Issue - meetings

Report of the Chairman of Staff and Support Services Committee – Councillor Jordan

Councillor Jordan, as chair of the Staff and Support Services Committee introduced the report. He thanked the members of the constitution working group. The recommendations in the report were in response to the Action Plans approved by the Council in March 2010. He advised an amendment to recommendation 2. to allow one further meeting of the Staff and Support Services Committee to deal with one outstanding item of business as set out in 3.1 of the report. A further amendment was that the membership of the constitution working group as set out in Appendix 2C, would be increased to five members.

Regarding the Appointments Committee, he had been advised  that with the current political proportionality the committee of 9 members, could be made up of 3 Conservatives, 5 Liberal Democrats and 1 PAB or a 3,6,0 split. He indicated he was happy with a 3,5,1 split and requested Group Leaders to make their nominations on that basis as a matter of urgency given the need to make appointments in the new structure. The chair and vice-chair would be determined at the first meeting of the committee.  He indicated that the group had concluded that it was not necessary to set up a permanent working group to look at staff issues but this could be set up at any time if there proved to be a need.

As a member of the constitution working group, Councillor Smith gave thanks to the Borough Solicitor and the Monitoring Officer for her work.

Upon a vote the recommendations were carried unanimously.

Resolved that Council:

1. Accepts the recommendation of the Constitution Working Group that the Staff and Support Services Committee should be discontinued.
2. Implements recommendation 1 above with effect from the decision of the Council on the 13^th December 2010 subject to the need for one further meeting of the Staff and Support Services Committee.
3. Approves the amendments to the Employee Scheme of Delegation and the membership and functions of the Constitution Working Group set out in Appendix 2 subject to there being up to 5 members on the working group.
4. Approves the setting up of an Appointments Committee with the membership and functions set out in Appendix 3.
5. Approves the revisions to the functions of the JNC Disciplinary Committee and the setting up of a JNC Appeals Committee as set out in Appendix 4.
6. Approves the revised Article 14 of Part 2 of the Council’s Constitution as set out in Appendix 5.
7. Approves the revised Article 13 of Part 2 to the Council’s Constitution as set out in Appendix 6 and revisions to Part 3H of the Constitution as set out in Appendix 7.
8. Approves the amendment to Rule 14 of the Council Procedure Rules (Voting on appointment of statutory officers) as set out in paragraph 5.2.2 of the report at Appendix A.
9. Approves the amendment to Rule 14 of the Council Procedure Rules and to the corresponding Rules in the Cabinet, Committee and Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules (Recording of Number of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13

Sara Freckleton, Borough Solicitor and Monitoring Officer

 The Borough Solicitor and Monitoring Officer introduced the report as circulated.  Members of the Working Group included Councillors Hay, Smith and Godwin, but the Monitoring Officer had compiled the report containing the Working Group’s deliberations and recommendations for consideration by the committee.

The report set out the recommendations of the Constitution Working Group with regards to those parts of the Council Constitution which needed to be reviewed, as per the Council agreed Action Plans. 

The Working Group took a view on the need for the Staff and Support Services Committee (S&SSC) and decided that it’s functions could be delegated to the Appointments Committee, the Chief Executive, Strategic Directors and Assistant Directors as appropriate.  It was also proposed that a Staffing Working Group and a Constitution Working Group would be established to provide members the opportunity to input into staffing and constitutional matters.  These changes were set out in the documents comprising Appendix 2.

The Working Group did not make a specific recommendation as to when these changes should be implemented.  This could be done immediately or, alternatively, in May when the wider constitution review would be finalised.  There were pros and cons to both options and the committee would need to take a view. 

The Appointments Committee was a concept that had been considered by the committee earlier in the year, and,  at the time this related solely to statutory officers.  However, in recognition of the changes consequential to the recommendation regarding the discontinuance of S&SSC,  the Working Group felt that that the functions of the Appointments Committee should be extended to include responsibility for the appointment of the Chief Executive, Strategic Directors and Assistant Directors.  The recommendation of the group was that the Appointments Committee should consist of 9 members, be politically proportionate and to include at least 1 Cabinet Member.

The Group had looked at the current JNC Committee and to ensure that the JNC Conditions of service for Local Authority Chief Executives were reflected, and some minor changes to the functions of the JNC Disciplinary Committee .were recommended as well as the establishment of a JNC Appeals Committee.  

In response to the public interest report, a series of amendments to the Constitution are recommended by the Working Group which are intended to clarify both the role of the Borough Solicitor in conducting litigation on behalf of the Council and also the constraints (financial limits) which apply to the Borough Solicitor and other officers when exercising delegated authority.  The amendments suggested to Articles 14 and 13 were included within Appendices 5 and 6 to the report and the Committee was also asked to approve the amendments to the Part 3H of the Constitution (Employee Delegation Scheme) which had, unfortunately been omitted in error from the recommendation 7 in the report.

The report recommended 2 amendments to the Council Rules of Procedure on voting.  The first was to require that appointments to statutory officer posts be approved by a 2/3rds majority.  The second required that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4