Agenda item

The report summarises the issues considered by the Constitution Review Working Group and sets out a series of recommendations arising from the Working Group for consideration by the Committee.

Any recommendations arising from the Committee shall be referred to full Council for adoption.

The Head of Democratic Services presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'C' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The report summarised the issues considered by the Constitution Review Working Group and set out a series of recommendations arising from the Working Group for consideration by the Committee.

To assist the Committee in identifying the proposed changes, an attached appendix displayed the alterations and additions as track changes in red with text shown in blue identifying consequential formatting changes which did not require consideration by the Committee.

Any recommendations arising from the Committee would be referred to full Council for consideration and adoption.

RECOMMENDED that:-

(a)        in relation to Issue 1 (Powers of Head of Paid Service in relation to contracted workers), no changes be made to the Constitution;

(b)       in relation to Issue 2 (Standing to speak at Council and associated etiquette), the proposed amendments to the existing Procedure Rule 13.4 (page 4-49) and the insertion of a new Procedure Rule 6 (Duration of meetings) (page 4-37), be approved;

(c)        in relation to Issue 3 (Process for interpretation of Procedure Rules), the proposed amendments to the existing Procedure Rule 21 (page 4-54), be approved;

(d)       in relation to Issue 4 (Questions by Councillors at Council Meetings), the proposed amendments to the existing Procedure Rules 11.7 (page 4-42) and 13.5 (page 4-49), be approved;

(e)        in relation to Issue 5 (Arrangements for voting from the public gallery), no changes be made to the Constitution;

(f)         in relation to Issue 6 (Categories of officers falling within the definition of senior officers), the proposed amendments to the terms of reference for the Appeals Committee and the Investigation and Disciplinary Committee (pages 3-19 and 3-19), be approved;

(g)       in relation to Issue 7 (Thresholds/Levels of Financial Delegation), no changes be made to the Constitution;

(h)       in relation to Issue 8 (Public participation – Public Questions, Statements and Petitions), the proposed amendments to the existing Procedure Rules 12 (pages 4-42 to 4-48), be approved, subject to:-

a.      the exclusion of the proposed new rule 13.4.9 (page 4-43);

b.      the exclusion of the proposed new rule 13.5.6 (page 4-44);

c.      the exclusion of the proposed new rule 13.5.7 (page 4-45);

d.      the exclusion of the proposed changes to existing rule 12.5.6 (page 4-45);

e.      the 100 word limit referred to in existing rules 12.4.4 (page 4-43) and 12.5.4 (page 4-44) being amended to read 120;

(i)          in relation to Issue 9 (Access to documents – Overview and Scrutiny Committees), the proposed amendment to the existing Procedure Rules 24.3 (page 4-17), be approved;

(j)          in relation to Issue 10 (Prevent Channel – Statutory functions), the proposed amendment to Part 2, Article 12 (Decision Making) (page 2-25), be approved;

(k)        in relation to Issue 11 (Co-opted and other non-Councillor members of Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee), the proposed insertion of paragraph 6.7.3 to Part 2, Article 6 (page 2-14) and Part 3A, paragraph 4.5 (page 3-13), be approved;

(l)          in relation to Issue 12 (Planning process governance issues), no changes be made to the Constitution;

(m)      in relation to Issue 13 (Voting by Councillors), the proposed insertion of paragraph 18.1 to existing Procedure Rule 17 (page 4-53), be approved;

(n)       in relation to Issue 14 (Attendance of Councillors at meetings), no changes be made to the Constitution;

(o)       in relation to Issue 15 (Lead Members on Scrutiny), Part 2, Article 6 (Overview and Scrutiny), paragraph 6.4.2 (page 2-13) be amended to read:-

“Lead Members of the Cabinet may not be a member of Overview and Scrutiny Committees.”

(Voting in respect of item (o) only: For – 4; Against – 0; Abstain – 3)

(p)       in relation to Issue 16 (Eligibility for election of office), the proposed insertion of paragraphs 2.5 and 2.5 to existing Procedure Rule 2 (pages 4-36 and 4-37), be approved;

(q)       in relation to Issue 17 (Planning Committee Delegations), the proposed insertion to Part 3A, paragraph 2.4 (page 3-9), be approved;

(r)         any necessary and consequential technical and formatting related updates and revisions to the Constitution be made by the Monitoring Officer in accordance with powers delegated.

Voting: Except as indicated above, voting was unanimous.