Issue - meetings

Purpose: The report sets out the Annual Governance Statement (AGS) for the Council for 2024-25 for approval. The AGS summarises the key governance issues for the Council and the action plan to address these. The AGS is required to be approved by those charged with governance, the Governance Committee at West Berkshire, under the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015.

The AGS will form part of the Council’s financial statements and will be considered by the Council’s external auditors, KPMG as part of their annual audit for 2024-25. The deadline for the production of the financial statements is the 30 June, and a draft AGS has been included in the draft financial statements.  This can be amended as part of the revisions to the financial statements during the KPMG external audit. The AGS will form part of the final financial statements for approval by the Governance committee upon receipt of the external audit of the 2024-25 financial statements.

The Code of Corporate Governance details how the Council complies with the CIPFA/SOLACE (The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, (“CIPFA”) and the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (“SOLACE”) framework for good governance and supports the principles of good governance contained within this.