Agenda item

The Committee considered a report on the recent review of the Financial Procedure Rules, which had been undertaken by the Joint Constitutions Review Group (JCRG), at their meetings held on 29 May and 20 June 2024. The JCRG had recommended approval of the revised Financial Procedure Rules, which were appended to the report, with a further recommendation that this Committee recommends the adoption of the revised Financial Procedure Rules to the full Council.

During the debate, the following comments were made:

·      In response to a question as to what, if any, difference the proposed revised Financial Procedure Rules would have made in respect of the issues relating to the overspend on Guildford’s housing maintenance contracts, the Strategic Director of Finance indicated that in terms of both the proposed new Financial Procedure Rules and Contract Procedure Rules, adjustments had been made to some of the financial limits therein which would require officers to seek proper approvals at times when expenditure was exceeding those limits.  It was noted that a combination of the proposed new scheme of delegation and the new financial and contract procedure rules would provide a level of safeguarding for the Council that had not been present before, so any expenditure over £200,000 would require Executive approval.

·      In response to a further question which sought reassurance on the process for approval of batches of invoices the Committee was informed that following a change in process and procedure within Housing Services for the batching of invoices, which had been worked up by the officers separately to the new Financial Procedure Rules, they would go through the workflow of Business World and would each require express approval of the relevant Strategic Director. 

·      It was suggested that the Executive summary of the report should make it clear that the revised Financial Procedure Rules were designed to strengthen governance within the Council and to mitigate some of the shortcomings in governance which had been uncovered as part of the recent investigations.  In response to a question as to whether the proposed Financial Procedure Rules should be reviewed externally by internal/external auditors to establish whether they were in line with best practice, officers confirmed that there were frequent discussions and meetings with the internal auditors, and that they would be asked to comment on the new procedure rules.

Having considered the report, the Committee

RESOLVED: That the full Council at its meeting on 23 July 2024, be requested to adopt into the Council’s Constitution, the revised Financial Procedure Rules as set out in Appendix 1 to the report submitted to the Committee.

Reasons:

·      Financial Procedure Rules which are 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 clarity over financial decision making.

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

·      Aligning both Councils’ Financial Procedure Rules supports the Councils Collaborative and Transformation programme and provides clarity for those officers employed to provide a joint service across both Councils. The rules will replace the existing Financial Procedure Rules (Guildford) and Financial Regulations (Waverley).