The report of the Section 151 Officer is attached.

Contact: James Walton (01743) 258915

The Committee received the report of the Executive Director of Resources (Section 151 Officer) – copy attached to the signed Minutes – which set out the Annual Governance Statement (AGS) and a review of the effectiveness of the Council’s Internal Controls and Shropshire Council’s Code of Corporate Governance.

The Executive Director of Resources (Section 151 Officer) gave a brief introduction and explained that the AGS sat alongside the Statement of Accounts and it provided assurance that the appropriate governance had been undertaken over the last financial year.  The Executive Director of Resources (Section 151 Officer) went on to explain how the AGS was produced and confirmed that once signed off by the Chief Executive and Leader of the Council, the AGS was published on the website and presented to the Audit Committee along with the Financial Outturn Report and Statement of Accounts so that overall assurance could be considered. 

In response to a query about the enforcement notice received by the Council from the Information Commissioners Officer (ICO) in relation to Freedom of Information (FOI) response times, the Executive Director of Resources (Section 151 Officer) explained that whilst adhering to the relevant legislation, the timescales for delivering responses (20 days) had been breached due to a number of issue in relation to the capacity of staff being able to pull together responses from across the organisation. 

In direct response to the levels of FOI response rates that failed to meet the deadline, the Council have looked to restructure the Information Governance Team and the entire approach and processes for FOI responses across the organisation and would be discussed at an information governance review meeting scheduled for the following day to which the Executive Directors and senior officers would attend. 

The Executive Director of Resources (Section 151 Officer) confirmed that the visibility for this was known across the organisation and that the enforcement notice had been issued on the basis of the information available to the ICO at that point in time and was part of the reason for the creation of the new post of Head of Policy and Governance.  He assured the Committee that the Council was well on its way to ensuring it met FOI response times in future.

In response to further comments, the Head of Policy and Governance explained that this issue had been a keen focus since he took on the role in April and he had been in direct contact with the ICO since then and had agreed the Action Plan with them.  The Action Plan set out the measures that the Council would take to ensure it complied with the legislation.  The ICO were comfortable with the actions being proposed and the timescales for which they would be implemented although it was hoped to accelerate that process to ensure that the Council were following up on it. 

A brief discussion ensued and the Head of Policy and Governance responded to a number of queries and explained how the action plan addressed how FOI requests were to be handled and managed within the timeframes. Members requested an update report at the next meeting to assure the Committee what action was being taken.

In response to a query about the various references throughout the AGS to Peer Reviews, the Executive Director of Resources (Section 151 Officer) reported that there had been three LGA (Local Government Association) Peer Reviews undertaken the previous year for Finance, Communications and Scrutiny and that reports for all three were available on the website.  In response to a further query, the Executive Director of Resources (Section 151 Officer) reported that the Council had asked the LGA to consider the governance arrangements across the authority.  He explained that the Peer Review undertaken within the People Directorate had been very specific and related to a benchmarking review of the financial position and costs of Children’s Services and there were no governance issues to consider.

The Executive Director of Resources (Section 151 Officer) responded to a number of concerns from Members in relation to the content of the AGS including LED lights, Fix My Street and staff appraisals.  It was confirmed that reference to LJCs would be removed from Appendix B. 

The Executive Director of Resources (Section 151 Officer) explained that the outcomes identified on page 20 of the report formed part of the Performance Management Framework which was a set of indicators across the authority that worked their way through to giving overall assurance and overall performance management information in relation to the Shropshire Plan.  In relation to a healthy and happy workforce, this would be measured via sickness statistics, regular staff surveys etc. 

A brief discussion ensued in relation to the move away from staff appraisals and toward personal development plans (PDP) and the Executive Director of Resources (Section 151 Officer) explained that PDPs would not just be about appraising how well staff had done in the previous 12 months, but also about understanding the development needs that would be necessary to resolve whatever that appraisal had told them.  He explained that the focus of the Getting Leadership Right programme had been about setting that ‘golden thread’ through the organisation and creating a new personal development appraisal process that was being implemented and rolled out across the authority and as they were being completed, they were being recorded in ERP.

An update on progress in relation to the governance issues raised during the meeting was requested for the September meeting.

RESOLVED:

1.     To note the content of the Annual Governance Statement 2022/23.

2.     To note the Internal Audit conclusion that the Council has reasonable evidence of compliance with the Code of Corporate Governance.

3.     To note the progress made on the actions identified in the 2021/22 Annual Governance Statement.