POLICY OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE 12 JULY
BRIEFING NOTE ON CORPORATE GOVERNANCE ARRANGEMENTS
What is Corporate Governance?
The guidance published by CIPFA1 and SOLACE2 (‘Corporate Governance in Local
Government’) describes corporate governance as ‘the system by which local authorities direct
and control their functions and relate to their communities’.
Why is it important
As defined for the purposes of the CIPFA SOLACE guidance corporate governance includes
a number of practices and controls important to the effective operation of the authority such
as:





Community Focus
Service Delivery Arrangements
Risk Management and Internal Control
Standards of Conduct
Structures and Processes
o
Balance of Power and Authority
o
Roles and Responsibilities – Members
o
Roles and Responsibilities – Officers
Whilst much of this is reported on and reviewed independently it is nevertheless important to
review corporate governance as a totality, to ensure that nothing is slipping through the net
and to comply with the requirements of the Comprehensive Performance Assessment
inspection regime.
The approach taken at Blackpool Council
For a number of years relevant officers of the authority has conducted a self-assessment
against the framework in the CIPFA SOLACE guidance. This expands on the bulleted items
above to give more detail on what would be expected in place. Areas of perceived weakness
have been reported to members, since POSM was established this has been the member
forum used to report.
The CIPFA SOLACE guidance was published in 2001, and has become increasingly out of
date given changes in procedures in many areas of local government relevant to corporate
governance. In 2004 CIPFA, in conjunction with the OPM3, produced the Good Governance
Standard for Public Services which provided an updated framework that was not local
government specific. At Blackpool this guidance was reviewed for areas not covered by the
original guidance, and an expanded self-assessment developed that was reported to POSM
in the same way.
The way forward
On 25 June CIPFA and SOLACE were due to issue ‘Delivering Good Governance in Local
Government’ which supersedes the 2001 guidance. It had been intended to evaluate the
Council’s compliance with this document and report to this meeting. Unfortunately the
guidance has been delayed and will not now be published until 16 July. A self assessment
will therefore be brought to the next meeting of the committee. In the interim a copy of last
year’s action plan is enclosed for information.
1 Chartered
Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy
of Local Authority Chief Executives
3 Office for Public Management
2 Society
2006/7 CORPORATE GOVERNANCE ACTION PLAN
Action
Ensure robust mechanisms are
established for monitoring the
performance of the Local Area
Agreement.
Responsibility
Head of Corporate Policy
and Development
Achieve Level 2 Equality
Standards.
Head of Corporate Policy
and Development
March 2007
Continue to roll out Performance
Plus, including reporting of Local
Area Agreement progress.
Head of Corporate Policy
and Development
July 2006
Continue training of members and
officers on the performance
management system.
Head of Corporate Policy
and Development
Implementation of risk
management module of
Performance Plus software.
Head of Risk and
Assurance
Further embedding of risk
management principles and
processes, including partnership
and project risk management.
Head of Risk and
Assurance
Internal audit to undertake a review
of risk management.
Chief Internal Auditor
Internal audit to undertake peer
review for quality assurance
purposes as recommended by the
Audit Commission.
Chief Internal Auditor
Review of Code of Conduct and
Protocol.
Head of Legal and
Democratic Services
Launch of Dignity at Work Policy
Head of Human
Resources
Head of Legal and
Democratic Services
Monitoring Officer to provide
refresher training on code of
conduct.
Promote existing whistleblowing
policy actively
Target Date
July 2006
September
2006
October 2006
December
2006
October 2006
October 2006
Head of Legal and
Democratic Services
December 2006
August 2006
July 2006
July 2006