Agenda item

The Head of Internal Audit, Anti-Fraud and Assurance will submit a report seeking approval to the Local Code of Corporate Governance and for it to be published on the Council Website.

The Head of Internal Audit, Anti-Fraud and Assurance submitted a report seeking approval to the Local Code of Corporate Governance and for it to be published on the Council website.

It was reported that the current Code which dated back to 2016/17 had been reviewed and revised and would be published as part of a developing suite of governance documents which would include the Annual Governance Review Process and the Annual Governance Statement.

The Code, which had been prepared in accordance with CIPFA Guidance, was appended to the report and focused on the 7 principles of corporate governance and detailed Barnsley’s commitment to achieving good governance in practice.

In the ensuing discussion, reference was made to the following:

·         There was a discussion of the role of this Committee in approving and/or considering, among other things, the Code. 

o   The Service Director Governance, Member Services and Business Support commented that there would always be instances when reports were submitted to this Committee for challenge, however, the Council would always remain the ‘sovereign body’ and there would be times when reports had to be submitted to the Council (or the Cabinet as the Council’s Executive) for consideration or approval.  This may appear to some, that there was duplication but there were sound governance reasons as to why this might occur.  Discussions were, however, progressing with the Head of Internal Audit, Anti-Fraud and Assurance and with other Senior Officers to avoid this wherever possible. 

o   Arising out of the above, it was stressed that it was important that all reports submitted to this Committee should clearly state what the Committee’s role was in relation to the issue under discussion as well as outlining, within the recommendations, what it was being asked to consider, comment on or approve

o   In this particular instance it was noted that any comments or issues raised by Members on the Code would be considered prior to the submission of the report for formal approval by the Council

·         It was noted that the Code, once published on the Council website would be accompanied by a definition to outline what was understood by Corporate Governance

RESOLVED that, subject to the comments now made, thereport and Code of Corporate Governance as detailed within Appendix 1 to the report be noted and submitted to Council for formal approval.