35.1 Voluntary funds and trust funds will be managed and administered in accordance with relevant statutory requirements and the requirements of the other parts of these financial regulations.
35.2 The responsible Director and/or trustee/fund managers will ensure that the Section 151 Officer is notified of the establishment of any fund which the County Council is to act as trustee or otherwise manage. The processes and information to be notified will be determined by the Section 151 Officer.
35.3 If it is not apparent from the trust deeds or approved otherwise by the trustees, the Section 151 Officer will act as Treasurer of that voluntary fund or trust find.
35.4 Where the funds are external to the County Council and the operating and/or provision of services and/or facilities involve the County Council or its officers, Directors will ensure that in advance of such arrangements that legal (from the Monitoring Officer) and financial advice (from the Director of Finance (Section 151 Officer)) is obtained, and the respective responsibilities of the County Council and the trust are clarified and formally agreed.
36.1 Cabinet is responsible for the approval of the County Council to take on accountable body responsibilities. Accountable Body arrangements involve the Council accepting responsibility for the obligations set out in terms of any funding granted to a third party. Accountable Body arrangements are different to those where the Council acts as grant recipient of funding for an activity it is solely responsible for.
36.2 The following are the minimum requirements for the Cabinet to make a decision about taking on accountable body responsibilities:
• Terms of the funding agreement (where known)
• Description of arrangements for allocation of funding
• Description of applicable financial and audit procedures
• Risk assessment/management plan relevant to the County Council acting as Accountable Body.
• Recovery of costs incurred by the County Council acting as accountable body
36.3 Where the accountable body arrangements involve the County Council accepting responsibility for a contingent liability, in respect of future payments or stewardship of assets, a report will first be made by the relevant Director in liaison with the Director of Finance (Section 151 Officer), to Cabinet for its approval and Council will be informed of these liabilities.
36.4 Where the Council bids for revenue or capital external funding (either directly or as the accountable body) the decision to apply / bid for the funding is the responsibility of the Director in consultation with the relevant Portfolio Holder, Leader of the Council, Finance Portfolio holder and Director of Finance (Section 151 Officer).
36.5 Successful applications/bids will be reported to Cabinet and associated expenditure will be included in the revenue budget and/ or capital programme subject to paragraphs 36.6 - 36.10
36.6 Where the Council is providing match funding to support projects / funding applications by other organisations, and these organisations request the County Council's support for a project which they are pursuing, the responsibility for approving the County Council's support is the relevant Director in consultation with the relevant Portfolio Holder, Leader of the Council, Finance Portfolio holder and Director of Finance (Section 151 Officer).
36.7 In respect of any external funding arrangements, whether the County Council is the accountable body or not, it is the responsibility of the relevant Director, in consultation with the Section 151 Officer to ensure that adequate financial management arrangements are in place prior to entering the County Council into an external funding arrangement. The processes to ensure adequate financial management arrangements will be determined by the Section 151 Officer and must be consistent with the terms and conditions of the funding agreement.
36.8 All claims for grant (both final and interim) will be certified by the Section 151 Officer in accordance with the County Council's financial procedures. The Section 151 Officer will maintain a grant register recording all grant income due to the County Council.
36.9 The Section 151 Officer is responsible for ensuring that all funding notified by external bodies is received and properly recorded in the County Council's corporate financial systems, and Directors are responsible for providing the Section 151 Officer with all necessary information to enable this to be achieved.
36.10 Where the Council receives grants (revenue or capital) or external funding from outside bodies (usually, but not restricted to government departments) in the absence of a bidding process, the requirements of paras 36.4 to 36.7 do not apply. This grant income / external funding is usually subject to clear grant notifications and directions and will be included in the annual Budget Report to Council or reported in year to Cabinet through the regular budget monitoring reports as applicable.
36.11 Where external organisations bid for resources from the County Council, in addition to the above, it is essential to ensure that the County Council's resources are not committed to pursue the priorities of another body (which may not coincide with the County Council's aims and priorities, approved by the policy framework) unless the matter has first been properly evaluated, considered and approved. Part 3 'Scheme of Delegation to Officers' of this Constitution includes reference to the delegation of approval of grants to voluntary bodies.
36.12 If any Elected Member or Officer is involved with an external organisation that is bidding for Council funding, they must declare their interest and withdraw from any involvement in the decision making process.
36.13 It is the responsibility of Directors, in consultation with Finance, to ensure that adequate financial management arrangements are in place prior to entering the County Council into a strategic and commercial contract or partnership arrangements. The processes to ensure adequate financial management arrangements will be determined by the Section 151 Officer.
36.14 Part 6I 'Partnerships' of this Constitution sets out the governance arrangements when the County Council proposes to carry out any of its activities through a non-commercial arrangement with one or more external body.
36.15 Part 5H 'Contract Procedure Rules' of this constitution should also be read in conjunction with this section.
