Shared service governance
Every year an annual review of governance is undertaken to confirm that good governance was in place across the Council during the previous financial year.
This is a requirement of the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 and follows the CIPFA framework for delivering good governance in local government which is considered ‘proper practice’ under the regulations.
A new framework was published by CIPFA in 2016 that Councils are required to demonstrate compliance with from April 2017 i.e. for the 2016/17 financial year.
The new framework places greater emphasis on obtaining assurance that good governance is operating in partnership arrangements and therefore a self assessment was introduced.
The CIPFA framework contains 7 core principles each with a set of sub-principles.
Six areas across four of the core principles require specific assurance on partnership working.
Self assessments against the governance principles are obtained for partnership arrangements.