Agenda item

To amend the Council’s Constitution to reflect the new role responsibilities of Assistant Deputy Executive Leader following the approval of a Special Responsibility Allowance for this role at Council on 29th March 2023.

At 7:01pm, Councillor J A Gray, took his seat at the meeting.

Councillor S J Conboy, Executive Leader of the Council, was in attendance for this item.

With the aid of a report prepared by the Elections and Democratic Services Manager (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) the Committee gave consideration to a request to amend the Council’s Constitution to reflect the new role responsibilities of Assistant Deputy Executive Leader following the approval of a Special Responsibility Allowance for this role at Council on 29th March 2023.

The Elections and Democratic Services Manager drew the Committee’s attention to Appendix A which outlined a proposed role description and Appendix B which outlined the changes required to be made to Article 7 of the Council’s Constitution. Councillor R J West expressed views which he had previously raised at the Council meeting on 29th March 2023 that he did not support the inclusion of the role within the Constitution or the approval of the Special Responsibility Allowance for it. The Chair reminded the Committee that the allowance had already been approved and that the purpose of the report would be to include the role within the Constitution.

Councillor P Kadewere expressed his support for the proposals stating that it would enable the Joint Administration to work effectively across parties.

Councillor J A Gray echoed the views of Councillor R J West and made comment that the Independent Remuneration Panel, tasked with undertaking the review of Member Allowances, had not spoken to him as Leader of the Opposition about the creation of the Assistant Deputy Executive Leader role which was deemed to be poor. Furthermore, he commented that the proposals would come at a cost to the taxpayer and that this was not demonstrating the best use of taxpayer’s money. Councillor T D Sanderson responded by informing the Committee that the Joint Administration had decided not to appoint to the maximum number of Cabinet Members and had also decided against the use of Cabinet Assistants. He also made reference to the decision which had been made by the previous administration to supplement the work of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority and concluded by reiterating his support for the proposals.

On being put to the vote, the Committee

RESOLVED

(a)  to endorse the variation to Article 7 of the Council’s Constitution as outlined in Appendix B of the report now submitted; and

(b)  to recommend to Council that the necessary variation be made to the Council’s Constitution.

Prior to moving on to the next item, Councillor J A Gray raised previous requests to undertake a full review of the Council’s Constitution, in particular the need to add reference to the Shadow Cabinet. The Elections and Democratic Services Manager reminded Members that it was within the Committee’s gift to receive such a report at a future meeting and undertook to take this forward in conjunction with the Managing Director (Interim) outside of the meeting. In response to a question raised by Councillor T D Sanderson, Councillor J A Gray confirmed that clarity was needed around principles such as time and access to Officers, the role of Shadow Cabinet Members and other general rules of engagement.