To seek the view of the committee as to whether the draft Annual Governance Statement (AGS) for 2022/23 properly reflects the internal control environment the council is operating in and the appropriateness of actions identified to improve governance arrangements.

The Head of Strategic Finance presented the draft Annual Governance Statement (AGS) for 2022/23, the key points included:

i.             the AGS formed part of the Draft Statement of Accounts (see minute 11 below);

ii.            the AGS provided an overview of the governance arrangements for the year ended 31 March 2023;

iii.          the review of effectiveness demonstrated how the council had complied with the seven principles of the CIPFA / Solace Framework and identified areas where arrangements could be strengthened further; and

iv.          an update on progress with the action plan would be reported to the committee later in the year.

The Chairperson drew attention to paragraphs 11-13 of the report (agenda page 127) and, as referenced in a question received from a councillor and the response (Appendix 2 to the minutes), it was noted that the financial threshold required for the publication of a Record of Operational Decision would continue as £50k and any potential change to this threshold in the future would be reported to the Audit and Governance Committee for consideration.

Resolved:

The committee has determined that the Draft Annual Governance Statement, Appendix 1 to the report, reflects the risk environment the council is operating in and that the areas where controls could be strengthened are appropriate.

(Note: There was a short adjournment before the next item)