Agenda item

Report by the Director of Law and Assurance.

The Committee is asked to note progress against actions arising from the Annual Governance Statement 2018-19.

15.1   The Committee considered a report by the Director of Law and Assurance (copy appended to the signed minutes).

15.2   Mr Gauntlett, Senior Advisor, introduced the report and explained to the Committee that an update report would be coming to the next meeting in January.  Action owners could be invited to the meeting if required.

15.3   The Committee made comments including those that follow.

•    Sought clarity on the processes for the scheme of delegation action.  – Mr Gauntlett confirmed that the scheme of delegation within the constitution required a review following recent structure and cabinet changes and that this would be carried out by the Director of Law and Assurance.

•    Queried the timescales for the review of the West Sussex Plan targets and measures, and the anti-fraud review.  – Mr Gauntlett confirmed that updates on these were due in January 2020.

•    Sought clarity on the review of the County Council’s health and safety governance and assurance.  – Mr Gauntlett resolved to seek clarification on the action.  Members noted that the action was a high priority within the Internal Audit report. 

•    Requested an update on the action for Risk Register reference CR60 relating to the Fire and Rescue Service.  – Mr Gauntlett confirmed that an update on the Fire and Rescue Service would be going to the Environment, Communities and Fire Select Committee in January and resolved to ask the Chief Fire Officer to provide a clear update on future reports.  Mr Harvey confirmed that considerable progress had been made on the short term actions.

•    Sought clarity on the process for the review of the whistleblowing policy and Member involvement.  – Mr Gauntlett confirmed that this was within the remit of the Standards Committee.  Members commented on the recent reports of bullying and queried the effectiveness of the current policy.  Mr Gauntlett confirmed that the Standards Committee looked at an anonymous summary of issues and saw the outcomes of cases.  Mr Gauntlett proposed contacting the Director of Law and Assurance to discuss the effectiveness of the strategy.  The Committee raised concerns on the process for staff to raise grievances with managers and considered asking the Governance Committee to consider a whole review of the scheme of delegation.  The Committee resolved to write to the County Council Chairman on the matters discussed.

•    Commented the contents of Forward Plan entries and requested that entries should include fuller costs and clearer impacts of proposed decisions.  – Mr Gauntlett explained that the Forward Plan complied with the 2012 regulations regarding key decisions.  The criteria for cost of key decisions was £500,000.  Entries could be considered on a case by case basis on what information was available at the time of publication, with an aim to be as transparent as possible.  Mr Gauntlett resolved to raise the issue with colleagues in the Democratic Services Unit.

15.4   Resolved – That the report be noted and the Committee agrees to write to the Chairman of the County Council to raise issues on the scheme of delegation to the Governance Committee; and issues regarding the whistleblowing policy to the Standards Committee.