Issue - meetings

The report recommends, in light of the findings and recommendations from the 2016 Strategic Review, that the planned review of the Council’s Constitution and Scheme of Delegation (action 1.2 of the draft 2017/18 Policy and Governance Service Plan) commences straight away. 

Accordingly, the report sets out a number of immediate recommendations for Council approval in respect of financial thresholds for virements and supplementary estimates and the need to gain Council approval for any change to the Council’s staffing establishment. 

Beyond this, the report sets out recommended principles for reviewing the Constitution and Scheme of Delegation in all other respects as well as a timetable for doing so.  Officers will undertake the initial review and make recommendations for change and options for consideration by the Constitution SIG in the first instance. 

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Executive:

1.            recommends to Council that paragraph 4.01(b) within part 1 of the Constitution be amended so that Council approval is only needed in respect of virements and supplementary estimates, no matter what they relate to, over £100,000 (meaning that the Executive will be able to approve these so long as they are £100,000 or less);

2.            recommends to Council that paragraph 1 of the Scheme of Delegation  and the relevant sections of Finance Regulations be updated to reflect these new Executive limits of £100,000 for virements and supplementary estimates;

3.            recommends to Council that paragraph 13.03(b)(i) within part 1 of the Constitution be amended to change the threshold for a key decision to £100,000;

4.            recommends to Council that paragraph 4.02(n) within part 1 and paragraph B.11 of part 3 of the Constitution be amended to state that it will be a function of the Council to approve ‘the addition or deletion of posts from the agreed permanent staffing levels where the costs of doing so do not fall within existing controllable expenditure budgets and where the changes have financial implications in excess of the Executive’s threshold of up to £100,000’; and 

5.            agrees, subject to any amendments they wish to make, the recommended principles and timetable for a wider review of the Council’s Constitution set out in sections 3 and 4 respectively. 

138.1  Like many local authorities, although Waverley has made incremental changes to the content and structure of its Constitution and Scheme of Delegation over time, it has not fundamentally reviewed either since the Local Government Act 2000 introduced Executive arrangements.

138.2  Officers advise that a fundamental review would be beneficial and for this reason the draft 2017/18 Policy and Governance Service Plan already includes a commitment to

‘Review and update the Council’s Constitution and Scheme of Delegation to promote and facilitate swifter and more responsive decision-making at Waverley, without compromising democratic integrity and accountability, transparency or risk management.’ (action 1.2)

138.3  The 2016 Strategic Review described the Council’s formal decision-making processes as ‘slow’ and ‘cumbersome’ and recommended that the scheme of delegation be ‘reviewed to improve speed of decision-making particularly on implementation matters where the substantive matter has already been approved and has the necessary budget provision.’

138.4  In light of this, it is recommended that the planned review of both the Constitution and the Scheme of Delegation begin earlier than planned.  Accordingly, this report sets out a number of recommendations for immediate change in respect of financial thresholds for virements and supplementary estimates and the need to gain Council approval for any change to the Council’s staffing establishment.  It also recommends a timetable for a more fundamental review and suggests what the principles of a more streamlined, flexible and simplified constitution and scheme of delegation should be. 

138.5  Some recommendations for immediate change (quick wins) are set out below:

            Financial thresholds

138.6  The Constitution currently reserves decisions relating to virements (transferring funds from one budget area to another) exceeding £50,000  and supplementary estimates (additional funds required within the financial year) exceeding £20,000 (or £50,000 if they relate to costs arising from either a civil emergency, a planning appeal or a planning enforcement action) for Council approval.  This means that the Executive may currently only approve requests for virements or supplementary estimates if they do not breach these thresholds. 

138.7  These thresholds are considered to be too low and, of course, inflation over time has and will continue to gradually increase the number of in-year budget matters that exceed them as the real value of money falls.  This has a tangible impact on the Council’s ability to progress vital day-to-day matters swiftly whilst Council approval is pending.  The sprit of a Strong Leader and Executive model of governance is that the day to day decision-making should be handled by the Executive.  Having too low a threshold for budget decisions potentially undermines this and also has the effect of inadvertently making items that should be subject to overview and scrutiny exempt from this.  It is not unusual for Council’s to have significantly higher thresholds for Executive approval.

138.8  It is therefore recommended that the thresholds are increased and in the interests of simplicity it is suggested that a new limit of £100,000 be applied in respect of virements and supplementary estimates regardless of why they arise.  The Local Government Act 2000  ...  view the full minutes text for item 138