Agenda item

This report provides an update against the Annual Governance Statement (AGS) Action Plan which identified actions to be taken to address the significant governance issues identified in the 2021/22 AGS.

Progress against the agreed action plan is as follows:

Governance of Children’s Social Services –The improvement journey of Children’s Social Services is monitored through various officer and Councillor forums, including the Improvement Board and Children’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee, and externally through the Department for Education (DfE) Advisor and Ofsted.

Governance Arrangements with External Bodies

1.     Parks, charities and trusts

A Parks Governance Review is currently being undertaken by a Council senior solicitor, this is expected to report and conclude by 31/3/23.

The specific partnership between the Council and the Parks Foundation has been comprehensively reviewed. External legal advice has been sought resulting in various partnership documentation being amended, such as the Memorandum of Understanding. Additionally, some previously undocumented processes, such as decision making processes on individual projects, have been drafted and now need formally approving and adopting.

2.     Partnerships – draft documentation, including definitions, guidance, templates and registers have all been produced, with agreement, adoption and roll out by the action plan agreed 31/3/2023.

There was no agreed formal action plan in response to the ‘Delay in the completion of the 2020/21 external audit’ as the matters were outside the direct influence of BCP Council to resolve. Whilst the External Auditor has published the Annual Report for 2020/21, the formal sign off of the Statement of Accounts has not yet taken place as there remain issues associated with the accounting treatment of infrastructure (national issue) and the audit opinion of the Dorset Pension fund auditors.

The wording in the AGS has been slightly amended to take account of this latter pension fund issue.

The updated Financial Management Code self-assessment reported in July 2022 concluded that BCP Council was compliant with the Code. Some opportunities for further improvement were identified and actions are in progress and will be concluded at various points during 2023.

The AGS is required to cover the year ending 31^st March 2022 but also “…to the date of the publication of the Statement of Accounts”. As the publication of Statement of Accounts has been delayed, the report also considered whether any additional significant governance issues have arisen which require inclusion in the 2021/22 AGS.

Two issues have been considered and explanations are provided within the report which will mean the AGS 2021/22 will remain unchanged from when it was reported to this Committee on 28 July 2022:

·       Public Inspection period feedback

·       Financial sustainability

The Head of Audit and Management Assurance presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'D' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

Members were reminded of the Audit and Governance Committee responsibility for considering the arrangements for Corporate Governance including reviewing and approving the Annual Governance Statement (‘AGS’) Action Plan which identified actions to be taken to address the significant governance issues identified in the 2021/22 AGS.

Progress against the agreed Action Plan was reported to the Committee. In particular the improvement journey of Children’s Social Services was monitored through various Officer and Councillor forums, including the Improvement Board and Children’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee, and externally through the Department for Education (‘DfE’) Advisor and Ofsted.

In relation to relationships with external bodies, various governance arrangements were being comprehensively reviewed to including updating of documentation and, in addition, a Parks Governance review being undertaken by a Council Senior Solicitor was expected to conclude by the end of March 2023. It was reported that draft documentation, including definitions, guidance, templates and registers relating to Partnerships had also been produced, with agreement, adoption and roll out expected by the agreed action plan date of March 2023.

Members were reminded that factors outside the control of the Council which were giving rise to delay in completion of the 2020/21 external audit were not part of the Action Plan itself although were reflected within the AGS as a ‘significant governance issue’. The Committee were of the view that the broader subject of external audit and particularly auditing the statement of accounts was something that should be considered by the new Council following the elections in May.

The updated Financial Management Code self-assessment reported in July 2022 concluded that BCP Council was compliant with the Code. Some identified further opportunities for improvement had been identified and actions in progress would be concluded at various points during 2023.

It was reported that the AGS was required to cover the year ending 31 March 2022 but also up to “the date of the publication of the Statement of Accounts”. As the publication of Statement of Accounts had been delayed, the report also considered whether any additional significant governance issues have arisen which required inclusion in the 2021/22 AGS. Two issues, public inspection feedback and financial sustainability, were accordingly considered and explanations provided within the report which meant that the AGS 2021/22 would remain unchanged from when it was reported to the Committee on 28 July 2022.

In response to issues raised by Members, the Chief Executive confirmed that any Members who considered that there were significant governance issues or weaknesses could meet with him to discuss issues of concern and that, if appropriate, further areas of work for the Committee would be identified. The Chairman of the Committee would be kept informed of issues raised and comparison with best practice nationally taken into account. This was already happening as the Council’s Constitution was being reviewed with best practice and specialist advice a central element of the review process.

RESOLVED that Audit and Governance Committee notes:

a)    the progress made to address the significant governance issues on the BCP Council AGS Action Plan 2021/22 and the opportunities for further improvement in line with the Financial Management Code;

b)    that the wording in the AGS 2020/21 for the delay in the completion of the 2020/21 external audit has been slightly amended to include the delay caused by receiving required confirmation from the auditor of the Dorset Pension Fund;

c)    the feedback from the public inspection period and other potential significant governance issues which may have arisen since the publication of the draft have been considered and that no amendment to the AGS 2021/22 has been made.

Voting: Unanimous