7. Exercising Officer Delegations - Constitution - Chapter 1, The Articles

7.1. The following provisions shall apply to any exercise of a function that has been delegated to an officer by any of the Articles:-

7.1.1. The Chief Executive, the Corporate Directors and the Head of Governance are to be Authorised Officers generally for the purposes of present and future enactments directly controlling or authorising the discharge of the functions of their respective services and directorates and each such Proper Officer or

Authorised Officer be empowered to authorise suitably qualified staff to enter premises or land to take any action in accordance with the statutory functions associated with the duties and work of their respective services and directorates.

7.1.2.  In the event of any such designated Officer not being available to deal with matters for which he has been designated Proper Officer or Authorised Officer, the appropriate senior Officer graded at Management Grade be authorised to act as Proper Officer or Authorised Officer as appropriate.

7.1.3.  All the delegations within this scheme should be interpreted widely to aid the smooth running of the organisation, the effective deployment of resources, the efficient delivery of services and the achievement of the Council’s aims and ambition. For the avoidance of doubt, the following principles will also apply:-

7.1.4.  the delegations included in this Scheme shall include the doing of anything which is calculated to facilitate or is conducive or incidental to the discharge of the power, duty or responsibility;

7.1.5.  in the event of there being an authorised change to the organisational structure by the Chief Executive resulting in a change to the title, role or responsibilities of any officer mentioned in this Scheme, then the Monitoring Officer will make such consequential amendments to the Scheme to take into account that change;

7.1.6.  where any new power is given to the Council which does not fall within this Scheme of Delegation, the exercise of that power shall be undertaken by the relevant Corporate Director or the Chief Executive until such time as the Council has allocated responsibility;

7.1.7.  advice and guidance regarding this Scheme shall be obtained from the Monitoring Officer in the first instance but where there are outstanding queries of interpretation, these will be determined by the Chief Executive; and

7.2.  Where a Corporate Director has been given delegated authority to undertake a function the officer shall have the authority to further authorise that responsibility to another officer within their Directorate or Service. This further authorisation must:- be in writing, dated and signed by the officer delegating the authority; specifically identify the post to which functions have been authorised; specifically identify the functions which have been authorised; and identify any conditions (if any) to which the authorisation is subject.

7.3.  A copy of all authorisations under these provisions must be provided to the Monitoring Officer within five days of being made. Failure to comply with this Article does not invalidate any actions by the duly authorised officer.

7.4.  Where legislation specifically referred to in the Scheme is amended or replaced by new legislation and in the event that the powers contained in the new legislation are substantially the same as those which it replaces then it shall be deemed that the relevant authority delegated in the schedule applies as if the new legislation had been specifically referred to as regards that relevant authority.

7.5.  The Chief Executive shall have all the powers delegated to the Corporate Directors and shall be able to exercise those powers in the place of that Corporate Director. Further, in the event of any dispute or doubt as to the delegated powers of any Corporate Director, the Chief Executive shall have the authority to determine which Corporate Director is to exercise that power.