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.

The Committee considered the report (Agenda Item 8) concerning the Annual Governance Statement for 2024/25.

The Deputy Section 151 Officer introduced the report and highlighted that the draft Annual Governance Statement had been published in the Council’s financial statement but needed to be approved by the Governance Committee. The Annual Governance Statement examined four key areas, the general Government requirements, and areas of focus for the upcoming year. These four key areas were financial resilience, delivering better value for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) services, the transformation programme, and senior management structures. 

In response to a question about why ‘embedding senior management structures to provide clear and consistent direction and stewardship for the organisation’ was not included in the 2024/25 Annual Governance Statement, The Audit Manager noted that this was a result of the significant work that had been completed in 2023/24.

The Executive Portfolio Holder for Finance and Resources indicated that it would be beneficial if a RAG rating and the risk heat map in the internal audit report of Appendix F was adopted so that Members could better understand what had changed across the period.

The Committee also noted that a report was recently taken to the Schools’ Forum which outlined the progress made on ‘delivering better value in SEND services programme’, and that the cost avoidance and savings outcomes outlined had been formulated using the methodology provided by Central Government.

However, a point was raised that the issues with SEND funding, and the High Needs Block (HNB) deficit, were shared by all local authorities with responsibility for adult social care and children’s services. If the Government did not put a proposal forward to deal with HNB deficits, it would continue to sit on the balance sheet and require the Council to pay significant and increasing interest payments.

On the expanded transformation programme, Members noted that the savings made in the current financial year would be presented in the quarter one 2025/26 treasury outturn report, but that progress had been made in several key areas.

As the Committee were satisfied with the Annual Governance Statement as proposed, they agreed to approve the recommendations.

RESOLVED: That the Committee approve:

A)   The Annual Governance Statement (listed as Appendix A to the report), and

B)   The updated Code of Local Governance