Issue - items at meetings - Annual Governance Statement

12.1         RESOLVED- That the Annual Governance Statement is approved by the Committee.

12.1         The Committee considered a report of the Director of Finance and Resources on the Annual Governance Statement for 2009/10. The report detailed a comprehensive assessment of the governance arrangements and the internal control environment across all activities of the council.

12.2         Councillor Oxley brought the Committee’s attention to the good work carried out by Dignity at Work in reference to whistle blowing policy. He added that he had overseen a lot of work with the Governance Committee and felt this had resulted in a better policy.

12.3         Councillor Randall highlighted that the report recommended significant changes to procurement and contract management and asked for further information.

12.4         The Head of Audit & Business Risk responded that this risk was highlighted due to the introduction of a corporate procurement team and the proposed operational changes made under Intelligent Commissioning.

12.5         Members noted their concern with the assuredness of item five ‘Review of Effectiveness’. They felt that some of the processes had not been fully achieved. Councillor Kitcat added that Citynews was not yet distributed to all residents.

12.6         Members highlighted spelling and grammatical errors in the document and the tight deadline for amendments with the report to be approved the next day. The District Auditor informed the Committee that some other councils table their Annual Governance Statement earlier in foresight of the need for changes to the draft.

12.7         RESOLVED- That the Annual Governance Statement is approved by the Committee.