Issue - meetings

To provide the Committee with updated Financial Procedure Rules for recommendation to County Council.

That, subject to the amendments identified, the updated Financial Procedure Rules be endorsed and recommended for submission to County Council for approval.

The Finance Manager presented the revised Financial Procedure Rules (FPRs) for consideration, prior to seeking approval at County Council to meet statutory obligations.

The FPRs had been reviewed in 2017 to reflect changes to legislation and processes.  No concerns had been raised when reported to the Audit Committee in November 2017.  The changes included a proposed increase in the virement threshold to allow greater flexibility for Chief Officers whilst maintaining financial control.

Councillor Peers said that the report should indicate submission to County Council as well as Cabinet.  On page 13 of the FPRs, he suggested that paragraphs (g) and (j) be linked.  The Finance Manager agreed to incorporate into the following changes:

·         On page 13, paragraph (g) - to confirm the actual threshold of a ‘significant overspend’.

·         On page 17, section 3.5 - the first sentence to clarify that the general level of reserves to be decided by ‘The Council’ rather than ‘The local authority’ to specify that this was a function of Council and not Cabinet.

In response to queries, it was explained that paragraph (j) on page 27 referred to the competitive sealed bidding process for surplus Council stock items.  It was agreed that this wording would replace the ‘secret and competitive basis’ description currently in the FPRs.

On the same matter, Councillor Carver gave examples of stock which, although deemed as ‘scrap’, may still retain some value.  The Chief Officer said that additional wording would be included in the paragraph to indicate that officers should still seek to achieve the highest amount of value for the Council, whichever method of disposal was appropriate.

Councillor Woolley said that the first sentence of the section on maintenance of reserves reflected processes that were not compatible.  The Finance Manager advised that as part of the protocol, the level of reserves were set at a prudent level and explained in budget monitoring reports.  She referred to recent challenge by the Corporate Resources Overview & Scrutiny Committee to establish whether unused earmarked reserves could be brought back into the budget for use.

The Chief Officer referred to the responsibilities of the Section 151 Officer in determining the adequacy of reserve levels and the Council’s duty to approve the overall budget at which stage details of reserves had already been subject to scrutiny.

In response to a request by Councillor Woolley, the Finance Manager agreed to provide a response to the Committee on the total amount of the Council’s assets and date of the valuation.

RESOLVED:

That, subject to the amendments identified, the updated Financial Procedure Rules be endorsed and recommended for submission to County Council for approval.