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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
RESOLVED (a) That Council be recommended to approve the amendments to the Constitution as set out in Appendix B of the report. (b) That Council be recommended to approve that where the words ‘Head of Legal and Democratic Services’ appear in the Constitution, that they be amended to ‘Head of Law and Governance’. (c) That Council be recommended to approve that where the words ‘Head of Paid Service’ appear in the Constitution, that they be amended to the ‘Chief Executive’.
RESOLVED (a) That Sections 1 to 8 be approved for adoption by Council when the review is completed, subject to any small changes being made in respect of typographical errors, errors in referencing and formal formatting, and subject to the following: (i) Addition of the definition of an Executive Group for Overview and Scrutiny Committee purposes and for other purposes. (ii) Addition of a clickable hyperlink to the UK Government’s Legislation Website or a footnote to references to the law and statute. (iii)4.11.2 – Extraordinary Meetings - cross reference to Notice of Motion of no confidence in Leader (4.19.3). (iv)4.18.7 (d) – Rejection of Members’ questions - Refer back to the Constitutional Review Working Group for further consideration. (v) 4.23.6 – Voting on Appointments - Refer back to the Constitutional Review Working Group for further consideration. (b) That Council be recommended to approve Section 22 - the Protocol on Member/Officer Relations in May 2023 for adoption and inclusion in the current Constitution.
There were no declarations of interest received.
Moved by Councillor Jacob Williams; Seconded by Councillor David Howlett The vote, by way of show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Minutes of the Meeting held on 9 December 2022 be approved as a correct record.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED (a) That Council be recommended to approve the amendments to the Constitution as set out in Appendix B of the report. (b) That Council be recommended to approve that where the words ‘Head of Legal and Democratic Services’ appear in the Constitution, that they be amended to ‘Head of Law and Governance’. (c) That Council be recommended to approve that where the words ‘Head of Paid Service’ appear in the Constitution, that they be amended to the ‘Chief Executive’.
The Committee considered a report by the Monitoring Officer on changes in delegations as a result of the retirement of the Director of Community Services and the reallocation of his functional portfolio to other Directors in line with the new organisational operating model as approved by Council on 2 March 2023. The details of changes were set out in Appendix B to the report. The Committee noted that the delegations to the Chief Executive, Assistant Chief Executive, Director for Education and Head of Infrastructure would be effective from 12 June 2023; whereas delegations to the Director of Social Services and Housing and Head of Housing and Public Protection would be effective immediately. The Monitoring Officer advised that there was a clause in the Constitution to allow for delegations to follow changes in functional portfolios but that it was important that such matters were properly reflected in the Constitution. The Monitoring Officer further advised that it was necessary to update the current Constitution to reflect the new and separate roles to the Head of Law and Governance and Head of Democratic Services previously allocated to the Head of Legal and Democratic Services; and following changes in the legislation, to replace references to the ‘Head of Paid Service’ with the ‘Chief Executive’. The Chair then Moved the Recommendations as set out in the report; Seconded by Councillor Michael Stoddart. The vote, undertaken by way of a roll-call, was carried. The votes were recorded as follows: For the Motion: Councillors Steve Alderman, Pat Davies, Delme Harries, David Howlett, Paul Miller, Michael Stoddart and Jacob Williams [7]. There were no votes against or abstentions. RESOLVED (a) That Council be recommended to approve the amendments to the Constitution as set out in Appendix B of the report. (b) That Council be recommended to approve that where the words ‘Head of Legal and Democratic Services’ appear in the Constitution, that they be amended to ‘Head of Law and Governance’. (c) That Council be recommended to approve that where the words ‘Head of Paid Service’ appear in the Constitution, that they be amended to the ‘Chief Executive’.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED (a) That Sections 1 to 8 be approved for adoption by Council when the review is completed, subject to any small changes being made in respect of typographical errors, errors in referencing and formal formatting, and subject to the following: (i) Addition of the definition of an Executive Group for Overview and Scrutiny Committee purposes and for other purposes. (ii) Addition of a clickable hyperlink to the UK Government’s Legislation Website or a footnote to references to the law and statute. (iii)4.11.2 – Extraordinary Meetings - cross reference to Notice of Motion of no confidence in Leader (4.19.3). (iv)4.18.7 (d) – Rejection of Members’ questions - Refer back to the Constitutional Review Working Group for further consideration. (v) 4.23.6 – Voting on Appointments - Refer back to the Constitutional Review Working Group for further consideration. (b) That Council be recommended to approve Section 22 - the Protocol on Member/Officer Relations in May 2023 for adoption and inclusion in the current Constitution.
