Review Highlights Effective Foundations To Council Services

An important review of the ways Dover District Council works - which forms the foundations of their services for communities - has been carried out to ensure the Council continues to work effectively and efficiently for the future.

The Annual Governance Assurance Statement, which is prepared internally, was accepted by Cabinet yesterday (7 June) and will be considered by Governance Committee on 16 June, and will be published within the Council's Annual Accounts.

The statement includes recognition that the Council, through its budget monitoring and control processes, ensures that financial resources are being used to their best advantage; progress has been made on plans for partnership working with neighbouring authorities over the last year, with a joint Human Resources service now in place; the Local Development Core Strategy was deemed to be sound and formally adopted by Council; DDC has an effective formal and informal Complaints Procedure; strategies are in place to help ensure that all groups have a voice, can be heard, and are suitably consulted; the way the Council works has been strengthened during the changes in the economic climate to ensure important projects can still be implemented, and improvements were made to the way they engage with local people and partners following a review of the format of Neighbourhood Forums.

The report also looks at areas for further development, which includes undertaking a priority service review during 2010/11, and the development of a formal workforce planning strategy.

Cllr Ian Ward, DDC Cabinet Member for Corporate Resources and Performance, said: "This statement represents an important assurance of the practices and principles underpinning the way the Council works. We look forward to continuing to work over the year ahead to further enhance our governance arrangements, and to continuing to deliver effective services for the future."

For more information, see the Annual Governance Assurance Statement at www.dover.gov.uk/agendas/ and click on the Cabinet agenda 7 June 2010.