FINANCE GUIDANCE NOTE 2008-04
SPFM AMENDMENTS
The purpose of this note is to announce recent substantive amendments to the Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM). The amendments are as follows:
- the section on Insurance has been updated to clarify that any office-holders or individual board members (including independent external members of board committees) appointed by the Scottish Ministers who have acted honestly and in good faith should not have to meet out of their own personal resources any personal civil liability which is incurred in the execution or purported execution of their functions, save where the person has acted recklessly.
- the Internal Control Checklist - Annex 2 of the section on Certificates of Assurance - has been recast and revised. It now includes specific questions on information risk and on processes for dealing with breaches of security / data handling incidents.
- the proforma in the Annex to the section on the Statement on Internal Control now includes a requirement for an explicit description of how risks to information are being managed and controlled as part of the risk management process.
- the section on Expenditure and Payments has been updated to take account of the Scottish Government target for the payment of invoices within 10 working days of their receipt.
- the section on the Scottish Parliament Public Audit Committee has been updated to reflect changes to the Committee's title and remit and to better reflect the Committee's current working practices. Specific guidance has been added on the form and content of written evidence provided to the Committee.
Other sections of the SPFM that have been reviewed and updated recently, without substantive amendment, are as follows:
Procurement
Checking Financial Transactions
Scottish Government Finance Directorate
December 2008