Issue - meetings

Report by Solicitor to the Council and Monitoring Officer

Cllr Dick Tonge, Cabinet Member for Finance, Performance, Risk, Procurement and Welfare Reform presented a report which asked Cabinet to consider a draft Annual Governance Statement (AGS) for 2012-13 before final approval was sought from the Audit Committee on 4 September 2013.

Cabinet noted that the Council was required as part of its annual review of the effectiveness of the governance arrangements, to produce an AGS for 2012-13. This would be signed by the Leader of the Council and the Corporate Directors after final approval by the Audit Committee on 4 September 2013. The AGS would form part of the Annual Statement of Accounts for the same period.

The AGS had been considered initially by the Audit Committee at its meeting on 18 June with the resulting minute presented to Cabinet which indicated one minor amendment to the AGS being made. The AGS had also been considered by the Standards Committee at its meeting on 10 July where it had been accepted without any suggested amendment.

Resolved:

a)            That having considered the draft Annual Governance Statement, that Cabinet notes and accepts it as presented with no recommended amendments.

b)           Note that the draft Annual Governance Statement would be revised in the light of the comment by the Audit Committee and acceptance of it as presented by Cabinet and the Standards Committee and ongoing work by the Governance Assurance Group before final consideration by the Audit Committee on 4  September 2013 and publication by 30  September 2013.

Reason for decision

To prepare the Annual Governance Statement 2012-13 for publication in accordance with the requirements of the Audit and Accounts Regulations 2011.