Issue - meetings

That the Committee is assured by the Council’s response to external regulatory reports.

The Chief Executive presented the summary report to give assurance that reports from external regulators and inspectors in 2019/20 had been considered in accordance with the agreed internal reporting protocol and actions taken in response to recommendations.

Whilst there was no requirement for a local response to national studies, the Council’s approach to respond and build into local work was regarded as good practice.  The reporting protocol appended to the report set out arrangements for responses to bespoke local work to be scrutinised and to provide assurance on governance aspects.

Gwilym Bury said that all reports had been covered in the Annual Audit Summary considered at the previous meeting.

Sally Ellis sought assurance that arrangements were in place to monitor progress on actions arising from the reports, as this was not always clear.  The Chief Executive spoke of accountability by the relevant Chief Officer and Cabinet Member.  Whilst the Council reported formally on local reports, there was no requirement to do so for national reports, however Overview & Scrutiny Committees were able to put items of interest on their forward work programmes.  The Chief Executive said that the report would be shared with Overview & Scrutiny Chairs and Vice-Chairs to highlight any areas of interest for report forward-planning.

The Chief Officer (Governance) said that the annual liaison meeting with Overview & Scrutiny Chairs - which had been delayed during the emergency situation - would be re-arranged as this was a useful mechanical for raising awareness of topics of interest.

The recommendation was moved and seconded by Councillors Andy Dunbobbin and Paul Johnson.

RESOLVED:

That the Committee is assured by the Council’s response to external regulatory reports.