Annual Governance Statement Preparation

The Annual Governance Statement that the Leader and Chief Executive will be required to sign will be compiled from the following:

Internal Control Opinion

The Assurance Statement from the East Kent Audit Partnership, which will be compiled from the following evidence:

The Internal Audit review of this Council's governance arrangements;
The Assurance Framework, built from the audit assurance statements on individual audits; and
An assessment of the control and risk framework.

Governance and Internal Control Framework

Comment and recommendations from the Monitoring Officer and Section 151 Officer who have responsibility to oversee the operation of the governance framework and the Local Code of Corporate Governance; and contribute to the annual assessment process.
Confirmation from Service Managers via an evidenced Managers Assurance Statement which has been discussed and approved by the Portfolio Holder.
The Annual Reports from the Standards Committee, Overview and Scrutiny Panel and Governance and Audit Committee.
The Corporate and Regulatory Services Manager (Monitoring Officer) and Democratic Services Manager on the Council's annual review of the Constitution.
The annual statement of the Council’s Corporate and Regulatory Services Manager giving an opinion on the Council's compliance with relevant laws and regulations, and its legal obligations and requirements.
The annual statement of the Head of the East Kent HR Partnership giving an opinion on compliance with policies and procedures with regard to the management of staff, staff conduct and ethical standards, sickness levels, training and health and safety.
The annual statement of the Business Support and Compliance Manager giving an opinion on compliance with the Council's Risk Management Strategy.
The Chief Executive's (Section 151 Officer) review of the council's Internal Audit arrangements.

The Monitoring Officer and the S151 Officer will review the internal control opinion and principles framework evidence, including service assurance statements, the audit review of Corporate Governance, the Constitutional review, performance reporting, risk management arrangements and the individual audit and risk management assessments. This will ensure that all the necessary evidence is in place, there is consistency of reporting and that suitable action is being taken to address weaknesses.

The Draft Annual Governance Statement will be prepared, based on the internal control framework, core and supporting principles, internal and external reviews and audit evidence provided. This will be considered by the Governance Board including the Chief Executive, and then Governance and Audit Committee will provide the final review, evaluation and approval for signature by the end of June.

The Governance and Audit Committee will monitor the overall governance process and ensure that the process is robust and agreed actions identified are properly implemented. The final Annual Governance Statement will then be signed before the end of September by the Leader and Chief Executive based on a clear evidence trail.

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