Agenda item

The Committee noted that the review of the Officer Scheme of Delegation and Proper Officer Scheme had been undertaken by the Joint Constitutions Review Group (JCRG), at their meetings held on 25 April, 29 May and 20 June 2024.

Each Council’s Executive had also considered this matter in the context of the Officer Scheme of Delegation which related specifically to Executive functions.  Both Executives had given formal approval to the delegation of Executive functions set out in the revised Joint Officer Scheme of Delegation and Proper Officer Scheme.  The Executive had also authorised the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the Leader, Deputy Leader, and Portfolio Holder, to include any changes to the Scheme of Delegation in respect of Executive functions recommended by this Committee.

At its meeting on 20 June 2024, the JCRG had agreed to recommend approval of the new Officer Scheme of Delegation and Proper Officer Scheme, copies of which were appended to the report, to this Committee and to Waverley’s Standards & General Purposes Committee, with a further recommendation that the Committees recommend the adoption of the new Officer Scheme of Delegation and Proper Officer Scheme to the respective full Council meetingsin July 2024.

During the debate, the following points were made:

·      It was suggested that the exercise of the delegation to the JSD – Housing Communities & Environment to take a decision as to whether the Council would tolerate unlawful encampments for a specified period and purpose, and to keep that decision under constant review (ref: 2.3.1) should be in consultation with the relevant portfolio holder.

·      It was suggested that the delegation to the Assistant Director – Community Services to take any action under the Public Health (Control of Diseases) Act 1984 and the related public health protection regulations (ref 3.2.5) should be in consultation with the Leader of the Council.

·      In relation to the General Principles (ref: 1.4.4), it was suggested that the wording should be clarified as follows:

“The exercise of a delegated power shall not amount to a new policy or extension or amendment to an existing policy unless the officer has specific delegated authority to do so. create a new policy or extend or amend an existing policy.”

·      In response to a question as to whether the proposed revised scheme of delegation addressed the various lessons learned from the governance related investigations undertaken to date in respect of Guildford, it was confirmed that a key recommendation arising from the SOLACE reports was that scheme of delegation should be reviewed.  In working up the revised scheme of delegation, officers had looked at both councils and it was noted that one of the critical points that had been addressed was to reduce the financial limits that officers were able to spend to under delegated powers without coming back to the Executive, which was a critical safeguard and the scope of certain delegations had been dramatically reduced.

·      In response to a further question seeking assurance that the necessary resources would be allocated to officer training in order to embed the new scheme of delegation, it was intended to roll out decision-making training so that everyone was aware of their individual responsibilities. As the revised scheme of delegation would be implemented the day after formal approval by full council, strategic directors and assistant directors would be expected to have in place a scheme of authorisation running through the whole directorate so that all staff understood the nature and extent of the officer delegations.

·      It was suggested that as well as explicit responsibility for financial management at Joint Management Team level there should be explicit responsibility at that level for risk management. In response, although risk management responsibilities had been specifically referenced within the proposed revised Financial Procedure Rules, the Strategic Director of Finance agreed that it would be appropriate to make some reference in the scheme of delegation to risk management responsibilities.

·      It was noted that certain functions related to environmental matters had been divided between the Assistant Directors for Regulatory Services andEnvironmental Services, and it was queried whether the budgets for these matters had also been allocated to the relevant services to enable actions to be taken as necessary.  It was confirmed that these delegations were merely clarifying where current responsibility for those functions were located.

·      Clarification was requested as to what would be expected of ward councillors when they were consulted regarding certain officer delegations.  It was confirmed that this would also be picked up in the officer training referred to above.

Having considered the report, the Committee

RESOLVED:

(1)         That the Council be asked to adopt into the Constitution the revised Joint Officer Scheme of Delegation and Proper Officer Scheme, as set out in Appendices 1 and 2 to the report submitted to the Committee, in so far as the delegations relate to this Council.

(2)         That the Monitoring Officer be authorised, in consultation with the chair of this Committee, to make such further amendments to the Joint Officer Scheme of Delegation and Proper Officer Scheme as may be necessary to correct errors or for clarification purposes, prior to consideration of these matters by full council.

Reasons:

·        An officer scheme of delegation and proper officer scheme which is materially the same for both Councils, whilst being owned by each Council in respect of their services, will help to promote more efficient joint working and will support the transformation programme by aligning officer decision making across both Councils.

·        The recommended changes will improve the governance procedures for each Council and will ensure that there is greater transparency over decision making.

·        The reductions in financial limits will ensure that key decisions are made by the Executive, thereby promoting accountability and transparency.

·        Aligning officer delegations into a scheme, which is similar for both Councils, supports the Councils’ Collaborative and Transformation programme and provides clarity for those officers employed to provide a joint service across both Councils.