Issue - meetings

Report by the Monitoring Officer

10.1     The Committee considered a report by the Monitoring Officer, which set out the internal controls in place to ensure compliance with the Council’s code of corporate governance, to be considered by the Governance Committee at its meeting on 19 July. 

10.2     The Monitoring Officer highlighted that the CIPFA guidance was being revised for 2016/17, and that a review had been undertaken of how the Council’s current policies and practices align with the new principles.

10.3     The Committee discussed audits of schools, and the powers of intervention the Council holds, with particular concerns where a school which receives an unsatisfactory audit verdict acts as a mentor to other schools. The Head of Assurance set out that audits and any concerns are shared with Governing Bodies and senior school managers, but the Council had limited powers of intervention.  The Monitoring Officer agreed to bring the matter to the attention of the Governance Committee when they consider the Assessment.

10.4     RESOLVED to (1) note the report to the Governance Committee and its appendices; and

(2) bring the issue raised at minute 10.3 to the attention of the Governance Committee.

Report by the Monitoring Officer

12.1     The Committee considered a report by the Monitoring Officer, containing the draft annual assessment reports of the Corporate Governance Framework and Annual Governance Statement that are due to be agreed by the Governance Committee on 21 July 2015.

12.2     RESOLVED to (1) note the draft report to the Governance Committee and its appendices; and

(2) recommend to the Governance Committee that Annex A to the Annual Governance Statement is amended so that:

·        it reflects that workforce development strategies are in place for Business Services (BSD), Communities, Economy and Transport (CET) and Adult Social Care and Health, as well as for Children’s Services (last bullet point in the section for Children’s Services);

·        Adult Social Care and Public Health risk logs are combined and include the East Sussex Better Together (ESBT) programme for DMT reporting, to produce a combined risk register across all health and wellbeing activities (last bullet point under Adult Social Care and Health section);

·        the action to review and automate the process for staff to submit declarations of interest and gift/hospitality returns is extended to include elected Members (last bullet point under Governance Services).

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