2.1 North Lanarkshire Council is committed to ensuring that its business is conducted in accordance with the law and proper standards, and that public money is safeguarded, properly accounted for, and used economically, efficiently, and effectively.

2.2 As such, the council has adopted the principles and requirements of the Delivering Good Governance in Local Government: Framework (2016) and accompanying Guidance Notes for Scottish Local Authorities (2016) in order to ensure its governance arrangements remain sound and the highest standards continue to be met. 

2.3 The council is required, in line with the Delivering Good Governance in Local Government: Framework, to test its governance arrangements (local code) against these principles by:

- Maintaining an up to date local code of governance that takes into account the environment within which it operates and includes arrangements for ensuring ongoing effectiveness.

- Reviewing existing governance arrangements once a year to ensure that the local code operates effectively in practice.

- Reporting publicly on compliance on an annual basis, including how the governance arrangements have been monitored for effectiveness in the year and identifying planned changes.

2.4 As such, the council has:

a) Set out its local code of governance in the Strategic Governance Framework.  The Strategic Governance Framework was initially approved by the Audit and Scrutiny Panel in February 2020 and has been subject to an annual review and refresh process annually thereafter.  The Strategic Governance Framework sets out the elements and mechanisms which form the council’s local code of governance, and which demonstrate North Lanarkshire Council’s commitment to the principles of good governance.

b) A well-established assessment process which reviews the council’s governance arrangements and systems of internal controls on an annual basis.  This assessment - which provides the evidence that informs the Annual Governance Statement - aims to:

- Ensure the council can demonstrate ongoing compliance with the principles in the Delivering Good Governance in Local Government: Framework and that the governance arrangements operate effectively in practice.

- Identify any improvement actions and/or future planned developments required in relation to the council’s key governance arrangements and continuous improvement activity.

c) A well-established annual process that enables Chief Officers and Elected Members to discharge their duties through their specific responsibilities for determining and implementing the council’s governance arrangements, ensuring the local code (the Strategic Governance Framework) is reviewed and assessed on an annual basis, identifying any improvement actions and/or future planned developments required in relation to key governance arrangements to ensure continuous improvement, and ensuring that the outputs from the annual assessment are reported publicly (to the Audit and Scrutiny Panel and through the council’s website).

2.5 The council also has a duty under the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 to demonstrate Best Value by securing continuous improvement in performance. Good governance is central to meeting Best Value obligations as effective governance and accountability arrangements, with openness and transparency in decision-making, schemes of delegation, and effective reporting of performance are essential for taking informed decisions and ensuring effective scrutiny of performance and stewardship of resources.

2.6 As the council has a controlling interest in a number of companies and a minority interest in joint ventures, the Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting requires (where significant) the summary Group Accounts to be included within the Annual Accounts, showing the financial position of the council and its subsidiaries plus the investments in associates and interests in joint ventures as a single economic entity.  As such, the Annual Governance Statement also covers the organisations consolidated in the council’s Group Accounts.