Agenda item

(a)       That the updated Code of Corporate Governance shown in Appendix 2 to the report be agreed;

(b)       That the process for preparation of the Annual Governance Statement as shown in Appendix 3 to the report be endorsed; and

(c)        That the questionnaire to be sent to Overview & Scrutiny Chairs shown in Appendix 4 to the report be agreed.

The Democracy & Governance Manager presented a report to agree the annual update of the Code of Corporate Governance and the preparation process for the Annual Governance Statement (AGS) 2013/14.  Suggested tracked changes to the Code were appended to the report along with details of the Corporate Governance Officer Working Group membership on which Jonathan Davies had replaced Sue Ridings.  On the AGS, information was provided on the process leading up to approval by County Council with the suggestion that the questionnaire be sent to Overview & Scrutiny Chairs, in addition to Heads of Service, for their input.

Following a query from Councillor Haydn Bateman on section 1.9 of the Code of Corporate Governance which remained unchanged, the Internal Audit Manager explained that ‘a more focused approach to audit and inspections’ applied to both internal and external audit inspections.

Councillor Tim Newhouse raised concerns over time allocated to the preparation process of the AGS.  The Democracy & Governance Manager said that the Wales Audit Office (WAO) required the Council to gather evidence each year to support the contents of the AGS and that since the establishment of the Corporate Governance Officer Working Group, no major issues on the AGS had been highlighted by the WAO.

On the process for preparation of the AGS, the Head of Legal & Democratic Services highlighted the two key stages for Heads of Service to complete the self-assessment questionnaire within their respective areas and at a later stage to respond to any challenge from the officer group, where appropriate, to justify their self-assessment.

In response to a query from the Chair on delegated powers, the Chief Executive explained that the scheme of delegation was published as part of the Constitution of the Council and spoke of transparency on delegated work on different levels including some where statutory powers were included in job descriptions.

The Democracy & Governance Manager explained that the Constitution contained a section on the Officer Delegation Scheme which applied to the Chief Executive, Directors, Heads of Service and operational managers.  This section was due for review as part of an overall programme of work on the Constitution being carried out by the Constitution Committee.

Mr. Paul Williams asked if the AGS questionnaires from Overview & Scrutiny Chairs to be returned in February 2014 could be shared with the Committee.  The Head of Legal & Democratic Services pointed out that as the Committee was not due to meet around that time, information would be shared by email and that this would include where the officer group challenged the officer self-assessment.

On section 4.8 of the Code of Corporate Governance, Mr. Williams commented on the fourth bullet point relating to the Committee’s role in assuring itself of the Council’s budgetary control systems and said that the Committee should ascertain how to fulfil this requirement.  Following discussion on this at the briefing meeting, the Head of Finance said it was intended to submit a report to the meeting in June 2014 to explain the budget setting process to aid the Committee in its work, leading up to the finalising of the Statement of Accounts.

Councillor Ian Roberts referred to discussion at a previous meeting on the Council’s banking arrangements and asked when the tendering of bank services was due to commence.  The Head of Finance would respond in the New Year as the team responsible were currently in the early stages of preparation.  As previously agreed, it was the intention to share the draft information with the Committee and ensure that Councillor Roberts was kept informed of progress.

In relation to the previous agenda item, Councillor Bateman asked if information could be provided on the overdraft facility.  The Head of Finance would ask the Finance Manager - Technical Accountancy to respond.

During discussion on whether to seek responses from Overview & Scrutiny Chairs on the AGS questionnaire, Councillor Glyn Banks suggested involvement from all Overview & Scrutiny Members to obtain a broader response.  The Democracy & Governance Manager remarked on available resources to collate responses from the questionnaire and said that Chairs were able to involve their Committee Members if they wished.  Councillor Newhouse spoke in favour of this.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the updated Code of Corporate Governance shown in Appendix 2 to the report be agreed;

(b)       That the process for preparation of the Annual Governance Statement as shown in Appendix 3 to the report be endorsed; and

(c)        That the questionnaire to be sent to Overview & Scrutiny Chairs shown in Appendix 4 to the report be agreed.