Mr Paul Rock, Head of Internal Audit, Fraud and Risk introduced the report and said he had reviewed and updated the Annual Governance Statement for 2018/19 in light of the on-going audit of the Council’s Statement of Accounts and comments made by Members at the last meeting Audit Committee. He had reflected on the Statement and had undertaken a benchmarking exercise as well as written to the Directorates to ensure the statement was reflective of the governance processes in place at the Council. Mr Rock said the draft Annual Governance Statement would be signed off when the Annual Accounts are approved.

In response to questions for Members the following was noted:

·         In reference to pages 250/251 of the agenda, Members were of the view that stakeholder engagement was not strategic in its application. There were examples where consultations had been done badly and suggested stakeholder engagement needed to be strengthened.

o   ACTION: Members recommended Mr Rock to consult with the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Councillor James King in relation to consultations and strategy formulation.

·         Councillor Marc Francis expressed the need to strengthen the governance arrangements in the Council and said these needed to be referenced in the Statement. He referred to the waste contract and said this illustrated there were problems with how the Council manages its contracts with big companies.

The Committee RESOLVED to:

1.    Review and comment on the draft 2018/19 Annual Governance Statement and Action Plan attached at Appendix 1.