Issue - meetings

REPORT OF THE POLICY AND COMMUNITY MANAGER.

For the Committee to approve the Annual Governance Statement (AGS) for the year 2022-23 and Action Plan.

RESOLVED: That the Committee:

(1)   Approved the amended AGS and Action plan (Appendix A).

(2)   Noted the current position of the actions within the AGS Action Plan, outlined at Appendix B.

REASONS FOR DECISIONS:

(1)   The AGS must be considered and approved by this Committee before the approval of the Statement of Accounts under Regulation 6(4)(a) of the Accounts and Audit Regulations (‘AAR’) 2015/234.

(2)   The Committee is the legal body with responsibility for approval of the AGS.

(3)   Reviewing the AGS Action Plan during 2023-24 will provide the Committee with assurances that the Council is examining and where necessary improving its governance arrangements.

Audio recording 50 minutes 33 seconds

The Policy and Strategy Team Leader presented the report entitled ‘Annual Governance Statement 2022/23’ and drew attention to the following, that:

·       The draft policy was previously brought to the Committee in June, the statement reviewed the Governance arrangement for the Council in 2023-24 and proposed an action plan to improve the Governance arrangements.

·       The action plan for 2023-24 was shown at appendix A.

·       The current position of actions within the AGS action plan with comments received in June were included at Appendix B and, some of the comments had been incorporated into this report.

·       Information relating to the pandemic period and references to SIAS latest annual opinion had been removed from the report.

·       An assurance statement had been completed by Service Directors and the Managing Director and by the areas reviewed and effected by this statement.

·       A detailed self-assessment document had been uploaded to the Corporate Governance web page.

·       In June the committee requested to be updated on the Councils progress against the Action Plan, this was noted in Appendix B.

The following Members asked questions:

·       Councillor Sean Nolan

·       Councillor Tamsin Thomas

In response to questions the Policy and Strategy Team Leader stated:

·       A subgroup had been created from the Inclusion group to review the Gender Pay Gap, after there had been a spike a few years ago. They meet last week, and an update would follow.

·       No data was available on the uptake of Ethical Awareness, Anti-bribery, and Fraud Awareness eLearning, but work was ongoing with SAFS and the Learning and Development team.

In response to questions the Service Director – Resources stated:

·       Prior to Covid-19 impacts the accounts would be prepared and audited by the end of July each year. The Annual Governance Statement would be drafted in May, for a draft version to be approved by the Committee in June. The final version would then be approved at the end of July.

·       That it should be noted that Gender Pay Gap and Equal Pay were difference matters. The Council carried out assessments to ensure that there were no equal pay issues, and none have ever been found.

·       In terms of Gender Pay Gap, on average, women work in lower paid roles at the Council, compared with men.

Councillor Mandi Tandi proposed, and Councillor Tamsin Thomas seconded and, following a vote, it was:

RESOLVED: That the Committee:

(1)   Approved the amended AGS and Action plan (Appendix A).

(2)   Noted the current position of the actions within the AGS Action Plan, outlined at Appendix B.

REASONS FOR DECISIONS:

(1)   The AGS must be considered and approved by this Committee before the approval of the Statement of Accounts under Regulation 6(4)(a) of the Accounts and Audit Regulations (‘AAR’) 2015/234.

(2)   The Committee is the legal body with responsibility for approval of the AGS.

(3)   Reviewing the AGS Action Plan during 2023-24 will provide the Committee with assurances that the Council is examining and where necessary improving its governance arrangements.