The Chief Officer Legal & Regulatory Services, HR and Corporate Policy presented a report which sought Council approval to an amendment to the Constitution to reflect the revised financial thresholds within the Contract Procedure Rules to take effect from 1 January 2023.

She explained order to procure goods, services and works above £5,000 a service must obtain three quotes. This has proved to be unmanageable due to the volume of quotations across the Council, leading to delays on service delivery. Further details on this were at section 4 of the report.

The Chief Officer Legal & Regulatory Services, HR and Corporate Policy explained that A benchmarking exercise has shown that an increase to £10,000 for obtaining three quotations is in line with neighbouring councils. A report was presented to Cabinet on 13 December 2022 seeking approval to amend the lower financial threshold from £5,000 to £10,000 for obtaining three quotations within the Contract Procedure Rules and recommending to Council an amendment to the Constitution to reflect those revisions.

The Cabinet Member Resources stated that the report was deliberated at Cabinet yesterday and it was noted that the cost of living crisis as well as well as the invasion on Ukraine by Russian troops had driven costs to an unmanageable level and therefore it was necessary to increase the threshold from £5,000 to £10,000.

A Member asked that this report and a review of the threshold be undertaken after 6 months and also for it to be discussed at the Governance and Audit Committee.

A Member asked what safeguards are in place to ensure that there was no carving up of larger procurement into sub £10,000 procurement slots.

The Chief Officer Legal & Regulatory Services, HR and Corporate Policy outlined a number controls that were in place and added that the procurement team perform regular audits on activities as does the Internal Audit service. There was also training sessions recently provided to all staff who procure or commission goods/services and so staff were clear on the procedures to be followed.

The Leader explained that local companies were always looked at and sought after for procurement activities and this was always at the heart of the decision making where possible.

RESOLVED:           That Council approved an amendment to the Constitution to reflect the revised financial thresholds as set out at paragraph 4.5 to take effect from 1 January 2023.