Agenda item

Report of the Borough Solicitor and Monitoring Officer

The Cabinet Member Corporate Services firstly apologised for the late publication of the report and appendices, which were circulated to Members on Friday (23 March).  With hindsight he felt that the review should have commenced at an earlier stage as it took longer than originally anticipated. 

He took this opportunity to thank the two other Members who had formed part of the Working Group, Councillors Smith and Godwin and the Borough Solicitor & Monitoring Officer and Head of Legal Services for all their hard work. 

Council were being asked to approve the revisions that had been undertaken thus far, though further contextual amendments and formatting as necessary would be delegated to the Borough Solicitor.  It was recognised that there would be further amendments later in the year when the implications for the new conduct regime arising from the Localism Act 2011 had been assessed and material changes would be reported to Council for approval.

He noted that Members would no longer be provided with a hard copy of the entire document, but that the new format would allow for specific sections to be printed and the definitive version would be available on the website. 

In response to queries raised by Members the Cabinet Member Corporate Services explained that;

• There had been a conscious decision to avoid being too prescriptive in relation to the new Overview & Scrutiny Committee.  It was important for the Committee to establish its own working procedures and this would include if, how and when follow-up on recommendations was to be undertaken.
• The wording regarding ‘call in’ would be reviewed and amended as necessary to eliminate any ambiguity.  ‘Call in’ related strictly to the principles of decision making.  At present all non-executive Members were appointed to one of the three Overview & Scrutiny Committees but under the new scrutiny arrangements, only 10 Members would be appointed to the Overview & Scrutiny Committee, so any Member could ‘call in’ a decision.
• Option 2 was Cabinet’s preferred option for the amendment to Motion on Notice.  This would allow Council to decide to refer a Motion to the Cabinet or Committee for consideration, without debate and would allow for more detailed information to be collated which would facilitate an informed debate.

Members expressed the view that it was an important right to be able to raise a Motion for debate at Council and it should only be referred to Cabinet or other Committees as an exception.

The Leader highlighted the deadline for Public and Member questions which had been extended from 10am on the 5^th working day before the day of the meeting to midday on the 4^th working day before the day of the meeting.  This would ensure that both Members and the Public had the opportunity to consider the agenda ahead of the deadline for the submission of questions.

The Monitoring Officer confirmed that the assumption was that the constitution would be reformatted ahead of May, though it could in fact need to be refreshed shortly after May as part of an ongoing process of review.  The Working Group would remain with the addition of two Members, one to be Councillor Sudbury.

Upon a vote it was

RESOLVED that

1. The revised Overview & Scrutiny Rules (Appendix 1) be approved.

2. The revised Indication of Terms of Reference for Overview & Scrutiny Sub-Committee (Appendix 2) be approved.

3. The revised Budget and Policy Framework Rules (Appendix 3) be approved.

4. The revised Part 2 Articles 1-16 (Appendix 5) be approved.

5. The Part 3 Responsibilities for Functions and the Policy Table (Appendix 4) be approved (subject to the Leader approving the Executive Functions set out in Part 3E).

6. The increase in membership of the Audit Committee from 5 to 7 members (paragraph 5.7 of the report) be approved.

7. The Contract Rules (Appendix 6) and the revised Employee Code of Conduct (Appendix 8) be approved.

8. The amendment to Rule 12 of the Council Procedure Rules – Public and Member Questions (paragraph 7.2 and 7.3 of the report) be approved.

9. The amendment of Rule 5 of the Council Procedure Rules – Motions on Notice (option 2 / paragraph 7.4 of the report) “to decide without debate whether to deal with the Motion at the meeting or to refer it to the Cabinet or Committee for consideration, in each case a decision is taken” be approved.

10. That, with the exception of the Contract Rules which will be implemented on 1^st April 2012, the above amendments approved by Council will take effect from the new municipal year in May 2012.

11. The Borough Solicitor, in consultation with the Constitution Review Working Group be delegated authority to;

(i)                 Reformat the Constitution and make any textual or other amendments which are necessary to ensure accuracy and consistency but which do not materially affect the Constitution as approved by Council.

(ii)               Devise a Public Participation Scheme to draw together in one Appendix to the Constitution, the various ways in which the public may participate in Council business.

CARRIED with 1 Abstention.