Issue - meetings

This report sets out the breaches and waivers of Financial Regulations (the Regulations) which have occurred during the 2023/24 financial year and highlights the following:

* direct comparison to previous years cannot be made due to changes in waiver categories as explained in paragraph 9.

Whilst no breaches of Financial Regulations is the preferable position, the relatively low number of breaches again suggests a good level of understanding of the requirements amongst managers and officers in the majority of service directorates and has resulted in general compliance with the Regulations.

Whilst full compliance can never be guaranteed and ‘under-reporting’ of breaches, in particular, is an inherent possibility, arrangements were in place to detect instances of non-compliance.

The Director of Finance, or their formally delegated representative, has agreed 35 waivers totalling £0.7m.

For 2023/24, the lower number (35) of approved waivers compared to 2022/23 represents changes in waivers categories (in particular  waivers could only be applied for <£25k) but also shows that significantly less Council expenditure is now subject to an approved waiver. This means that a greater proportion of the Council’s total expenditure is subject to the full requirements set out in the Council’s Financial Regulations.

An effective and transparent breaches and waiver governance process maximises the chances of the Council achieving value for money and complying with UK Procurement Legislation (Public Contract Regulations 2015 (PCR15)) principles when procuring goods, services or works under PCR15 thresholds.

The Head of Audit and Management Assurance presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'G' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

Public Report 

The report set out the breaches and waivers of Financial Regulations (the Regulations) which had occurred during the 2023/24 financial year and highlights the following:

* direct comparison to previous years cannot be made due to changes in waiver categories as explained in paragraph 9.

Whilst no breaches of Financial Regulations was the preferable position, the relatively low number of breaches again suggests a good level of understanding of the requirements amongst managers and officers in the majority of service directorates and had resulted in general compliance with the Regulations.

Whilst full compliance can never be guaranteed and ‘under-reporting’ of breaches, in particular, was an inherent possibility, arrangements were in place to detect instances of non-compliance.

The Director of Finance, or their formally delegated representative, had agreed 35 waivers totalling £0.7m.

For 2023/24, the lower number (35) of approved waivers compared to 2022/23 represents changes in waivers categories (in particular waivers could only be applied for <£25k) but also showed that significantly less Council expenditure was now subject to an approved waiver. This meant that a greater proportion of the Council’s total expenditure was subject to the full requirements set out in the Council’s Financial Regulations.

An effective and transparent breaches and waiver governance process maximised the chances of the Council achieving value for money and complying with UK Procurement Legislation (Public Contract Regulations 2015 (PCR15)) principles when procuring goods, services or works under PCR15 thresholds.

It was highlighted that Legislation on Procurement had changed, regarding areas such as the departure from the European Union and post Brexit changes.

RESOLVED that:

The Audit & Governance Committee note the breaches & waivers of Financial Regulations that occurred during 2023/24.