Agenda item

(Director of Finance & ICT) To consider and note the attached report (AGC-001-2013/14).

The Director of Finance & ICT presented the annual review of governance in Local Government, “Improving Council Governance, a slow burner”, compiled by Grant Thornton.

The Director reported that, although the research was based on County Councils, there were a number of valid points within the report for consideration by the District Council. The first key message was that Local Government was enduring a period of sustained pressure and effective, embedded governance frameworks would be essential if Councils were to meet the current challenges whilst retaining the support of their stakeholders. Good governance was essential to both Council Leaders and the public; it supported Leaders in making the right decisions and inspired confidence in the public that decisions were being taken for the right reason, which protected the quality of service and ensured public money was spent wisely. The review had focused on two aspects of governance: the public face, i.e. the documents published, and ‘behind the scenes’ evidenced by the processes.

For the public face of governance, the review found that Councils presented information to its stakeholders in many ways through official documents, public meetings and their websites for example, but there remained scope for improvement in their communication with local residents. Many members of the public found official documents such as the annual accounts or explanatory forewords too complex to understand, and documents such as the Annual Governance Statement followed the CIPFA guidance too rigidly. It was felt that good Council governance should be more than publishing statements of compliance; it was about ensuring the Council was aligned to achieving its strategic goals effectively and ethically. The publication of modern, web enabled annual reports offered a possible solution to increase transparency and accountability.

For the ‘behind the scenes’ facet of governance, the review found that Councils should ensure governance frameworks were fit for purpose and limited resources were focused on the areas of greatest risk. It was good practice for Leaders to set the right tone, embedding core values and principles throughout the organisation. However, the findings of the review suggested that Councils still had much work to do to embed effective governance processes throughout the organisation. The best Councils would prioritise and direct finite governance resources to the areas of most significant risk.

The Committee acknowledged that some of the statements produced by the Council were difficult for the public to understand, although it was felt that the Director of Finance & ICT’s introduction to the Statutory Statement of Accounts was a good example of trying to make a technical document more understandable for the public. It was felt that the Annual Governance Statement could be made more informative for the public; the structure could be shorter and better understood by the public. It was generally agreed that the Council needed to investigate different mechanisms with which to engage the public as they were unlikely to read lengthy, formal reports and statements.

The Committee suggested that the five questions to ask Departmental Managers, listed on page 32 of the agenda, should be used by the Internal Audit Unit when they conducted the next Risk Management audit. It was also felt that the ten questions Boards should ask, listed on the following page, should be considered by the Committee at a future meeting.

Resolved:

(1)        That the 2013 review of Local Government Governance, “Improving Council Governance, a slow burner”, produced by Grant Thornton be noted.