Agenda item

To approve the amendments to the Financial Procedure Rules as set out at Appendix 1 to the report. 

105.1        The report of the Monitoring Officer, circulated at Pages No. 23-59, asked Members to approve the amendments to the Financial Procedure Rules as set out at Appendix 1 to the report.

105.2         In proposing the report recommendation, the Lead Member for Finance and Asset Management advised that, as Members would recall, a Working Group had been established last year to review the Council’s Constitution which included elements in relation to how the authority managed its finances.  The Financial Procedures Rules had been reviewed by the Constitution Review Working Group and a number of amendments were proposed, as highlighted by track changes.  Several changes were required as a result of the introduction of related policies and procedures, due to sector bodies changing their names and to update Officer titles, and he drew attention to five key changes: the change to the process for the approval for grant bids to enable Executive Directors to sign off up to £50,000 rather than requiring sign-off by the Section 151 Officer; amending the budget transfer process, known as virements, so that low level transfers could be approved in a less bureaucratic way; making the purchase order process more robust; removing reference to cash/cheques being received; and to reflect new processes for payment and procurement cards.  In his view, these were all minor changes which would better enable Officers to more efficiently conduct daily business related to the management of the Council’s finances.  He understood that key Officers would be leading briefing sessions with their colleagues to ensure they were updated on the changes, and that training was provided as appropriate. 

105.3        A Member drew attention to Page No. 41 of the report and the amendment which stated that a report on the details of all debts written off under delegated authority would be prepared and formally presented to the Section 151 Officer and asked if Members had any oversight of bad debts as, in his experience, this was an area where fraud was often encountered.  He suggested it was something which the Overview and Scrutiny Committee may wish to consider to ensure transparency.  In response, the Associate Director: Finance agreed that Members needed an overview of bad debt and how this was being managed and advised that the Audit and Governance Committee would be receiving an annual report in relation to that with the first one due to be taken to its meeting in June.  Another Member expressed the view that aged debt should also be considered by Members and clarification was provided that the report would cover all debts over one year old which, by nature, were considered to be bad debt, so both bad debt and aged debt would be captured within that.  A Member drew attention to Page No. 55 of the report, and the second bullet point under the section on inventories, and asked whether the amended value was £1,000 or £100 as the track changes made this difficult to interpret.  In response, the Associate Director: Finance confirmed the figure had been reduced from £500 to £100 for insurance purposes.

105.4        The proposal was seconded and, upon being put to the vote, it was

RESOLVED          That the amendments to the Financial Procedure Rules be APPROVED as set out at Appendix 1 to the report.