Agenda item

To consider a report by the Service Director (Resources).

By way of a report from the Corporate Director (Services) (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) the Panel received the revised Constitution.

It was explained to the Panel that it was good practice to regularly review the Council’s Constitution to ensure that it reflected any changes in legislation and continued to meet the Council’s needs in supporting effective governance.  The purpose of the review was to ensure the Constitution remained up to date and fit for purpose.

A Constitution Review Advisory Group was established to support the Monitoring Officer in undertaking the Constitutional review, with external legal advice and guidance from Bevan Brittan.

The Panel was informed that during the review the Council was advised to reconsider the names of its Committees and Panels on the basis that the Local Government Act 1972 provided that delegations were not able to be made to a Panel, only to a Committee or Sub-Committee of the Council or the Cabinet. Therefore the names of those Panels such as Corporate Governance, Development Management and Licensing and Protection would be amended and in future referred to as Committees.  As the Overview and Scrutiny Panels did not have delegated decision making powers the names remained unchanged.

Regarding Part 3 – Responsibility for Functions it was explained that there had been significant changes to the way this information was presented in the Constitution.  However, the Scheme of Delegations had not been amended. 

The revised Constitution included a new Committee Procedure Rules section and all Annexes had been deleted from the Constitution.  These would feature on the Council’s website and Code of Practice guidance materials would be made available in the Members Handbook and used as training materials as appropriate.

In response to a question it was explained that as part of the review it was proposed to disband the Standards Committee and these functions would be incorporated into the Terms of Reference of the Corporate Governance Panel.  Functions relating to the conduct of Members would be considered by a Standards Sub-Committee, which would be a Sub-Committee of Corporate Governance.  Currently the Standards Committee considered customer complaints about the Council, which was a function that would be incorporated within the work of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel (Finance and Performance).

Should a Standards Sub-Committee be required it would be served by a small number of Members from the Corporate Governance Committee.

Subject to approval by Council on 23rd March 2016, the Constitution would include a method of version control where the dates of all future amendments would be included for ease of reference.  A minimal number of paper copies would also be distributed to appropriate Officers, which would ensure any updates were circulated and the versions updated.  The Panel requested that the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of Council also be provided with a copy.  It was noted that training on the new Constitution would be arranged subsequent to the elections in May 2016.

Having endorsed the draft Constitution, the Corporate Governance Panel,

RECOMMENDED

that the Council adopt the revised Constitution.