Purpose

To consider and note the Buckinghamshire Shareholder Committee's annual report for the period 2023/24.

Decision

The role of the Shareholder Committee was to ensure that the Council’s companies and limited liability partnerships act in the interests of the Council as shareholder and that best practice was being adhered to in delivering statutory arrangements. In doing so, the Committee contributed to the proper governance of the Council’s subsidiaries. This added level of governance continued to be vitally important in the context of the financial challenges many local authorities and local authority companies have faced over recent years and continue to face. Understanding the risks and performance associated with wholly or jointly owned companies was a key task of the Committee.

This was the second year of operation of the Shareholder Committee and producing an annual report to reflect the work and outcomes achieved by the Committee throughout 2023-24 was considered good practice. The Committee had met four times during the 2023-24 period. The Committee had undertaken a number of key pieces of work which included reviewing business plans and the financial positions of each company/joint venture as well as undertaking annual reviews of company Articles of Association and the Committee Terms of Reference.

RESOLVED - the Annual Report of the Buckinghamshire Shareholder Committee be noted.