Issue - meetings

The Committee considered and noted the report of the Cabinet Member for Finance and Change detailing the Annual Governance Statement (AGS).  The purpose of the AGS was to provide an accurate representation of the corporate governance arrangements in place during the year and to identify areas where there are significant gaps or where improvements are required. 

The Committee discussed the following and, where identified, requested further information for consideration at their next meeting in September:

·  the impact of COVID on governance - the Committee noted the impact had reduced this year as changes to working practices put in place last year, showed there was less need for intervention;

·  the new Council Plan which is was noted was still being developed;

·  Hampshire County Council’s Cabinet had recently considered a national review of the future development of economic partnerships and the full business case for the Freeport, both of which had significant impact on Southampton.  It was agreed officers would report back on the future of LEPs and the County Plan;

·  The timescale of the draft report containing the results of the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny’s informal peer review of aspects of decision making and relationships between officers and members;

·  Update on the People’s Strategy – the Committee noted that the draft would be presented to the Cabinet Member and Unions were necessary. 

The Committee noted the following significant issues brought to their attention by the Risk and Insurance Manager:

·  Succession planning and service resilience as featured on last year’s AGS, identified inconsistences of succession planning and service resilience the action for last year was to draw these together, look at good practise and come up with a strategy developing a consistent approach across the organisation.  This had resulted in the adoption and rollout of the draft People Strategy and Talent Management Succession Planning Strategy by the end of September (Quarter 2) led by the HR and Organisational Development Team.

·  CIPFA Financial Management Code concentrating this year on how the actions from the Head of Service self-assessments would be progressed through the wider Leadership team with a future report back to the Committee.

·  Delivery of outcomes and value for money, with CIPFA guidance three  issues were identified: benchmarking at a corporate level enabling a consistent approach to the use and access to information;  developing and implementing a new benefits realisation framework; and contract delivery arrangements across the organisation. 

RESOLVED:

(i)  To review and approve the draft 2021-22 AGS; and

(ii)  To note the 2020-21 AGS – Action Plan Status.