The Constitution Committee convened to review the Annual Governance Statement (AGS) and the Constitution, recommending approval for both with a minor amendment to the latter. The 2024-25 AGS was approved, and the Director of Corporate Resources was authorised to make necessary updates aligning with the finalised Statement of Accounts and Pension Fund, with changes reported to the Corporate Governance Committee and the Leader. Proposed changes to the Constitution were recommended for approval by the County Council, pending a change to Article 6.06.

Annual Review of the Constitution

The committee reviewed the Report to Constitution Committee - Annual Const Review 2025, which proposed changes to the Constitution as part of the annual review process.

A new Article 6.06 was added to clarify the appointment process for Scrutiny Commissioners¹. A member raised concerns that the proposed wording could cause confusion about how the Chairman of the Scrutiny Commission was appointed. The Chief Executive clarified that Article 6.05, relating to the appointment of the Chairman of Scrutiny Commission, still applied unchanged – meaning that the Chairman would continue to be the Leader of the largest opposition group. The new Article 6.06 specifically captured the current process for appointing the four Scrutiny Commissioners and acknowledged that the Chairman would be included among them, as well as cross-referring to Article 6.05.

The Leader raised the possibility of the role rotating between the two largest opposition parties. However, concern was expressed by a member that this would be less effective and would diverge from the Council's longstanding practice to entrust the role to the Leader of the largest opposition group.

To avoid any confusion, it was suggested that Article 6.06 be amended as follows:

The Council will appoint four Scrutiny Commissioners, two from the leading political group and one from each of the two main opposition groups, with the Chairman determined in accordance with paragraph 6.05 above.

The committee agreed to recommend that the County Council approve the proposed changes to the Constitution, subject to the suggested change to Article 6.06. The proposed changes are detailed in Appendix A - 2025 Review and Revision of the Constitution. The amended Meeting Procedure Rules are set out in Appendix B - Revised Meeting Procedure Rules.

Annual Governance Statement

The committee considered the Annual Governance Statement 2024-25 cover report - final, which outlined the approach taken to produce the County Council's 2024-25 AGS, and presented the Final AGS 2024-25 for approval.

The Head of Internal Audit Service reported that the internal audit of East Midlands Shared Service (EMSS) undertaken by Nottingham City Council had raised concerns regarding the payroll audit due to the overpayment of salaries. It was noted that the fault identified did not relate to the EMSS payroll service itself but from managers not properly recording staff who had left employment in a timely manner. The Head of Internal Audit Service assured the Committee that the issues identified predominantly related to Nottingham City Council and that for the County Council the number of cases was low and the value involved minimal. A separate piece of work would be undertaken to review and improve the City and County Councils' processes and the Corporate Governance Committee would kept updated of progress.

The committee resolved to approve the 2024-25 Annual Governance Statement and authorised the Director of Corporate Resources, Declan Keegan, to update the AGS as necessary to align with the finalised Statement of Accounts for the County Council and the Pension Fund, noting that such changes will be reported to the Corporate Governance Committee and the Leader as appropriate.