The report of the Section 151 Officer is attached.

Contact: James Walton (01743) 258915

The Committee received the report of the Section 151 Officer 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 Section 151 Officer gave a brief introduction and explained that the AGS sat alongside the Statement of Accounts.  He 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.  However, on this occasion, the Statement of Accounts and Financial Outturn report were being presented to the July meeting of the Audit Committee.

The Section 151 Officer reminded Members that the AGS was looking back over the last financial year, and he drew attention to the appendices and explained their purpose.

A brief discussion ensued in relation to the recent Supreme Court ruling that the terms man, woman and sex in the Equality Act referred to biological sex. This ruling protects single sex spaces as well as the continued protection for transgender people under the Equality Act.  Concern had been raised at Cabinet and via the Chief Executive as to whether the Council was reviewing it’s policies and procedures in light of this, and a response was awaited from the Chief Executive. The Section 151 Officer explained that the Council were working through this issue and advice was being sought internally in terms of what the Council needed to do, how to interpret the ruling and what steps must be taken to manage the risk and to ensure that the Council was complying with the law.

The Section 151 Officer stated that they would need to consider the role of the Audit Committee within this issue as the legality and interpretation of it was not within the remit of Audit Committee.  He confirmed that he would ensure that a response was sent to members and would speak to the Internal Audit Manager and the Head of Policy and Governance about the internal processes that have been worked through and bring any concerns to Members’ attention for the Committee to consider whether it wished to discuss the issues around that.   He reiterated that the AGS was looking back over the previous year which was why this issue would not be considered within it.

In response to comments that the AGS was not very clear or coherent, the Section 151 Officer explained that it was looking backwards to when there were separate directorates and so that would change going forward.  He went on to explain how the Statement was pulled together and although not perfect, it did give an overarching view.  He welcomed the comments however and would look to improve it going forward.

RESOLVED:

To note the Annual Governance Statement 2024/25 at Appendix A.

To note the Internal Audit conclusion that the Council has reasonable evidence of compliance with the Code of Corporate Governance. The detailed code, incorporating evidence, was contained in Appendix B.

To note the progress made on the actions identified in the 2023/24 Annual Governance Statement contained in Appendix C.