Agenda item

Report of the Corporate Director Resources (S151 Officer), Clare James.

Presented by the Head of Governance and Business Support, Joanne Billington.

Please follow the link here to view the Supplement Agenda with the proposed Financial Regulations and Financial Procedure Rules changes.

The Corporate Director Resources (S151 Officer), submitted a report for the committee to review the Financial Regulations and Financial Procedure Rules.

The Head of Governance and Business Support, introduced the item. She reminded members that the Financial Regulations and Procedure Rules sat as part of the Constitution. Documents included as part of the supplementary agenda pack included track changes to show the amendments. Paragraph 5.1 of the covering report highlighted the main amendments.

Consideration was also needed for the introduction of the new Procurement Act, expected to come into force in October 2024. Officers were informed that there would be more administrative processes introduced  and there was a potential that members would be asked to review the rules and procedures again before the next expected date of November 2024.

Members asked the following questions:

·         Would members receive update reports of procurement contracts going through the new rules and procedures?

·         What was the process if an officer attempted to truncate contracts?

Officers explained that there are a number of controls in place to monitor spend, for example, the Contracts Register,  the monthly ‘over £500 report’ and monthly spend reports all of which are reviewed by the Corporate Director Resources (S151 Officer) and the Procurement Officer on a regular basis.

In response to the second question, officers explained that they were very alert to this tactic, which was why the Corporate Director reviewed spend reports monthly. Tactics such as truncating contracts could be  identified relatively easily owing to the size of the council and its typical spend.

Following discussions, the committee agreed to the proposed changes to the Financial Regulations and Financial Procedures Rules.