Agenda item

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place)

The Audit and procurement Committee considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place) that summarised the outcome of the review work carried out during the last year which would inform the Annual Governance Statement which would be presented to the Audit and Procurement Committee in June 2018 as part of its consideration of the statement of accounts for 2017/18. 

The Council approved a new Code of Corporate Governance in April 2017. The Code and associated guidance provided a framework to help ensure that the Council’s governance arrangements were up to date and reflected best practice. Audit and Procurement Committee reviewed a draft of the revised Code prior to its adoption and particularly considered the process for reviewing progress.

Coventry City Council had a range of measures in place to ensure that governance in the organisation was managed effectively and worked hard to ensure that these arrangements were robust and met best practice. This was achieved through policies, plans, procedures such as the Constitution (including codes of conduct for Members and employees), the Council Plan, the Medium Term Financial Strategy and policies on whistle blowing, tackling fraud and corruption and managing risk.

In adopting the new Code, the Council introduced an annual review process to assess the Council’s arrangements against examples of systems, processes, documentation and other evidence set out in the national framework. Local authorities were required to conduct a review at least once every financial year of the effectiveness of their systems of internal control and to report on the review with its Statement of Accounts. The Audit and Procurement Committee was responsible for approving the Annual Governance Statement alongside the Statement of Accounts. The Code of Corporate Governance and its annual review would inform this process.

Strategic leads for areas including HR, Audit, Procurement, Finance, Governance and Legal Services had reviewed and updated progress since the Code was introduced and progress made on strengthening the Council’s governance arrangements and meeting the standards set out in the Code during the last year included the introduction of: a revised Whistleblowing Policy; a new Member Officer Protocol; a revised Risk Management Policy, Strategy and Framework; a new annual report from Ethics Committee to Council; and   a comprehensive Leadership Management Framework. The report set out a number of actions identified as part of the review that would help to strengthen the Council’s corporate governance arrangements over the coming year.

The Committee discussed Members, officers and external service providers understanding and demonstrating the ethical values of the Council and commitment to the rule of the law. They also sort clarification of Member/Officer Protocol and noted that the Council at its meeting on 5^th December 2017 (their minute 66/17 referred) had approved and adopted a Member/Officer Protocol, which was now included in the Council’s Constitution, the purpose of which was to set out for both members and officers what was expected of them in their respective roles and what they could expect from each other.

RESOLVED that the Audit and Procurement Committee notes the outcomes of the review of corporate governance.