Agenda item

Report of the Chief Legal Officer

The Audit and Procurement Committee considered a report of the Chief Legal Officer, which would also be considered at the meeting of the Ethics Committee on 29^th June 2023, that sought their consideration ofthe Local Code of Corporate Governance 2023/24 and confirmation of its satisfaction that the Code accurately represents the Council’s governance arrangements. The Local Code of Corporate Governance was attached as an appendix to the report.

The Local Code of Corporate Governance set out Coventry City Council’s arrangements for meeting the seven principles of good governance as defined in the CIPFA/Solace Framework ‘Delivering Good Governance in Local Government’. The Framework recommends that Local Authorities develop and maintain a Local Code of governance as it provides a structure to help individual authorities with their approach to governance. 

The Council adopted a Local Code of Corporate Governance in 2017. The Code had recently been reviewed in the light of best practice and updated to reflect the current governance arrangements in place within the Council. An up to date and robust Local Code provided clarity over an authority’s governance and supported the legal requirement to undertake an annual review of effectiveness of the Council’s governance arrangements and produce an Annual Governance Statement.

The CIPFA / Solace Framework defined governance as “the arrangements put in place to ensure that the intended outcomes for stakeholders are defined and achieved.” 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 a range of 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.

The Local Code of Corporate Governance, attached as an Appendix to the report, was a refresh of the previous code with extensive work undertaken with internal stakeholders to ensure it reflected the current position of the organisation and the One Coventry approach. The Local Code set out the Council’s specific arrangements for putting the principles of good governance into practice and drew on examples provided in the Framework but also reflected systems and processes which were specific to the Council. 

Members of the Committee noted the legal requirement to undertake an annual review that the governance arrangements set out in the Local Code were effective and/or complied with and to produce an Annual Governance Statement with any identified areas for improvement included in the Annual Governance Statement action plan. Members requested that a copy of the Annual Governance Statement 2021/22 be circulated to them for their information.

RESOLVED that the Audit and Procurement Committee:

1)  Confirms its satisfaction that the Code of Corporate Governance accurately represents the Council’s governance arrangements.

2)  Notes the legal requirement to undertake an annual review that the governance arrangements set out in the Local Code are effective and/or complied with and to produce an Annual Governance Statement with any identified areas for improvement included in the Annual Governance Statement action plan.

3)  The Code of Corporate Governance be attached as an Appendix to the Annual Governance Statement Report, when the report is submitted to the Committee for consideration.