Finance and Performance Policy Committee

The Finance and Performance Policy Committee comprises 9 members. The following functions are within the remit of Finance and Performance Policy Committee:  

Finance and Commercial Services Legal and Information Governance Policy and Democratic Engagement People and Organisational Culture Transformation ICT and Digital Innovation

  Within its remit the Committee:

Takes decisions on any reserved matter; Is responsible for regular monitoring of data including performance and financial information and for monitoring the performance of services; Is responsible for working within the budget framework agreed by Council, including taking timely action to address any overspend within services; Is responsible for delivery against the Corporate Plan and any associated Annual Plans and reporting performance to Strategy and Resources Policy Committee; Must keep its work programme under review at each meeting; May consider any matters referred by an Area Committee.

  The Committee may refer matters within its own remit (but not matters within the remit of any other Policy Committee) to Full Council only in exceptional circumstances. The Committee may refer matters to Strategy and Resources Policy Committee but to no other Policy Committee. It is responsible for delivery on matters referred by Strategy and Resources Policy Committee and, in the case of cross-cutting issues, for communication, through the Chairs, with any affected Policy Committee.   When devising policy, evaluating service delivery and taking decisions the Committee must consider:

Public engagement in informing its work Equality, diversity and inclusion implications Climate and Bio-diversity

  Matters Reserved to Finance and Performance Policy Committee The Finance and Performance Policy Committee may take decisions in respect of the Performance, Finance and Property matters (but for the avoidance of doubt not those matters which are reserved to the Charity Trustee Sub-Committee) more particularly detailed below.   Performance:

Receiving and considering reviews of Service, Financial and Corporate performance and reports on any performance issue; Referring performance matters to the relevant Policy Committee (notifying Strategy and Resources of all referrals) and escalating significant concerns to Strategy and Resources Policy Committee for consideration.

  Finance:

Monitoring Council budget each quarter; Agreement of Council policies in respect of fees and charges; Agreement upon virements of £500,000 and over or representing a major change of policy (any value) from one division of a Service to another or between Services within Directorates or between Directorates and within the approved budget; Reviewing proposals for the medium term financial plan and the budget prior to their consideration by Strategy and Resources Policy Committee; Responsibility for decisions up to the value of £500,000 on  commitments to funding in future years not covered within the Council’s medium term financial plan; Reserved decisions in relation to grants where they are cross-cutting or do not fall within the remit of another Policy Committee..

  Capital Programme: Subject to decisions being not contrary to the Capital Strategy, agreement of reports on the implementation of the capital programme provided under the Capital Programme Financial Reporting and Control Procedures, including:- (a)      approval of all new schemes; except expenditure relating to feasibility works up to the value of £100,000 in accordance with the Financial Procedure Rules; (b)      approval of a variation to an existing scheme which increases the value of the scheme by more than £100,000; and (c)      acceptance and issue of capital grant funding (and where appropriate associated revenue grant funding) to enable capital scheme implementation.   Property: (a)  Acquisitions of Property where the consideration to be paid by the Council exceeds £250,000, but not including any acquisition of Property that the Council is obliged by law to complete; (b)  Disposals of Property, being of the freehold or leasehold but not including a mortgagee sale or disposal that Council must by law complete such as Right to Buy, lease enfranchisement or easements to certain service providers

Where the Council has been required by Law to publicly advertise the proposed Disposal (e.g. public open space); and one or more objections to the proposed Disposal has been received; Which are not subject to a competitive process where the consideration to be received by the Council exceeds £300,000; For less than the best consideration reasonably obtainable; Which for any statutory or other legal reason need to be decided by a committee, not an officer Which involve the transfer of a freehold interest, the grant of a lease for a term of not less than twenty-five years or the assignment of a lease with a remaining term of not less than twenty-five years AND a relevant councillor or parish/town council has objected

(c)   Appropriation to another purpose of surplus property that has not been identified for disposal by the Finance and Performance Policy Committee.   The Committee may refer matters to Strategy and Resources Policy Committee but (except for performance matters) to no other Policy Committee and is responsible for delivery on matters referred by Strategy and Resources Policy Committee.  

Attending Meetings   Meetings of the Policy Committee have to be held as physical meetings and are open to the public. Meetings are normally held at Sheffield Town Hall.  

If you would like to attend the meeting, please report to an Attendant in the Foyer at the Town Hall where you will be directed to the meeting room.  However, it would be appreciated if you could register to attend, in advance of the meeting, by emailing committee@sheffield.gov.uk, as this will assist with the management of attendance at the meeting.

PLEASE NOTE: The meeting rooms in the Town Hall have a limited capacity. We are unable to guarantee entrance to the meeting room for observers, as priority will be given to registered speakers and those that have registered to attend.

Alternatively, you can observe the meeting remotely by clicking on the ‘view the webcast’ link provided on the meeting page of the website.

Public Questions, Statements and Petitions

The submission deadlines for all Committees can be found here.

Members of the public have the opportunity to present petitions, ask questions and make statements at Policy Committee meetings.

