§ "E. Without prejudice to section 109 above, every local authority shall make arrangements for the proper administration of their financial affairs and shall secure that one of their officers has responsibility for the administration of those affairs."
§ Mr. SpeedI beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.
This Clause has been tabled in response to strong representations made by the Institute of Municipal Treasurers and Accountants who were concerned that the Bill did not do enough to secure and maintain the financial integrity of local government. I understand that the Clause is generally acceptable to the Institute. It did not go as far as the institute would have liked because it would have liked the statutory post of treasurer to have been retained. As the House knows, this would have conflicted with the view that we have taken that each authority should be able to adopt a management structure most likely in its view to meet its needs. We have not gone as far as that but this is an improvement which will meet the needs of people professionally engaged in local government.
§ Question put and agreed to.