also enable redeployment of

resources to support critical activities. Paragraph 24 of the AGS summarises the key

actions taken to ensure Governance arrangements continued to be effective, and

paragraph 42 how assurance was provided on the effectiveness of arrangements

and the intention to review lessons learned at the appropriate time.

Based on the review of the Council’s governance arrangements during 2019/20 including the internal control and risk management environments, the opinion is that the Council’s governance arrangements continue to be regarded as fit for purpose.

Based on the review of the arrangements introduced to strengthen governance to support the Council’s response to the COVID-19 emergency,  the opinion is that the Council’s governance arrangements continue to be fit for purpose during that period.

The Annual Governance Statement therefore reflects this opinion and gives detail the evidence obtained to achieve it, actions taken to improve governance following the previous Annual Governance Statement, and an action plan for the next year.