Local Code of Governance

10.1 The Council needs appropriate structures and leadership, as well as people with the right skills, appropriate qualifications and mind-set, to operate efficiently and effectively and achieve intended outcomes within the specified periods.

10.2 The Council must ensure that it has both the capacity to fulfil its own mandate and to make certain that there are policies in place to guarantee that its management has the operational capacity for the Council as a whole.

10.3 As individuals and the environment in which the Council operates will change over time, there will be a continuous need to develop its capacity as well as the skills and experience of individual staff members. Leadership at the Council is strengthened by the participation of people with many different types of backgrounds, reflecting the structure and diversity of its communities.

10.4 The Council demonstrates this by:

• Reviewing operations, performance and use of assets on a regular basis.
• Improving resource use by research and benchmarking.
• Recognising the benefits of partnership and collaborative working.
• Developing and maintaining an effective workforce plan.
• Developing protocols to ensure that members are clear on their roles and objectives.
• The Constitution sets out the scheme of delegation for officer and member decisions
• Ensuring the Leader and Chief Executive have clearly defined leadership roles.
• Developing members and senior officers to achieve effective shared leadership.
• Ensuring there are structures in place to encourage public participation.
• Being open to constructive feedback from peer review and inspections.
• Holding staff to account through regular performance reviews.
• Ensuring arrangements are in place to maintain staff health and wellbeing.

10.5 This value is specifically upheld in the following examples:

• Constitution
• Employee and Member handbooks
• WHBC’s Partnership with Independent Auditors
• WHBC’s Partnership with Shared Internal Audit Service