To consider a report by the Internal Audit and Risk Manager detailing the outcome of the annual review of the effectiveness of the Corporate Governance Panel.
Contact:D Harwood 388115
Minutes:
By way of a report by the Internal Audit and Risk Manager (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) the Panel was acquainted with the outcome of the Annual Review on the effectiveness of the Panel. The review concluded that the Panel was acting effectively and fulfilling its Terms of Reference.
Due to five of the eight Members being newly appointed to the Panel in May 2015, it was agreed that the Internal Audit and Risk Manager would conduct the review and share the findings with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman.
A number of opportunities to further improve the effectiveness of the Panel were identified within the review as follows:
i. Five new Members were appointed to the Panel in May 2015. In order to obtain a clear idea of the current knowledge of all Panel Members regarding governance matters, a skills assessment would be completed so that training needs could be identified and addressed.
ii. Whilst the Cabinet were responsible for approving the Risk Management Strategy and ensuring that risk management procedures were in place across the Council, the Panel required assurance that these arrangements were working effectively.
iii. The Panel were aware that a review of the Council’s Constitution was underway. The Panel would like early sight of any proposed changes so that they were able to adequately deliberate and consider the changes before making any recommendation to the Council.
iv. A wide breadth of governance related knowledge was required by Members of the Panel. To ensure that the Panel remained effective, the number of new Members appointed to the Panel each year by the Council should be restricted.
v. As recommended by the Panel in September 2013 and last year’s report, the Council should introduce a Procurement Strategy and become a signatory to the Prompt Payment Code (PPC)
It was noted to the Panel that seven of the ten actions agreed as a result of the 2014 review had been introduced. The remaining three actions were listed within Appendix 1 the Officer’s report under items 8 – 10 with accompanying information on how these matters would be addressed.
The Panel was informed that the Council had not become a signatory to the PPC as the voluntary PPC had been superseded by two pieces of legislation that required all valid and correct invoices to be paid within 30 days of receipt and that the Council’s Terms and Conditions required its prime contractors to pay all subcontractors to the contract within 30 days for each valid invoice. It was noted that the latter was the issue that the Council had wanted to address and the reason that the PPC had been suggested initially.
In considering the outcome of the annual review, the Panel endorsed the opportunities to further improve the effectiveness of the Panel with the exception that the Council become a signatory to the PPC. The Panel stated that as the voluntary PPC had been superseded by legislation this should be better able to deal with the reason that the PPC had been initially required. In concluding the Panel
RESOLVED
i. to consider the results of the outcome of the review of the effectiveness of the Panel;
ii. endorse the opportunities identified to further improve Panel effectiveness as contained in the Executive Summary of the Officer’s Report (points 1-5a inclusive); and
iii. that the Council does not to become a signatory to the Prompt Payment Code (PPC) as contained in the Executive Summary of the Officer’s Report (point 5b).
Supporting documents: