Agenda item

Annual Governance Statement for 2021/22

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report Assistant Director of Corporate Governance and Strategic Financial Management which provided the Committee with an update on the draft Annual Governance Statement for the financial year 2021/22.

 

The Committee noted the report supported the draft Statement of Accounts which were considered at item 6 on the Agenda.

 

The Committee was informed that the Council, as part of its Statement of Final Accounts produced an Annual Governance Statement. This identified the significant governance issues that the Council needed to consider at the financial year-end to reduce its risk.

 

Members noted that, at regular meetings of the Committee, update reports had been produced, highlighting the progress made on issues identified for improvement in the Annual Governance Statement produced for the financial year 2020/21 and identifying new issues that required consideration. This had informed the production of the Draft Annual Governance Statement for 2021/22 attached at Appendix 1 to the report.

 

The 2020/21 Annual Governance Statement (AGS) previously reported to the Committee identified a total of ten issues for the Council to monitor in the financial year 2021/22 as to how the risk to the Council was being reduced. The issues highlighted included the need to strengthen internal control within both the Payroll Service and the financial administration of systems in Adult Social Care. Both matters have been long term issues for the Council to address.

 

The Committee was informed in respect of the Payroll Service, it had been confirmed the improvements in administration reported to the Committee on 10 March 2022 which in part were linked into the implementation of the new i-Trent system, were maintained. The overall opinion on the control environment at 31 March 2022 had now improved to adequate from inadequate.

 

Members were informed that, out of the ten issues identified in the 2020/21 ASG, it had been possible to remove two form the 2021/22 draft AGS. There were:

 

·         The deficit on the centrally retained proportion of the Dedicated Schools Grant.- The financial position during 2021/22 showed a small improvement (as set out in the Improvement Plan and the annual accounts) and using the current projections for the financial year 2022/23 it was estimated that the reported deficit would be negligible at that year-end before returning to a surplus in the financial year 2023/34.

·         The financial resilience of key partners which have been affected during the pandemic. - during 2021/22 the position had improved and therefore this no longer needed to be considered as an issue for the 2021/22 draft AGS.

Pre COVID it was planned that 2020/21 would be the year Local Authorities implemented the Financial Management Code. In practice 2021/22 became the implementation year due to the impact of the pandemic. The Council completed the self-assessment (reported to this Committee on 17 January 2022) which identified the Council was compliant with the requirements set out in the Code during the financial year 2021/22.

 

RESOLVED that the draft Annual Governance Statement included within the draft Statement of Accounts for the financial year 2021/22 be noted.

Supporting documents: