Report of Internal Audit Manager – Report 10.
Minutes:
The Committee considered the report of the Internal Audit Manager regarding the Annual Governance Statement which detailed the key elements of the systems and processes of the Council’s governance arrangements.
The Annual Governance Statement is a report produced at the end of the year on the control environment of the Council and is a statutory document that accompanies that statutory Statement of Accounts once adopted.
Appendix 1 of the report detailed the framework for gathering the assurances and how that affects the relationship with partners, stakeholders and the community. Following the framework should ensure that the Council meets the six principles of corporate governance.
A timetable for the gathering of assurances to produce the Annual Governance Statement was set out in Appendix 2 of the report.
Appendix 3 shows the Manager’s Assurance Statement which included coverage of the Bribery Act, Safeguarding, Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) and frauds over £10,000. The statement is intended to cover the operational, project and partnership responsibilities of the Heads of Service. It could also be used to highlight any concerns and subsequent actions required to improve governance throughout the Council. The Committee was advised that no concerns had been raised. Once these statements had been completed by the relevant Heads of Service they are passed onto through the Chief Executive and Deputy Chief Executive. The comments made on the statements are considered for inclusion in the Annual Governance Statement.
In December 2012, an addendum to the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) was published. While none of the changes materially affected the overall annual governance statement, eight key elements to the section “The Governance Framework” had been added and text had been moved and adjusted under “Review of Effectiveness” and “Significant Governance Issues”.
The governance issues and subsequent action plan had been compiled from a number of sources including reports of internal and external audit, the Corporate Management Team (CMT), Scrutiny and Standards reports, external review bodies, managers assurance statements, evidence from the Council’s Monitoring Officer and review by the Chief Finance Officer, Deputy Chief Executive and Internal Audit Manager.
The Internal Audit Manager advised that after consultation with the CMT, they had concluded that there was one area of internal governance that met the criteria to report as an issue requiring disclosure. The area of significant governance issues was Theatres Reconciliations and the issue of monthly reconciliations not being carried out. The Internal Audit Manager advised that work was being carried out to ensure that reconciliations for the year were carried out retrospectively and any variances were investigated. The Committee was also informed that reconciliations were now being carried out on a monthly basis, therefore would not be appearing on the list next year.
Once the Statement had been approved by the Audit & Governance Statement, it would be given to the Chief Executive and Leader of the Council to sign before it is published alongside the Statement of Accounts.
Mr Allen Gale, one of the Council’s appointed Independent Persons, addressed the Committee and queried whether the training arranged for all Members following the Standards Panel on the 19th June should be included as part of member development in the Annual Governance Statement.
The Committee considered the matter for inclusion in the Annual Governance Statement; however it was felt that the matter had arisen from an isolated incident, therefore was not deemed an issue to be recorded. The Chief Finance clarified that although the Audit & Governance Committee had agreed that the matter not be recorded, the Annual Governance Statement is signed by the Leader of the Council and Chief Executive and the decision to record the incident would be down to them.
RESOLVED: (Unanimous) That the Annual Governance Statement for 2012/13 as appended to the report be approved.