Issue - meetings

Report by Assistant Chief Executive

14.1     The Committee considered a report by the Assistant Chief Executive on the annual review of the Corporate Governance Framework for 2018/19. The Assistant Chief Executive informed that Committee that the report had been considered by the Audit Committee on 12 July and the Committee wished to make 2 comments

1)    The Committee requested that for future reports further context/explanation should be provided regarding the table in Appendix 1. The Assistant Chief Executive confirmed that further detail would be included in the report for 2019/20; and

2)    The Committee requested that further detail be provided regarding the first action point under Adult Social Care and Health on page 15 of the agenda. The Assistant Chief Executive proposed that the following sentence be added to this action point

These collective arrangements are intended to improve governance and delivery of plans on a whole system basis for the population of East Sussex, whilst ensuring clear oversight and reporting to the constituent member organisations’ governing bodies, who remain statutorily accountable for setting their respective priorities and budgets.

14.2The Committee RESOLVED to:

1)   approve the action plan for the next year;

2)   note that  items identified to enhance governance arrangements are reflected in Business Plans and that implementation will be monitored through the year;

3)   confirm that Members are satisfied with the level of assurance provided to them through this report and the Council’s governance framework and processes;

4)   noted the comments from the Audit Committee as set out above;

5)   confirm that there are no further significant governance issues that should be included in the Council’s Annual Governance Statement; and

6)   approve the Annual Governance Statement for signature by the Leader and the Chief Executive and publication within the Statement of Accounts subject to the inclusion of the additional wording proposed above

Report by the Assistant Chief Executive.

6.1       The Democratic Services Manager introduced the report. This item relates to the annual review of the Corporate Governance Framework. Each Chief Officer has reviewed the framework and confirmed that all management actions for the 2018/19 year have been undertaken. The management actions for the coming year are listed in Annex A of Appendix 3 of the Governance Committee report. The Governance Committee report also notes that in the most recent Annual Audit Letter the External Auditors confirmed that Annual Governance Statement (AGS) was consistent with their understanding of the Council’s governance arrangements and did not identify any issues.

6.2       The Committee discussed the contents of the report to the Governance Committee and the appendices. A summary of the Committee’s comments is given below.

Governance Committee report

6.3       It was confirmed that the External Auditors still examine the Council’s governance arrangements through the Annual Governance Statement (AGS), since the formal responsibility to assess them was removed when the Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) was abolished.  Grant Thornton will look at Council’s governance arrangements and will comment on them in the Audit Findings report. It was clarified that the former CAA function was the responsibility of Audit Commission and not the External Auditors.

6.4       All Chief Officers sign the assurance statements for their departments to confirm that there are proper governance arrangements in place, and there are effective risk assessment and internal control arrangements. The statements are not standard, as the requirements for each department varies with the nature of work of the department. This is a self-assessment process, but Internal Audit also checks these arrangements are in place through their audit work.

Local Code of Corporate Governance (Appendix 1)

6.5       Appendix 1 of the Governance Committee report contains a list of key policies and processes on which corporate governance framework sits. Each row in the table relates to the statutory items that the Council has to consider. The Committee commented that it was hard to interpret the information in this appendix and understand why some items are ticked and others not, without a narrative.

6.6       It was explained that the information contained in the table in appendix 1 aims to highlight the key elements of each policy or process, and how they contribute to the corporate governance framework.  The Committee was informed that the contribution of each policy against the seven headings has previously been reviewed by the Governance Committee. The Committee agreed that it would be helpful to include a narrative in future reports.

Actions to Strengthen Governance (Annex A)

6.7       The Committee noted that the number of actions listed under each department varied, with two listed for Adult Social Care and Health. It questioned whether two actions were sufficient given the scale and scope of the work being undertaken by the Adult Social Care and Health department. The Chief Operating Officer clarified the actions listed in Annex A are a statement about where the focus of work will be for the coming year, which is over and above the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6