To consider an update on the action plan.

Emma Duncan, Director of Law, Governance and Public Health, said that the annual governance statement was usually considered with the annual statement of accounts. The governance framework was a document of policies and procedures which reported on the council’s decision-making processes. The annual governance statement was monitored by the statutory officers group and discussion was around where action needed to be taken, based on the experience of officers. On the action plan, there were a number of recommendations which had been made. The report before the Committee showed the progress that had been made on these recommendations. Embedding the performance framework was a key issue which had come out of the peer review, along with areas like risk and procurement where improvements had been identified to ensure robustness. The main aim of the annual governance statement was to improve the governance culture within the council, there had been significant changes in the way decisions were made.

Councillor Story asked if the actions which had a target completion of this month, were all on track to be completed within this timeframe.

Emma Duncan confirmed that actions were on track to be completed, however there were some long term issues. For example, the scrutiny function would take a significant amount of time and was a long term project.

Councillor Bond commented on the launch of a procurement tool kit, he questioned whether the law had been broken by not having the tool kit.

Emma Duncan explained that the law had not been broken, the tool kit was designed to make procurement easier. The council had breached its own procurement rules earlier in the year and this tool kit would help to prevent this from happening in future, it acted as a line of defence to ensure the process was carried out properly.

Councillor Bhangra asked how RBWM was doing compared to other local authorities.

Emma Duncan said that there was a particular focus on governance at RBWM, ensuring that all officers were using the systems that were in place. The council was not fully there but it was closer than it had been previously. Considering other local authorities, Emma Duncan felt that RBWM could be considered mid table.

Councillor Sharpe asked to what extent governance was reliant on a system or on officers doing the right thing.

Emma Duncan said that RBWM was not reliant on officers just doing the right thing, systems were able to be tightened very easily if needed. These could ensure that officers followed the correct route and procedure.

The Chairman noted that many of the actions were listed as being complete by May 2023 and some, for example the proposal for a Scrutiny Officer, were subject to a growth bid for the 2023/24 budget and therefore would not be implemented until next May at the earliest.

Emma Duncan confirmed that this was correct, things like the job evaluation and other preparation work had been done for the Scrutiny Officer position. However, there were other competing growth bids and the council had to prioritise where money was spent.

Adele Taylor, Executive Director of Resources, added that the budget setting process would take place in February 2023, if the growth bid was part of the budget there was the ability for the officer to be in post not long after the budget had been passed by Full Council.

The Chairman said that the Property Company action plan was nearly compete, she asked if the Committee would have sight of the action plan.

Emma Duncan said that there was no reason why the action plan could not be circulated.

Adele Taylor added that the action plan for the Property Company had been taken to the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Panel and would again be considered by that Panel at an appropriate time.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the Audit and Governance Committee noted the report identifying any specific matters which should be brought to the attention of Council or Cabinet.