FPOL06 Capital Assets and Depreciation by Provide Community

Capital Assets and Depreciation

Version: V6

Ratified by: Finance & Investment Committee

Date ratified: 03/04/2024

Job Title of author: Director of Finance

Reviewed by Committee or Expert Group Finance & Investment Committee

Equality Impact Assessed by: Director of Finance

1. Introduction

Maintenance of the capital asset register is the responsibility of the Finance Team. Depreciation charges are payable on capital expenditure.

2. Definitions

Fraud is where any person who dishonestly makes a false representation to make a gain for himself or another or dishonestly fails to disclose to another person, information which he is under a legal duty to disclose, or commits fraud by abuse of position, including any offence as defined in the Fraud Act 2006.

Bribery is the giving or receiving a financial or other advantage in connection with the ‘improper performance’ of trust or a function that is expected to be performed impartially or in good faith. Where the Provide Group is engaged in commercial activity it could be considered guilty of a corporate bribery offence if an employee, agent, subsidiary or any other person acting on its behalf bribes another person intending to obtain or retain business or an advantage in the conduct of business for the Provide Group and it cannot demonstrate that it has adequate procedures in place to prevent such. The adequate procedures that the Provide Group is required to have in place to prevent bribery being committed on their behalf are performed by six principles – proportionate procedures, toplevel commitment, risk assessment, communication (including training), monitoring and review. The Provide Group does not tolerate any bribery on its behalf, even if this might result in a loss of business for it. Criminal liability must be prevented at all times.

3. Counter Fraud

If any member of staff has good reason to suspect a colleague, patient or other person of fraud, bribery and / or corruption, involving the Provide Group, they should report their genuine concerns to the LCFS or Chief Finance Officer immediately. The LCFS will then decide on the next course of action and advise the member of staff accordingly. All calls are dealt with in the strictest of confidence and callers may remain anonymous.

Suspicions of fraud, bribery or corruption should be reported to the Local Counter Fraud Specialists on 01473 945843, Provide Group Chief Finance Officer or NHS Fraud and Corruption Reporting Line via an online reporting form: http://www.reportnhsfraud.nhs.uk/ or telephone 0800 028 4060. Further details including email addresses for those responsible can be found on the Provide Intranet.

Individuals suspected of committing an offence of fraud, bribery or corruption may be subject to criminal and/or disciplinary investigation, which could result in criminal and/or disciplinary action being taken, including prosecution and/or dismissal. For more information, please refer to the Local Anti-Fraud, Bribery and Corruption Policy or to the Provide Counter Fraud intranet page https://www.providecommunityplatform.co.uk/Interact/Pages/Content/Document.aspx?id =2254&SearchId=530713.

4. Identification of Capital Items

Expenditure on items with a value exceeding one year is chargeable to capital. Equipment /works relating to a single project may be grouped and charged to capital where the assets have a life in excess of one year. Queries in respect of definitions should be referred to the Finance Team in the first instance.

The Group may also capitalise costs directly attributable to bringing a capital asset to fruition and condition necessary for it to be capable of operating in the manner intended by management. Recognition of capital costs ceases when the item is in the location and condition necessary for it to be capable of operating in the manner intended by management.

Capital expenditure should not be incurred without first obtaining Finance & Investment Committee approval of the expenditure. The decision on whether or not expenditure is “capital” rather than “revenue” is driven by the nature of the asset – not by whether funding is available. Capital expenditure must be contained within an agreed spending limit and therefore it is essential that capital commitments are not incurred without prior approval.

A capital code should be obtained via the Finance Department and an authorised nonstock requisition should be completed and sent to the Procurement Team to raise an official order. (Capital expenditure is subject to the same requirement to ensure value for money and to obtain competitive quotes or tenders as appropriate). The scheme lead responsible for the capital expenditure should liaise with the Finance Team to agree the depreciable life of the asset or the components of the asset. It is the responsibility of the scheme lead to ensure that asset life estimates are realistic. Any write-off value of assets at disposal will be charged to the scheme leads revenue budget.

