To approve the draft Annual Governance Statement for 2012/2013. 

The Chief Officer: Finance and Commercial presented the report of the Head of Governance which sought approval for the draft Annual Governance Statement for 2012/13

The draft statement was appended to the report and Members’ attention was drawn to the following points:

i.        Section 3:  This set out the Council’s principles of good governance and the related activities that had been carried out during 2012/13.

ii.       Paragraphs 3.16 and 3.17: These paragraphs should be omitted, as they referred to standards complaints during 2011/12.

iii.      Paragraph 4.16: For the last two years, the Council had decided not to follow the financial management arrangements prescribed by CIPFA in relation to the Section 151 role.  However, from April 2013, the reporting lines had been amended and there would be compliance going forward.

The Chairman advised that the Annual Governance Statement needed to be considered and approved by the Committee prior to its inclusion within the Council’s Statement of Accounts.

A Committee Member made a number of comments, including:

a.       Paragraph 1.1:  In view of the statement  that ‘Herefordshire Council is responsible for ensuring that… public money is safeguarded, properly accounted for and used economically, efficiently and effectively’, the authority should be aware of the significant public concerns about Hoople and other companies undertaking work on behalf of the Council.

b.       Paragraph 3.2:  Referring to Principle 4, ‘Take sound decisions on the basis of good information’, the Member said that a request for information had not been responded to after a number of months and, in view of the comments of the Chairman of General Overview and Scrutiny (see minute #, paragraph 11 above), felt that more work was needed on this topic.

c.       Paragraph 3.4: It was noted that the authority had ‘identified substantial savings during the year’ but it was questioned whether these were actually being made.

d.       Paragraph 3.10: It was commented that consideration could be given to rolling out the ‘…formal staff performance review requirement..’ to Councillors.

e.       Paragraph 3.15: It was questioned whether standards complaints about ‘bullying, failure to show respect’ were an increasing trend.

f.       Paragraph 3.38: Referring to the statement that ‘Further information about services can be found on the Council’s website…’ it was commented that, as identified in the Understanding Herefordshire 2013 report, many people did not want to be online, regardless of cost.

g.       Further clarification was sought about the reporting lines for the Section 151 role.

h.       Paragraph 4.40: There appeared to be a discrepancy between the figures given in the statement and in the Annual Internal Audit Report 2012/13 for the number of Internal Audit reports and recommendations.

i.        Signatories:  It was questioned why the document had been signed by the Deputy Leader rather than by the Leader of the Council.

In response to the questions, the Chief Officer: Finance and Commercial advised that: (g.) he previously reported to the Deputy Chief Executive but, with the deletion of that post, the Section 151 Officer would now report directly to the Chief Executive and would have a permanent position on the Management Board; (h) the figures would be checked; and (i) the statement had to be signed before the end of June 2013 for the Committee to approve and the Leader of the Council had been on leave at the time.

In response to a question from a Committee Member, the Democratic Services Officer confirmed that complaints against parish and town councillors were considered under the new standards process but only the relevant parish or town council could impose sanctions.  The Chairman noted that the new system was lighter than the previous standards regime and the Herefordshire Association of Local Councils helped to identify potential parish/town council representatives to sit on the Standards Panel.

RESOLVED:  That the draft Annual Governance Statement 2012/13 be approved for inclusion in the Statement of Accounts for 2012/13.