Decision details

Mrs K Fiander, Democratic Services Officer, introduced the Annual Governance Statement (AGS), which explained how the council had complied with its local code of governance and also met the requirements of Regulation 4 of the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2011 in relation to an annual review of the effectiveness of the council’s systems and the preparation and approval of such a statement.

The committee considered the content of the AGS noting that officers would amend it to ensure that it was up to date when the financial statements were considered and agreed at the September meeting.

In response to a question, Mr S Bishop, Strategic Director, advised that there was no one definition of internal control so it was a matter of individual councils’ judgement.  A key document for the committee to support the AGS was the internal audit annual report.  The committee was expected to seek assurance that the standards were appropriate and so the system of internal control would evolve over time.

Mr M Welply, Chairman, drew attention to paragraph 93 and reference to councillor training, which he considered to be vitally important and on which he would welcome committee members’ thoughts.

The report was noted.