The Constitution Working Group is scheduled to meet on 29 September 2025 to review proposed updates to the council's financial regulations and procurement rules, as well as to discuss revisions and amendments to the constitution. The meeting will also cover the terms of reference and work programme for the group.

Changes to Procurement Rules

The Constitution Working Group will be asked to consider proposed changes to the council's procurement rules. These changes are detailed in the Report - Changes to Procurement Rules.

The report notes that the Procurement Act 2003 received Royal Assent on 26 October 2003 and has now come into full force and effect. The Procurement Act 2003¹ establishes a new public procurement regime in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The report states that:

A review of the Council's Procurement Rules contained at Part 4 of the Constitution has identified a number of amendments required to ensure the Council's procurement procedures comply with the new legislative requirements.

Several specific changes to the procurement rules are scheduled to be discussed:

• Procurement Rule 2.6: Amending references to the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 to the Procurement Act 2023.
• Procurement Rule 2.8: Updates to waiver rules, including a requirement to seek advice from the Monitoring Officer for contracts exceeding £150,000 in value.
• Procurement Rule 17.4: Requiring all contracts signed by Epping Forest District Council (EFDC) officers to be shared with the Procurement and Contracts Team, regardless of value. Previously, only contracts over £50,000 were shared. This change follows a contracts audit and aims to ensure the council's contract register is comprehensive.
• Appendix 1 - Table of Tendering Requirements: Changing the first threshold (£25,000 - £50,000) from a tendering requirement to a quote process, aligning with the Essex Procurement Partnership[^3]. [^3]: The Essex Procurement Partnership is a collaboration between local authorities in Essex to improve procurement practices and achieve better value for money.
• Procurement Rule 2.5: Stipulating that tenders (£50,000 and above) should be undertaken by the Essex Procurement Partnership on behalf of EFDC.

Proposed Updates to Capital Financial Regulations

The group will also be asked to consider a report on proposed updates to the council's capital financial regulations. The Proposed Updates to Capital Financial Regulations report notes that the council approved the capital programme as part of the wider budget on 20 February 2025.

The report states that the proposed changes aim to provide more flexibility over the use of existing approved capital resources. The report notes that there is currently no capital contingency budget available to address urgent requests for capital. The report also notes that the current financial regulations allow the Cabinet to approve the transfer of up to £100,000 of savings arising from other capital projects within the same portfolio to meet a budget overspend on a project. The report states that the financial regulations do not provide wider flexibility to transfer savings to either new projects arising during the financial year or to projects that require additional funding within other portfolios for the wider benefit of the council.

The proposed changes to the financial regulations include:

• Enabling greater flexibility in the use of approved capital funding to support the delivery of council priorities.
• Updating references to the use of capital savings to support wider flexibility on their use.
• Providing clarity so that the use of approved resources within the approved programme is not restricted by estimations of the proportions used within each financial year.
• Allowing capital savings to be transferred to other existing capital projects that require additional resources or to new capital projects that have been approved by the council.
• Authorising the Section 151 officer[^4], in consultation with the Finance & Economic Development Portfolio Holder, to authorise the virement[^5] of savings up to £100,000 to either an existing project requiring additional funding or to a new project. For savings over £100,000, the Cabinet must provide authorisation. [^4]: The Section 151 officer is a statutory officer responsible for the proper administration of the council's financial affairs. [^5]: In local government finance, a virement is the transfer of funds from one budget to another.
• Providing the flexibility to amend the proposed timing of approved capital budgets to enable the capital budgets to be more closely aligned with the proposed delivery timetable.

Constitution - Revisions and Amendments

The Monitoring Officer will provide an update on any revisions or amendments made to the constitution since the previous meeting of the Working Group.

Minutes from the Constitution Working Group meeting held on 13 March 2025, note that P. Maginnis (interim Monitoring Officer) provided the Working Group with an overview of her Constitution Review Report, presenting recommendations for Councillors to consider based on discussions from an officer constitution review meeting. The intention was to make the document more user-friendly and accessible.

The Chairman, Councillor Alan Lion, noted that with Local Government Reorganisation, there will be some rationalisation of all constitutions across Essex, making it essential to ensure Epping Forest's is as well-structured as possible.

Terms of Reference and Work Programme

The group will review the terms of reference and the work programme from the previous municipal year. The Work Programme 2024-25 v1 includes the following items:

• Constitution generally: To consider the ongoing review of the Constitution to ensure alignment with the Council's management structure.
• Section 106 Agreements: Discussion on policy and procedures.