The Finance Team will arrange for these items to be entered onto the Capital Asset Register from the assignment of the capital code.

Capital assets must be marked as Group property and items of a portable nature should also be added to local inventories when they are received. Where asset numbers are used to mark the asset, these should be recorded on the inventory and also recorded on the invoice if possible.

Every year a complete asset register will be provided by the Finance Team for verification/certification. The register should be reviewed annually and at least a sample of the assets physically checked to verify that they are still in the ownership of the Group This review is the responsibility of the Chief Finance Officer. The review will include a reconciliation of the asset register with the Balance Sheet.

Each year, the manager responsible for an inventory should ensure a review of items for condition, title and safekeeping and the inventory appropriately annotated.

5. Depreciation

Depreciation charges are processed in accordance with asset value and estimated life.

Depreciation charges will be calculated and applied by the Finance Team.

6. Asset Planning

The Finance & Investment Committee receives business cases for capital investment on an annual basis and makes recommendations to the Board regarding the scale and nature of the Capital programme.

7. Disposal of Assets

All disposals should follow the relevant procedures in respect of Condemning & Disposal of Unserviceable, Obsolete or Surplus Goods and Equipment. There are particular requirements in the procedure note relating to the disposal of capital assets in order to ensure that the Capital Asset Register is updated. Where appropriate, the local inventory should also be updated.

EQUALITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT TEMPLATE: Stage 1: ‘Screening’

Name of project/policy/strategy (hereafter referred to as “initiative”):

Capital Assets and Depreciation

Provide a brief summary (bullet points) of the aims of the initiative and main activities:

Guidance on how to account for Capital Assets and depreciation.

Project/Policy Manager: Director of Finance

Date: March 2024

This stage establishes whether a proposed initiative will have an impact from an equality perspective on any particular group of people or community – i.e. on the grounds of race (incl. religion/faith), gender (incl. sexual orientation), age, disability, or whether it is “equality neutral” (i.e. have no effect either positive or negative). In the case of gender, consider whether men and women are affected differently.

Q1. Who will benefit from this initiative? Is there likely to be a positive impact on specific groups/communities (whether or not they are the intended beneficiaries), and if so, how? Or is it clear at this stage that it will be equality “neutral”? i.e. will have no particular effect on any group.

Neutral

Q2. Is there likely to be an adverse impact on one or more minority/under-represented or community groups as a result of this initiative? If so, who may be affected and why? Or is it clear at this stage that it will be equality “neutral”?

Neutral

Q3. Is the impact of the initiative – whether positive or negative - significant enough to warrant a more detailed assessment (Stage 2 – see guidance)? If not, will there be monitoring and review to assess the impact over a period time? Briefly (bullet points) give reasons for your answer and any steps you are taking to address particular issues, including any consultation with staff or external groups/agencies.

Guidelines: Things to consider

Equality impact assessments at Provide take account of relevant equality legislation and include age, (i.e. young and old,); race and ethnicity, gender, disability, religion and faith, and sexual orientation.

The initiative may have a positive, negative or neutral impact, i.e. have no particular effect on the group/community.

Where a negative (i.e. adverse) impact is identified, it may be appropriate to make a more detailed EIA (see Stage 2), or, as important, take early action to redress this – e.g. by abandoning or modifying the initiative. NB: If the initiative contravenes equality legislation, it must be abandoned or modified.

Where an initiative has a positive impact on groups/community relations, the EIA should make this explicit, to enable the outcomes to be monitored over its lifespan.

Where there is a positive impact on particular groups does this mean there could be an adverse impact on others, and if so can this be justified? - e.g. are there other existing or planned initiatives which redress this?

It may not be possible to provide detailed answers to some of these questions at the start of the initiative. The EIA may identify a lack of relevant data, and that data-gathering is a specific action required to inform the initiative as it develops, and also to form part of a continuing evaluation and review process.

It is envisaged that it will be relatively rare for full impact assessments to be carried out at Provide. Usually, where there are particular problems identified in the screening stage, it is envisaged that the approach will be amended at this stage, and/or setting up a monitoring/evaluation system to review a policy’s impact over time.