Agenda

To receive apologies for inability to attend the meeting (if any).

To approve as correct records the Minutes of the meetings of this Committee held on 29 April 2025 and 15 May 2025.

To remind Members of the need to record the existence and nature of any personal, disclosable pecuniary or other registrable interests in items on the agenda, in accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct.

Purpose: To consider the Forward Plan for the next 12 months.

Purpose: The Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS) require the Audit Manager to make a formal annual report to those charged with governance within the Council. The report is required to include an opinion on the effectiveness of the Council’s governance, risk management and internal control frameworks, which in turn supports the Council’s Annual Governance Statement.

Purpose: This Authority is required by regulations issued under the Local Government Act 2003 to produce an annual treasury management review of activities and the prudential/treasury indicators for 2024/25. This report meets the requirements of both the CIPFA Code of Practice on Treasury Management and the CIPFA Prudential Code for Capital Finance in Local Authorities (the Prudential Code)

Purpose: This report is to inform Members of the key highlights within the Council’s draft/unaudited 2024/25 financial statements and summarise management’s assessment of the Council’s ability to operate as a going concern. 

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.