Apologies for absence were received from Councillor ACR Chappell.

To receive any details of Members nominated to attend the meeting in place of a Member of the Committee.

There were no named substitutes made.

To receive any declarations of interest by Members in respect of items on the Agenda.

There were no declarations of interest made.

To approve and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 21^st December 2007.

RESOLVED: That subject to the addition of ‘Councillor GFM Dawe (Vice-Chairman)’ to those Members present, the Minutes of the meeting held on 21st December 2007 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To consider a report on the requirement for the Council to have an Annual Governance Statement, evidenced by an assurance framework and to review and comment on the suggested approach before it is submitted to Cabinet for comment and approval

The Committee considered a report submitted by Mr T Ford, Chief Internal Auditor, on the requirement for the Council to have an Annual Governance Statement, evidenced by an assurance framework.

Mr Ford presented the report. He referred to the ‘Reasons’ in the report and paragraph three in particular and informed Members that the published guidance booklet on delivering good governance in local government in line with the latest regulations had been ordered and would be circulated to Audit and Corporate Governance Committee Members, Cabinet Members and Scrutiny Committee Chairmen.

Councillor MJ Fishley made reference to a Jarvis document referred to in Appendix three of the report and requested further details. Mr Ford informed the Committee that the document was confidential and, therefore, could not be circulated. The Chairman stated that a future report on Amey, previously known as Jarvis, would be useful information. The Committee was advised that the Strategic Monitoring Committee held the remit for reviewing the performance of a contract/contractor.

Councillor RH Smith referred to ‘Reasons’ after the Recommendation in the report and, in particular, queried the meaning of the reference to Levels 2, 3 and 4.

Mr Ford stated that the meaning of the Levels referred to would be set out in the next report to the Committee. They related to the standard achieved against each criteria within the Use of Resources judgement. 1 being below acceptable requirements and 4 being consistently above the required standard.

Mrs S Rees, the Director of Resources, informed the Committee that the Code of Corporate Governance would set out the new requirements for the Annual Governance Statement and would also set out a timetable giving dates when the requirements would be in place.

Councillor RH Smith suggested numerous amendments to the appendices attached to the report that was derived from a document produced by SOLACE/CIPFA. He also suggested that Recommendation (a) in the report should refer to the ‘Annual Governance Statement’ as ‘Draft’ and that Recommendation (b) should refer to the ‘Framework’ as ‘Draft’. He was also of the view the scrutiny process should be an intrinsic part of the Code and recorded appropriately within the framework.

Councillor GFM Dawe, Vice-Chairman, referred to Principles 1and 4 in Appendix 1 and requested an assurance that the community would be consulted regarding Principle 1 and that effective scrutiny is achieved with regard to Principle 4.

Councillor PJ Edwards stated that scrutiny in Hereford was moving forward and that a report would be produced by the Head of Legal and Democratic Services setting out the way forward for scrutiny in regard to the Code. There would also be a budget available to Scrutiny Committees to help resource their work.

Chris Bull, Chief Executive, stated that there was a need to review the support for scrutiny committees within the Council. With regard to community engagement, that this was a complex area but that scrutiny could investigate it.

Councillor RH Smith suggested that the detail of each Principle within the Appendices attached to the report should  ...  view the full minutes text for item 65.