Issue - meetings

To approve the Annual Governance Statement for 2024/25.

The Cabinet Member: Finance, Governance and Customer Services presented the Annual Governance Statement for 2024/25.

Under the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015, the Council was required to produce an Annual Governance Statement.

The Annual Governance Statement and the Local Code of Good Governance outlined that the Council had a robust governance framework in place and procedures would be continually reviewed and maintained to demonstrate good corporate governance.

The 2024/25 Annual Governance Statement set out the adherence to the Council’s governance arrangements during the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 and measured their effectiveness by undertaking regular internal quality monitoring across services, peer reviews, benchmarking and external audits.  

The Council had been assured that during 2024/25, including during organisational and personnel changes, that the existing or revised governance arrangements had continued to support proper governance and where changes had been required to procedures, these had been agreed by the Senior Management Team. Changes made to the Constitution were also agreed by the Council, through the Council’s Constitution Committee.

Over the past year, the Council had achieved significant national recognition, including being shortlisted for three national awards including Council of the Year. Adult Social Care had been rated ‘Good’ by the CQC and Children’s Services had been rated ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted  following their assessments in July 2024. The Council had received national praise for its work in special educational needs and its response to the Independent Inquiry led by Tom Crowther KC into Child Sexual Exploitation.

Despite ongoing financial challenges, the Council had continued to implement robust savings and financial plans to protect frontline services and its governance arrangements had remained strong and fit for purpose, placing the authority in a very positive position.

Cabinet Members welcomed the report, highlighted the Council’s strong and transparent governance framework. They acknowledged that the assurance rating of ‘reasonable’ was one which was positive and that the Council was one of very few local authorities to have achieved this rating.  Members praised the Council’s ability to maintain high-quality services despite enduring £181m from former Government cuts. They commended officers for their continued work and dedication to deliver the Council’s vision to protect, care and invest.

The Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group welcomed the report and noted the important of good governance and how it had contributed to the Council’s success. He praised the Council’s Audit and Finance teams for their work in achieving a strong result.

The Leader of the Conservative Group thanked the Monitoring Officer for providing a detailed briefing prior to the meeting and commented on the assurance rating as one which was positive for the Council. He praised the professionalism of officers however raised concerns around the accessibility of performance data in relation to some of the Council’s strategies. He asked the Council to consider the use of the Council’s Scrutiny function to monitor the effectiveness of strategies following their approval by the Cabinet to further strengthen the Council’s democratic processes.

The Leader highlighted that the assurance rating given was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 61