Local Code of Governance

14. The Council will carry out an ongoing review and monitoring of its governance arrangements and how these arrangements comply with the CIPFA / SOLACE framework document and this Local Code.

15. This review and monitoring will be co-ordinated by the Council's Governance Group and will include references to:-

• Directors' & Heads of Service's Management Assurance Statements
• Constitution Review arrangements
• Ethics arrangements
• Annual Head of Assurance Report
• Performance Management arrangements
• Risk Management arrangements
• External Auditors' Reports

16 The results of this process will be incorporated into an Annual Governance Statement (AGS), the preparation and publication of which is necessary to meet the statutory requirement of the Accounts and Audit Regulations (England) 2015.

17. The purpose of the AGS is to provide an assurance that:-

• governance arrangements are adequate and operating effectively
• where the review has revealed gaps, action is planned that will ensure effective governance in future

18 The AGS will be considered by the Governance Group and the Executive Board before being presented to the Audit Committee.

19. Once approved, the AGS will be signed by the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive and will be published with the Annual Statement of Accounts, prior to being reviewed by the Council's External Auditors.