Agenda item

To receive a report outlining progress on issues arising from the 2019/20 Annual Governance Statement.

The Committee received a report by the Internal Audit Manager (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) summarising progress made against the significant governance issues reported in the 2019/20 Annual Governance Statement (AGS).

In introducing the report, the Internal Audit Manager reported that an update on the 2020/21 AGS would be provided at the Committee’s January 2022 meeting. Having had their attention drawn to the areas of assurance outlined in Appendix 1, brief updates were delivered on progress which had been made since May 2021. Lone working was discussed as a topic which remained a focal point of interest. It was reported that a sustainable solution was being pursued with all responsible Service Managers via a formal governance action. Results of updated Risk Assessments would inform future corporate provision. Although home working was not currently in scope, it may be included as a future consideration.

Councillor R J West raised concerns around the function of Risk Management within the Council. The matter had previously been drawn as an area of concern to Members by the former Internal Audit Manager. Since then, assurances had been given that the matter would be resolved, however, the view amongst Members was that this continued to remain an area of concern. In response, it was noted that whilst a mechanism for risk management was in place, there was still some steps the Council needed to take to ensure effective management across the organisation. The Assistant Director (Corporate Services) added that this matter had caused him some concern when he first took up post and that he, together with the Internal Audit Manager and other Officers within the Council were now trying to embed a cultural change within the organisation. The latter was proving challenging given that Service Managers continue to deal with capacity issues in delivering their services with change requiring considerable effort by the team.

A number of matters were discussed which included the effectiveness of the Council’s risk management processes and whether they compared favourably to best practice guidance, the lack of resources and capacity available to complete risk management activities, the difficulties the organisation had faced in recruiting appropriately qualified and skilled audit staff together with the action which had been taken to introduce a new trainee role within the Team.

A suggestion was also made by Councillor Mrs S R Wilson on whether the Committee would benefit from viewing the corporate risk register. The Assistant Director (Corporate Services) advised that this could be done in a number of ways beneficial to the Committee and suggested that some more work would be required to update and refresh the current content to make it of genuine value to Members. Once this work was complete, the Committee would be presented with options on the extent of information they wished to receive.

Owing to the concerns which had been raised concerning risk management, Councillor L W McGuire suggested that the Committee’s concerns should be raised with the relevant Executive Councillor. A further suggestion was made by the Internal Audit Manager to introduce some online training for risk management for Members.

In discussing the challenges and the subsequent risk the Council was facing in respect of recruiting and retaining planning staff, the Committee

RESOLVED

(a)  to note the progress which has been made against the significant governance issues identified from the Annual Governance Statement 2019/20 as outlined in Appendix 1 of the report now submitted; and

(b)  that the Chairman and Vice-Chairman meet with the relevant Executive Councillor to discuss the issues which had been raised at the meeting and invite to a future meeting of the Committee.