Issue - meetings

The Director of Finance and Support Services submitted a report in relation to the 2013/14 Annual Governance Statement and the 11 measures recommended to enhance East Herts Council’s internal control framework during 2014/15.  The report also provided details of proposed actions that needed to take place prior to confirmation being given that adequate and effective controls were fully in place.

Members were advised that the Shared Internal Audit Service (SIAS) had cleared outstanding high risk recommendations in their IT review through Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) and the status of the corresponding issue was now green as SIAS was satisfied that resilient IT business continuity arrangements were now in place.

The Head of Governance and Risk Management stated that minor revisions had been made to target dates to reflect the expected delivery of reports from SIAS that would provide extra reassurance and would have a direct bearing on several of the Red, Amber, Green (RAG) assessments.  Members were reminded that all of the recommendations made by SIAS were being monitored by Officers and quarterly updates were being submitted to Corporate Management Team (CMT).

Councillor J Wing commented on the prospects of the RAG status of the actions relating to the delivery of the “Here to Help” programme.  The Director of Finance and Support Services stated that significant emphasis and resources had been allocated to the ethos of the “Here to Help” programme.

The Chairman commented on the newly identified 2014/15 strategic risk regarding the development of a District Plan which had been approved by the planning inspectorate.  The Head of Governance and Risk Management advised that significant work was being undertaken to review the evidence and identify gaps which needed to be filled before the District Plan could move forward to an “amendments consultation” version.

Members noted the progress made against implementing the 2014/15 Annual Governance Statement Action Plan.

RESOLVED – that the progress made against implementing the Action Plan detailed in the 2014/15 Annual Governance statement be noted.