Article 24 – Finance, Contracts and Legal Matters

 

1               Financial Management

1.1           The management of the Council’s financial affairs will be conducted in accordance with the Financial Procedure Rules set out in Appendix 10 and 10A of this Constitution.

2             Contracts

2.1          Every contract made by the Council will comply with the Contract Procedure Rules set out in Appendix 11 of this Constitution.

 

3             Legal Proceedings

 

3.1          The Director of Governance is authorised to institute, defend or participate in any legal proceedings in any case where such action is necessary to give effect to decisions of the Council, or in any case where the Director of Governance considers that such action is necessary to protect the Council’s interests.

 

4             Authentication of documents

 

4.1          Where any document is necessary to any legal procedure or proceedings on behalf of the Council, it will be signed by the Director of Governance or other person authorised by them, unless any enactment otherwise authorises or requires, or the Council has given requisite authority to some other person. Any contract entered into on behalf of the local authority in the course of the discharge of an Executive function shall be made in writing.

 

4.2              A document shall have been properly signed in accordance with paragraph 4.1 whether it is physically signed in a hard copy format or it is signed electronically in an electronic format.

 

 

 

 

 

 

5             Common Seal of the Council

 

5.1          The Common Seal of the Council will be kept in a safe place in the custody of the Director of Governance. A decision of the Council, or of any part of it, will be sufficient authority for sealing any document necessary to give effect to the decision. The Common Seal will be affixed to those documents which in the opinion of the Director of Governance should be sealed. The affixing of the Common Seal will be attested by the Director of Governance or some other person authorised by the Director of Governance. An entry of every sealing of a document shall be made and consecutively numbered in a book or an electronic register provided for the purpose and signed by the person who was present at the sealing and attested the seal.

 

5.2          The Common Seal shall have been properly affixed in accordance with paragraph 5.1 whether it is physically affixed to a hard copy document or it is affixed electronically to an electronic document in accordance with the Electronic Communications Act 2000.