A period of up to 30 minutes is allocated at each ordinary Committee meeting for all questions, statements and petitions. The Chair of the meeting has discretion to order participations in an appropriate way to bring balance and fairness and to ensure a fair representation of the issues and voices heard at our meetings. The order for receiving public participations within the allocated time is:

1. Petitions

2. Questions relating to the agenda of the specific Committee meeting

3. Supplementary questions to written questions relating to the remit of the Committee

4. Statements

There may be situations where some questions and/or statements are not able to be presented in the meeting because time does not allow, or where a Member undertakes to provide a written response. Where this occurs, a written response will be sent to participants within 10 clear working days of the meeting and will be published on the Council website.

The following arrangements apply to all types of question and statements:

Your written question, supplementary question, agenda related question or statement must not exceed 200 words. A question may have multiple linked parts and that will be considered as one question as long as it is within the 200-word limit.

Any pre-amble or introductory remarks must be included in the 200-word limit.

You can have a maximum of two participations in any meeting e.g. a written question and a statement, or an agenda related question and a statement.

All questions and statements must be sent by email to publicquestions@sheffield.gov.uk by the deadlines set out here.  If you do not meet these deadlines, your question or statement will be deferred to the next meeting of the Committee, unless you withdraw your submission. (Details of how we will use and keep your information can be found here).

You have the option to attend the meeting in person, join remotely via hybrid link, request that a nominated person or Council officer read your submission on your behalf or request a written response. Please note, written remit questions will only receive a written response and will not be read out in the meeting.

The arrangements for the different methods of public participation at Policy Committee meetings are as follows:

Written questions relating to the

remit of the Committee:

You must submit your question in writing by 9 a.m., six clear working days before the scheduled meeting. E.g. for meetings held on a Wednesday, a written question will need to be received by 9.00 a.m. on the Monday of the previous week*. The submission deadlines for Committees can be found here.

A response to your written question will be sent to you and published one clear day before the relevant meeting. E.g. for meetings held on a Wednesday, the response will be published on the Monday of that week*. The written question will not be read out at the meeting, so there is no requirement for you to attend the meeting, however you can if you wish to do so.

Supplementary questions:

If you have submitted a written question, you can submit a supplementary question that arises directly from your original written question and/or the response.

You must submit your supplementary question in writing by 9 a.m. on the working day before the relevant meeting. E.g. for meetings held on a Wednesday, a supplementary question will need to be received by 9.00 a.m. on the Tuesday of that week*.

The submission deadlines for Committees can be found here.

The Chair may respond verbally in the meeting, however, if this is not possible due to lead times, you will receive a response within 10 clear working days.

Questions relating to the published agenda for the specific Committee meeting:

You must submit your question in writing by 9 a.m., two clear working days before the scheduled meeting. E.g. for meetings held on a Wednesday, an agenda related question will need to be received by 9.00 a.m. on the Friday of the previous week*.  The submission deadlines for Committees can be found here.

The Chair may respond verbally in the meeting, however, if this is not possible due to lead times, you will receive a response within 10 clear working days.

Statements:

Statements relevant to the remit of the Committee must be received in writing by 9 a.m., six clear working days before the scheduled meeting. E.g. for meetings held on a Wednesday, a written question will need to be received by 9.00 a.m. on the Monday of the previous week*.

Statements relevant to items on the published agenda for the specific Committee meeting must be received in writing by 9 a.m., two clear working days before the scheduled meeting. E.g. for meetings held on a Wednesday, an agenda related question will need to be received by 9.00 a.m. on the Friday of the previous week*.

The submission deadlines for Committees can be found here.

All statements will be published online the working day before the relevant meeting and circulated to all Members of the Committee. 

Statements can be read out at the relevant meeting (if time allows) and there is no commitment from the Chair to respond.

Petitions:

You must submit your petition in writing by 9.00 a.m. at least 2 working days in advance of the date of the meeting, by email to committee@sheffield.gov.uk or via the e-petition facility on the Council’s website.

The submission deadlines for Committees can be found here.

You can present your petition at the meeting, either in person or remotely, and will be given up to three minutes to do this.  If you are not able to attend the meeting, brief details of the petition will be reported to the meeting, or you can submit a statement (maximum of 200 words) to be read out on your behalf.

A verbal response by the appropriate Member may be provided in the meeting, however, if this is not possible due to lead times, you will receive a response within 10 clear working days.

Please note that petitions, questions or statements will not be permitted if they relate to:-

judicial or quasi-judicial matters;

individual planning/licence/grant applications or appeals;

identifiable officers or Members of the Council;

confidential matters of the type referred to in Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972;

matters which are repetitious, including questions which are substantially the same as questions asked at other meetings of the Council or Committees within the previous six months; or

matters of an irrelevant, defamatory, frivolous or offensive nature or a general misuse of the opportunity.

• subject to there being no bank holidays, these are not included when calculating clear working days.

Recording of Meetings

Please note that meetings of the Committee will be filmed for live or subsequent broadcast via the Council’s website. Recording is also allowed at Policy Committee meetings under the direction of the Chair of the meeting. The Protocol For Webcasting, Filming And Recording Of Sheffield City Council Meetings provides further information.