Issue - meetings

To evaluate the impact and effectiveness of the Governance and Audit Committee (report of Governance and Audit Committee members enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Governance and Audit Committee members which asked members to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of the Committee.

• The Scrutiny and Policy Officer introduced the report with the following points:
  • The purpose of the Action Plan was to support the Committee in ensuring continuous audited governance practice from the Committee and across the Council;
  • The self-assessment exercise was reintroduced to the Committee in 2024 and followed CIPFA best practice that the Committee should evaluate its impact and identify areas for improvement;
  • During the exercise, members had completed an anonymous questionnaire which had been designed to encourage reflection on the operation of the Committee and draw conclusions on its effectiveness. The conclusions had informed the Action Plan;
  • Four actions had been included in the Action Plan, detailed at Appendix A;
  • The self-assessment questionnaire results were at Appendix B; and
  • The CIPFA audit committee position statement was at Appendix C.

Members reflected on the exercise and the Action Plan and made the following comments:

• Members valued the self-assessment exercise and stressed the importance of regular training to further develop scrutiny skills; and
• Members noted the results on page 83 of the agenda which stated that 5 (out of 7) members had completed the questionnaire. Now that the current Committee was more established, it was suggested that the survey be repeated in order to capture the greater experience of the Committee and to receive responses from all members.
  • The Scrutiny and Policy Officer would arrange for the survey to be re-circulated to members of the Committee.

AGREED:

After consideration of the Governance and Audit Committee Self-Assessment Action Plan, that members work towards the actions during 2024/25.