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Issue - meetings

Code of Corporate Governance

 

 

Meeting: 22/01/2026 - Audit and Governance Committee (Item 106)

106 Code of Corporate Governance pdf icon PDF 71 KB

Purpose:

To present the latest version of the Local Code of Corporate Governance for adoption by West Oxfordshire District Council

 

Recommendation:

That the Audit and Governance Committee resolves to:

1.    Review and adopt the latest version of the Local Code of Corporate Governance.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Cheryl Sloan, Assistant Director for Workforce Strategy & Transformation, presented the report the purpose of which was to present the latest version of the Local Code of Corporate Governance for adoption by West Oxfordshire District Council.

 

In the presentation the following points were made:

 

  • The report included an edited version and a clean version of the code that enabled Members to see the changes that had been made.
  • The Committee was being asked to approve the latest version of the Local Code of Corporate Governance which had set out the framework and overarching principles for how the Council would conduct its affairs and governance.
  • The Annual Governance Statement was a backward-looking document that would review the Council’s previous work against the Local Code of Corporate Governance. The statement would be brought to the Committee for consideration early in the next financial year.
  • The Annual Governance Action Plan would look ahead at improvements in governance that would be made over the next twelve months. An update on the Action Plan would be brought to the next Committee meeting.
  • In May 2025 a new addendum with proposed changes had been published entitled, “Delivering Good Governance in Local Government Framework”. The Local Code of Corporate Governance had been overlaid with the changes proposed in the addendum. The Officer noted that the Council was already majority compliant with the requirements.  

 

In the discussion the following points were raised:

 

  • A Member queried the degree to which Members could be involved in drafting job descriptions for job advertisements and recruitment at the Council. Officers advised that responsibility for recruitment was with the Head of Paid Service and was considered an operational aspect. The Council had expertise in Human Resource and the service area that was recruiting to a position would liaise with them on the job requirements of the role when completing job descriptions and recruitment.
  • A discussion took place as to how the culture, which was key to good governance, was communicated to the staff. Officers highlighted that a People Strategy had been created which had laid out the organisation’s vision and strategies, and staff surveys were undertaken to check that staff had taken this on board.
  • The availability and location of further KPI detail was requested, specifically in planning processes. Officers advised that the Quarterly Service Reports that were brought to the Executive contained this information.

 

Councillor Nigel Ridpath proposed that the Committee adopted the latest version of the Local Code of Corporate Governance. This was seconded by Councillor Joy Aitman and agreed by the Committee.

 

Resolved:

The Audit and Governance Committee reviewed and adopted the latest version of the Local Code of Corporate Governance.

 

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