The Audit and Standards Committee of Brent Council was scheduled to meet on Wednesday 12 June 2024. The primary item on the agenda was the consideration and approval of the council's Annual Governance Statement for 2023-24. The meeting also included the review of minutes from a previous meeting.

Annual Governance Statement 2023-24

The committee was scheduled to consider the draft Annual Governance Statement (AGS) for 2023-24, a document required by the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015. This statement serves to evidence the good governance arrangements in place at Brent Council, which underpin the delivery of its strategic priorities as outlined in the Borough Plan.

The AGS is prepared in accordance with the CIPFA framework, which outlines seven core governance principles:

• Behaving with integrity, demonstrating strong commitment to ethical values, and respecting the rule of law.
• Ensuring openness and comprehensive stakeholder engagement.
• Defining outcomes in terms of sustainable economic, social, and environmental benefits.
• Determining the interventions necessary to optimise the achievement of intended outcomes.
• Developing the entity’s capacity, including the capability of its leadership and individuals within it.
• Managing risks and performance through robust internal control and strong public financial management.
• Implementing good practices in transparency, reporting, and audit to deliver effective accountability.

The report indicated that no significant governance issues arose during the 2023-24 reporting year. However, several areas for improvement were identified to further enhance governance arrangements. These include:

• Improving the use of the Member Hub to ensure members are kept up-to-date and have easy access to documents.
• Implementing quarterly monitoring and reporting for council reports submitted after their deadline.
• Enhancing risk management by clearly assigning roles for implementing mitigating actions and transparently reporting on their success.
• Developing a programme for coaching, mentoring, and leadership development with a focus on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI).
• Embedding a new performance framework and balanced scorecard approach at both corporate and directorate levels.

The report also detailed progress on improvement actions from the previous year, including the implementation of an effectiveness action plan for the Audit and Standards Advisory Committee, further work on succession planning and leadership development, the establishment of a new Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) and long-term planning process, and improvements in monitoring, reporting, and challenging 'first-line' controls. Progress on implementing 'medium risk' audit recommendations was also noted.

The report was prepared by Debra Norman, Corporate Director Law & Governance. The Annual Governance Statement itself, included as Appendix A, details the council's governance framework, its review of effectiveness, and significant governance issues. Appendix B provides the Local Code of Corporate Governance, which is based on the CIPFA/SOLACE framework and outlines the principles guiding the council's operations.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting

The committee was also scheduled to approve the minutes of the previous meeting, held on Thursday 12 October 2023. The minutes from that meeting show that the committee received and considered the report from the Corporate Director of Finance & Resources regarding the Council’s Statement of Accounts for 2022-23 and the Annual Auditor’s Report. The committee resolved to approve the final statement of accounts, authorise the Chair to sign them, and note the findings of the Audit Findings Report and the Value for Money report.