Agenda item

The Committee considered a report which sought approval of the draft Annual Governance Statement (AGS) for the 2020-21 financial year, which the Council was required to produce alongside the financial statements for the year. 

2020-21 had been a year of new challenges and opportunities as a result of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Despite this, all Heads of Service have shown continued commitment to evidencing that good governance is in place, by completing their self-assessments in a timely and accurate manner.

The draft Annual Governance Statement document attached to the report at Appendix A referred to:-

•     3key areas of improvement that had been completed, or had been effectively managed to the extent that they were no longer significant.

•     5new significant issues arising from the 2020-21 review of effectiveness of the corporate governance arrangements.

•    4key areas identified during previous years that remained an issue in 2020-21.

It was noted that there were 9 key areas of focus for 2020-21, which was a slight increase on last year, which was a result of the challenges that have impacted on some statutory service delivery and the continued financial demands of the pandemic.

A Member spoke of the recent media coverage in respect of the London Borough of Hackney and Cleveland authorities who have been affected by cyber issues which has had a costly financial impact on the Councils. In terms of lessons learnt, she queried what actions had been put in place by the Council in the event of an attack and whether consideration had been given to quality accreditation for the cyber defences the Council has in place to ensure assurance was given that cyber standards were met. It was noted that the Council was in regular contact with the National Cyber Security Centre regarding action to be taken in the event of an alert being issued. Contact had been made with London Borough of Hackney and Cleveland Councils to find out how they addressed the cyber attacks in their respective Councils.  The Director of Corporate Resources undertook to find out if the Council had any form of Quality Accreditation to give assurance that the Council had robust arrangements in place in respect of its cyber defences.  Whilst not specifically related to this issue, it was noted that the Council continued to develop Business Continuity Plans to mitigate disruption in service delivery.

Arising from a further question in relation to Building Safety compliance, the Director of Corporate Services stated that at the time of the Grenfell disaster, the Council had undertaken a comprehensive examination of all matters in terms of fire safety measures and assurances were provided in relation to compliance. The Tenants and Residents Association (TARA) had been established to support tenants and to give them a voice. With regard to ensuring building safety compliance, the Director of Corporate Services informed Members that the Chief Executive at SLHD would be putting in place arrangements to centralise information to easily identify any gaps in compliance regarding building safety compliance requirements. 

The External Auditor pointed out that in terms of good practice, it was the first AGS that had been presented to the Committee at this early stage in the audit process across his local client base which provided Members the opportunity to feedback on the AGS before it was signed off at the end of the year.  He also acknowledged that it was good to see that the AGS had taken into account key governance issues relating to the Children’s Trust and SLHD which had been incorporated in the related to issues outside of the Council.

A Member referred to the new Fire Safety legislation that came into force on 24th April 2021 as a result of the Grenfell enquiry and asked whether there would be mandatory training for both management and Officers at SLHD and Council staff in relation to the new fire safety regulations and whether that training was recorded. The Director of Corporate Services advised that she did not have the details in relation to training for SLHD staff, however she gave an undertaking to contact SLHD to find out if awareness sessions for staff were to be held on the new requirements. In relation to Council staff, it was noted that training was undertaken on-line and a record of that training was recorded on the system.

In noting the key areas for improvement from previous statements over the year which they had been effectively managed and were no longer significant, a Member referred to the sustained pressures on the Finance and the Internal Audit team during the past year due to the Covid pandemic and acknowledged the hard work carried out by Officers in managing to balance the budget in difficult circumstances. He gave thanks and praised the Finance and the Internal Audit team for their work during a difficult year. The Director of Finance thanked the Member for recognition of the team’s work who had worked extremely hard during the last 12 months.

RESOLVED that the outline of the draft Annual Governance Statement for 2020-21, be endorsed prior to it being published for consultation as part of the Draft Accounts in July 2021.