The Committee considered a report by the Monitoring Officer seeking approval of Sections 1 to 8 of the Constitution for adoption by Council; and also the immediate adoption of the new Protocol on Member/Officer Relations to replace the old one at Section 5 of the current Constitution. It was noted that the Working Group had been meeting most weeks to go through the Model Constitution; however, it had become apparent that the process would not be completed in time to present to the May Council meeting. The Monitoring Officer explained that the differences to the current Constitution were highlighted in red text and these were either new items that were not currently in the Council’s Constitution or changes made by the Working Group and these were listed in Appendix B to the report. Changes that were slightly more controversial were highlighted in yellow. Members’ attention was drawn to the changes that were set out in the table in the report. It was further noted that to ensure consistency following cross-referencing of sections, it might be necessary to bring back some sections to the Committee in due course as a consequence. The Committee then took the opportunity to go through the Sections identified in the table and the following key points were raised: · Definition of Executive Groups – Councillor Michael Stoddart suggested that there should be such a definition of an Executive Group(s) for consistency as Opposition Groups were defined. It was noted that the definition should refer to both the purposes of an Executive Group for Overview and Scrutiny Committees and Executive Groups for any other purposes. · Reference to Statutes – The Chair suggested that, where applicable, references should be made to relevant statute and legislation by way of a footnote or a clickable link to the statute on the UK Government’s Legislation website. · 2.6.2 – Change supported. · 3.1.3 – Change supported. · 3.3.1 (b) – Change supported. · 3.3.2 (a) – Change supported. On a point of clarification, the Committee was advised that this paragraph reflected current practice where Members were allowed to participate in the debate during the item of business. · 4.11.1 – Change supported. · 4.11.2 – Extraordinary Meetings - The Chair suggested that this section should be cross-referenced to the exceptions ie Section 4.19.3 (d) - Motion to Remove the Leader. · 4.17.1 (b) – Change supported. · 4.17.5 – Change noted · 4.17.6 - Change supported. · 4.18.3 – Change supported. · 4.18.7 (d) – Questions by Members - Councillor Michael Stoddart suggested that the rejection of questions by Members for the reason of disclosure of exempt or confidential information should be reconsidered on the basis that the question and/or answer could be heard in private session. It was suggested that the matter be referred back to the Working Group for further consideration to look at a method to allow for this. · 4.18.9 – Change supported. · 4.19.3 – Change supported and cross-referencing noted. · 4.23.6 – Voting on Appointments – It was noted that this section reflected the practice adopted for the Annual Meeting in 2022. Members discussed the scenario where an uncontested nominee did not receive a plurality of votes and what would happen in such a case, particularly for posts which required nominations in advance. It was suggested that this be referred back to the Working Group for further consideration of appropriate wording. · 5.4.2 - Change supported. · 5.10.4 - Change supported. · 5.11.6 (f) - Change supported. · 6.2 - Change supported. The Chair suggested that all paragraphs relating to the Leader should be in one section for completeness. · 7.10.2 (d) – Role of the Chair of an Overview and Scrutiny Committees – Clarification was sought on whether this was a statutory provision and requested that it be checked. · 7.19 – Change supported. The Chair then Moved that Sections 1 to 8 be recommended to Council for adoption when the review is completed, subject to the points raised above and any small changes being made in respect of typographical errors, errors in referencing and formal formatting. Seconded by Councillor Steve Alderman. The votes, undertaken by way of a roll-call, were carried. The votes were recorded as follows: For the Motion: Councillors Steve Alderman, Pat Davies, Delme Harries, David Howlett, Paul Miller, Michael Stoddart, Jacob Williams and Aaron Carey [8] There were no votes against or abstentions. The Committee then considered the Protocol on Member/Officer Relations (Section 22). The Monitoring Officer advised that it was recommended that the Protocol be referred to the next meeting of Council for incorporation into the current Constitution. The Committee’s attention was drawn to Section 22.4 – Respect and Courtesy which had been flagged as the Working Group had deleted significant parts and Members were asked to confirm if they were content with the changes. In addition, the Committee’s attention was drawn to Section 22.7.11 – Provision and advice and information to Members, which had been also been amended by the Working Group. The Chair advised that he considered the Protocol was good and would be workable. Councillor Pat Davies Moved that the Recommendation as set out in the report; Seconded by Councillor Steve Alderman. The votes, undertaken by way of a roll-call, were carried. The votes were recorded as follows: For the Motion: Councillors Steve Alderman, Aaron Carey, Pat Davies, Delme Harries, David Howlett, Paul Miller, Michael Stoddart and Jacob Williams [8]. There were no votes against or abstentions. RESOLVED (a) That Sections 1 to 8 be approved for adoption by Council when the review is completed, subject to any small changes being made in respect of typographical errors, errors in referencing and formal formatting, and subject to the following: (i) Addition of the definition of an Executive Group for Overview and Scrutiny Committee purposes and for other purposes. (ii) Addition of a clickable hyperlink to the UK Government’s Legislation Website or a footnote to references to the law and statute. (iii)4.11.2 – Extraordinary Meetings - cross reference to Notice of Motion of no confidence in Leader (4.19.3). (iv)4.18.7 (d) – Rejection of Members’ questions - Refer back to the Constitutional Review Working Group for further consideration. (v) 4.23.6 – Voting on Appointments - Refer back to the Constitutional Review Working Group for further consideration. (b) That Council be recommended to approve Section 22 - the Protocol on Member/Officer Relations in May 2023 for adoption and inclusion in the current Constitution.
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