Issue - meetings

RECOMMENDED:               That Council approve the changes to the revised Financial Regulations as set out in Annex A of the report.

REASON:                              To gain approval that the revised Financial Regulations are appropriate in improving and maintaining the integrity of the council’s financial arrangements and the concerns of the Shadow Executive are met.               

[See also under Part A Minutes]

Members considered a report which invited them to discuss and recommend to Full Council the revised Financial Regulations, consideration of which had been deferred from the Executive meeting on 21 July pending further refinements.

The virement tables in the revised Regulations had now been amended to ensure that all Officer decisions that might affect the Council’s policy framework were referred to Full Council.  Otherwise, the Regulations, attached as Annex A to the report, were the same as those presented in July. 

The revised Regulations were intended to be more flexible and concise, maintaining the key principles of the current regulations, whilst reflecting the more devolved decision making system adopted by the Council.  The current Procurement Regulations had been separated into a devolved set of regulations and re-named the Contract Procedure Rules (CPRs).  The Financial Regulations and CPRs were underpinned by a set of supplementary guidance documents, as listed in paragraph 7 of he report.  Key changes to the regulations were detailed in paragraph 8.  The revised CPRs were still in draft format and would be presented to Executive in November.

The Chair confirmed that it was vital that there continued to be public accountability for accounting changes. Consultation with members would be required and for a record of this to be retained for any subsequent challenges or scrutiny.

Having noted the comments of the Shadow Executive on this item, it was

RECOMMENDED:               That Council approve the changes to the revised Financial Regulations as set out in Annex A of the report.

REASON:                              To gain approval that the revised Financial Regulations are appropriate in improving and maintaining the integrity of the council’s financial arrangements and the concerns of the Shadow Executive are met.