Mr Matthew Mannion, Head of Democratic Services presented the Code of Corporate Governance Annual Review. He said the code set out the Council’s commitment to uphold the highest standards of good governance and was annually reviewed as part of a suite of documents which sit under the Annual Governance Statement. He said the code was split into various themes and had been updated in consultation with officers from across the council. He asked members to review and comment on the code presented to them.

In response to questions and comments made by members the following was noted:

• Councillor Francis stated that he did not agree with the contents of the report particularly paragraph 3.1 and questioned the ‘effectiveness’ of the Council’s corporate governance arrangements. He said he did not believe it was effective and felt the council needed to strive harder to achieve this, with evidence showing how the seven core principles appended to the report were being met.
• He questioned if Principle B of ‘ensuring openness and comprehensive stakeholder engagement’ had been demonstrated adequately. He said he did not believe this to be the case and cited member enquiries as an example. He said his request for information were often delayed by the need to demonstrate why it was needed. Councillor Francis said whilst steps had been taken to improve stakeholder engagement, he did not feel the Council had achieved this principle.
• Regarding the other principles, Councillor Francis said the list of documents cited in the report did not say how the Council had achieved them. For example, referring to Principle D and performance management at senior and political level, he questioned if challenge was robust i.e. were chairs of committees challenged sufficiently. He said he believed more work was required on performance.
• Councillor Francis added that praise of Overview and Scrutiny did not reflect his experience and said there was a distinct separation between the Executive and Overview and Scrutiny. He said there should be more recognition of the work of Overview and Scrutiny as well as backbenchers and the value that others can bring to the political structure of the council.
• Councillor Francis said he’d encourage senior managers and CLT to re-examine the code and reflect on if the council was achieving the principles as well as look at ways to improve the governance of the Council.
• Ms Charlotte Webster, Independent Person referred to the Foreword and said the sentence saying the council continued to ‘uphold the highest possible standards of good governance’ was incorrect, especially following the discussions that had taken place at this meeting and at previous meetings. She said it was important to move forward and be candid about the challenges facing the Council.
• Councillor Wood referred to the Croydon and Liverpool reports and asked if something similar happened at Tower Hamlets would the Council’s governance structures, be able to recognise and stop it?  He said in his opinion he did not think this to be the case. Councillor Wood cited an example of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4