The Corporate Governance Committee of Huntingdonshire District Council was scheduled to meet to discuss a range of reports and updates, including the Annual Governance Statement and Financial Report, the Corporate Risk Register, and internal audit activities. The committee was also expected to review the annual report on compliance with information rights acts, and updates on the code of conduct and complaints.

Annual Governance Statement and Financial Report

The committee was scheduled to review the processes for finalising and publishing the council's Annual Governance Statement (AGS) and Annual Financial Report (AFR) for 2024/25. The report pack included the draft Completion Report for Those Charged with Governance, the draft AGS, the draft Letter of Representation 2024/25, and the draft AFR.

The committee was asked to consider the Completion Report for Those Charged with Governance, which includes the auditor's findings on the AFR and their view on Value for Money (VfM). The committee was also asked to approve the AGS, which includes the scope of responsibilities, what governance is, the governance framework, a review of effectiveness, governance issues and progress, and an opinion.

The committee was also asked to approve the Letter of Representation 2024/25 and the AFR.

Annual Report of the Corporate Governance Committee

The committee was scheduled to consider the Annual Report to Council in respect of the year ending March 2025 on the work that has been undertaken by the Corporate Governance Committee. The draft report summarised the committee's activities and issues that arose during the year. Councillor Michael John Burke, Chair of the Corporate Governance Committee during the period covered by the report, noted in the introduction to the report that the committee had focused on:

• progress made against the backstop for publishing the Statement of Accounts
• enhanced review and implementation of internal audit actions
• the updated Anti-Fraud, Bribery and Corruption Strategy
• progress in resolving issues raised in previous Annual Governance Statements
• controls necessary to deal with cyberattacks and to manage Cloud services effectively
• Local Government Reorganisation (LGR)

The draft report also detailed the committee's activities during 2024/25, demonstrating compliance with the CIPFA Audit Committee Position Statement 2022 (CACPS)¹, and discharging its responsibilities.

Corporate Risk Register

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on the Corporate Risk Register. The report pack included a heat map relating to the current residual risk scores and a summary report. The committee was asked to comment on the reports and progress with risk management.

The report noted that the status of the main corporate risks on the register had not changed during the reporting period, which was not unexpected, as the risks recorded at corporate level represent strategic, long-term issues that in most instances will evolve slowly.

The report also provided an overview of the approach to Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) risk management. Officers have undertaken an enterprise-wide review of the risks arising from LGR, and work is ongoing for the identification, control and mitigation of such risk. RSM have been engaged to support on this work, and enterprise-wide work for Huntingdonshire District Council to pursue to further reduce likelihood of risk occurrence is being taken forward. This work is being led by the Project Management Office in consultation with service areas.

Internal Audit

The committee was scheduled to receive two reports relating to internal audit: an update report, and an update on internal audit actions.

The internal audit update report set out a summary of the work undertaken by the Internal Audit Service since the last meeting. The report pack included an internal update report from RSM.

The internal audit actions update report summarised the progress in implementing management actions arising from final internal audit reports. The report pack included a list of outstanding internal audit actions.

Compliance with Information Rights Acts and Information Governance

The committee was scheduled to receive a report providing an update on Information Governance activity and performance during 2024-25. The report included an overview of the current arrangements in place to monitor Information Governance at the Council, including Data Protection Compliance and Information Security / Cyber Security Compliance. It also included an update on performance relating to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) / Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) Requests, Data Subject Rights Requests, and Personal Data Breaches.

The number of requests received by the Council in 2024-25 was 520, a decrease on the previous year's total of 642 (a 19% decrease).

Code of Conduct Complaints

The committee was scheduled to receive a report providing a summary and update of completed or ongoing complaints received regarding alleged breaches of the Code of Conduct under the Localism Act 2011 since the start of the year.

The report pack included a table outlining details of allegations/complaints in relation to the Code of Conduct. Specific detailed information regarding the complaint has not been provided as this may be prejudicial to the conduct of the ongoing complaints process and to protect the identity of councillors who may not have breached the Code of Conduct.

Annual Complaints and Feedback Report

The committee was scheduled to receive a report providing information on complaints and compliments received by the Council between April 2024 – March 2025 and complaints referred to the LGO².

The number of Stage One complaints recorded on Complaints Tracker (224) has increased from last year (206). 31 out of 224 complaints were broadly related to Garden Waste Service which was an additional/new service as compared to 2023-24. The number of compliments recorded on Compliments Tracker (217) has increased from last year (206).

In 2024/25, the LGO received 21 complaints. Of these, 17 were reviewed and four did not move past the initial stage. Out of the 17 reviewed, one was fully investigated and upheld.