To consider a report by the Head of Legal and Democratic Services seeking the Panel’s views on proposed changes to the Council’s Constitution.
(Copies of the Scheme of Delegation have been provided to Panel Members only)
Contact:Ms C Deller 388007
Minutes:
(Councillor N J Guyatt, Deputy Executive Leader and Member of the Council’s Programme Group was in attendance for consideration of this item)
With reference to a report by the Head of Legal and Democratic Services (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) the Panel undertook a review of the Council’s Constitution. The Panel were reminded of the procedure for a review in which all Members had been offered the opportunity to submit comments individually on the Constitution and senior managers had also been requested to update the scheme and suggest changes.
The Panel considered a proposal that the monitoring element of the Anti-fraud and Corruption Strategy be transferred from the Corporate Governance Panel to the Overview and Scrutiny Panel. In so doing, the consensus among Members was that the function should remain with the Corporate Governance Panel. Members did support the proposed deletion of the requirement for a report to be submitted to the next meeting where payments of up to £1000 had been approved by the Head of Legal and Democratic Services, after consultation with the Chairman of the Corporate Governance Panel, on the basis that the Panel receives an annual report on complaint outcomes.
In discussing a suggestion to vary the terms of reference of the Corporate Governance Panel and Elections Working Group, Members acknowledged that there was merit in transferring some functions to the Standards Committee. However, the Panel felt that the review of the Constitution should remain with the Corporate Governance Panel given the association with the Codes of Financial Management and Procurement.
With regard to a series of initiatives to enliven Council meetings, Members expressed support for trialling alternative layouts in the Civic Suite but felt that further thought needed to be given to the headline debate, Green Paper, frequency of meetings, Annual State of the District Address, Council Programme group and Reports of the Cabinet, Panels and Committees. In that respect, it was suggested that a working group be established to consider these issues further.
Members’ attention was drawn to proposed changes to the Code of Procurement. It was reported that a further change to the Code would be made to reflect the process of debriefing unsuccessful tenderers. At the same time, the Deputy Executive Leader referred to the proposed changes to the procurement thresholds and reported that he would be seeking the views of the Cabinet on the levels as he felt that they were too prescriptive. In that respect, the Panel requested that the views of the Cabinet be forwarded to the new Working Group for consideration.
Having considered other issues relating to reporting arrangements for the determination of pay awards, the Employees’ Code of Conduct, Member Champions, Motions without Notice, the Code of Financial Management and the Management Structure, the Panel
RESOLVED
that a Working Group comprising of the Executive Leader or Deputy Executive Leader, the Chairman of the Council and Councillors M Baker, E R Butler, K Churchill and G Harlock be established to consider the headline debate, Green Paper, frequency of meetings, Annual State of the District Address, the format and responsibilities of the Council Programme Group, Reports of the Cabinet, Panels and Committees and procurement thresholds.
It was also RECOMMENDED to Council :-
(a) that the requirement for a report to be submitted to an ensuing meeting following payment of up to £1,000 in compensation in settlement of a complaint be deleted from the Corporate Governance Panel’s Scheme of Delegation;
(b) that the following functions be transferred from the Corporate Governance Panel to the Standards Committee:-
(i) determination of the Council’s Customer Feedback Procedure, monitoring compliance with the procedure, compensatory payments to complainants and formulation of recommendations to the Cabinet or Council on any action to be taken as a consequence; and
(ii) consideration of reports by the Local Government Ombudsman, approval of compensatory payments to complainants and formulation of recommendations to the Cabinet or Council or any remedial action to be taken as a consequence.
(c) that the following matters relating to electoral arrangements be transferred from the Elections Working Group to the Standards Committee:-
(i) review of the District and Parish electoral arrangements including boundaries;
(ii) matters relating to the powers of a Parish Council, number of Parish Councillors and new Parish Councils and Parish Wards;
(iii) District and District Ward boundaries arising from any review; and
(iv) the periodic electoral review.
(d) that with regard to the Employment Panel’s Terms of Reference:-
(i) the third bullet point on page 70 of the Constitution be amended such that the words “report” be deleted so the function would read –
to make recommendations in relation to employment and workforce practices within the Council.
(ii) that paragraph (iii) of the authority delegated to the Head of Paid Service be amended to enable the postholder to “negotiate, determine and implement local pay awards etc….”
(iii) that the following function remain the responsibility of the Corporate Governance Panel:-
“to monitor and advise the Council on the adoption, revision, content and operation of its Code of Conduct for Officers (Employee Handbook) in the light of best practice, changes in law and guidance”
(e) that the practice of using Member Champions be re-established formally, that they be appointed by the Executive Leader when the need arises and listed for clarity and convenience in Part 3 of the Constitution.
(f) that with regard to the Council’s Procedure Rules:-
(i) the following paragraph on Motions without Notice be inserted after (h) (paragraph 10, page 196) –
“in the case of proposed amendments to recommendations on draft or final budgets, Leaders of the Opposition Groups shall seek the advice of the Responsible Financial Officer at least 2 working days prior to the meeting to enable the implications of the proposed amendment to be reviewed and calculated for presentation to the Council”
(ii) the following paragraph on the recording of votes at budget meetings be added to Section 14:-
“14.7 – when the vote is taken at a budget decision meeting of the Council, there must be recorded in the Minutes of the meeting, the names of the Members who cast a vote for or against the Motion or who had abstained from voting.”
(g) that the Code of Financial Management be adopted;
(h) that, subject to the inclusion of the following sentence under paragraph 13.1, the Code of Procurement be adopted:-
“unsuccessful tenderers shall be advised in writing of the winning supplier, the value of the contract awarded and the strengths and weaknesses of their tender…” ; and
(i) that the Head of Legal and Democratic Services be authorised to make such amendments as necessary to Part 7 of the Constitution to reflect the new management and organisational structure of the Council.
Supporting documents: