Agenda item

The Monitoring Officer to submit a report (following approval of the Council’s new governance arrangements at the Extraordinary Meeting of the Council held on 21 November 2018).  The Committee is requested to consider the new structure for the Constitution, which includes 7 chapters named according to their document contents and to consider the first batch of documents, which will populate the chapters of the Constitution, as listed at Appendix B, before being referred to the Council for adoption.

The Monitoring Officer

(a)  submitted a report (copies of which had previously been circulated to Members), requesting the Committee to consider the new structure for the Constitution and the first batch of documents, which would populate the chapters of the Constitution before being referred to Council for adoption;

(b)  asked Members to continue to provide comments on the documents up to and following on from the Council meeting on 13 February, as it was important to ensure Member ownership and that the Constitution was fit for purpose.  The comments already received were being collated and  comments from the Governance Development Group had already been incorporated into the documents;

(c)  provided an overview of the documents highlighting the

             i.       Introduction, Summary and Explanation, as detailed at Appendix B1 of the report.  This document replaced the previous Summary and Articles.  It set out how the Council worked and how it made decisions.  The Council was eager to engage with the public and wanted to encourage an understanding of how decisions were made.  This information should give a good introduction and also clarify how to locate documents (hyperlinks would be introduced within the Constitution, which would assist online use for Members, officers and the public).

            ii.       Council/Committees Procedure Rules, as detailed at Appendix B4 of the report.  This document contained only basic changes, such as reference to Cabinet instead of Committees.

           iii.       Cabinet Procedure Rules and Scrutiny Procedure Rules, as detailed at Appendices B5 and B6 of the report were a work in progress.  It was anticipated that the function and the procedure rules for each of the different decision making bodies be placed together for ease of reference.  These documents would be submitted to the next Governance Committee meeting, rather than to the next Council meeting.

           iv.       Scrutiny and Call In Procedure Rules, as detailed at Appendix B6 of the report.  This document specified the remit of Scrutiny Committee and call in arrangements.  Six Members, excluding Cabinet had to call in a decision, in order for it to be examined by Scrutiny. It was important to note that the Council had proposed its Key Decisions relate to a likely expenditure, saving or income of £50k or more and/or have a significant impact on two or more wards in the Borough.  The £50k was a discretionary amount and the Council’s benchmarking throughout Leicestershire revealed £50k was appropriate for a council of this size.

            v.       Substitute Procedure Rules, as detailed at Appendix B8 of the report.  It was proposed that substitute requirements only apply to Planning, Licensing and Regulatory Committees.  A pool of six properly trained Members, would attend these Committees on a regular basis and have current knowledge to understand the Committees and make well informed decisions.

           vi.       Access to Information Rules, as detailed at Appendix B9 of the report.  This document had been updated to reflect best practice and to meet the Council’s needs relating to how Members and the public accessed information and how the information was used in decision making.

         vii.       Employment Procedure Rules, as detailed at Appendix B10 of the report.  This document had been slightly updated to reflect best practice and current operational requirements.

A Member asked if training for Members of the Scrutiny Committee would be delivered soon after the forthcoming May election.  The Director for Legal and Democratic Services confirmed that all Members needed to be trained within three months of the first Committee meeting.  It was proposed that mandatory training (equalities, data protection etc) be undertaken immediately and initial basic training for Committee meetings such as Scrutiny Committee would be undertaken before the first meeting.  Indepth Member development would follow.

A Member highlighted a typing error at paragraph 9.5 of Appendix B4 and the Director for Legal and Democratic Services confirmed she would correct this.

A Member commented that the amendments suggested by the Director for Legal and Democratic Services to make the Constitution more user-friendly were a huge improvement and would make the document more accessible.

There was a discussion on Members attending meetings as observers.  It was felt that they should not be excluded from any Committee meeting, including during the discussion of exempt items.  The importance of respecting and adhering to the principles of confidentiality was highlighted.  The Director for Legal and Democratic Services agreed that Member inclusion and transparency was of great importance to decision-making.  She added that some exempt information relating to vulnerable people, sensitive employee matters etc may require Members to demonstrate their ‘need to know’ for data protection reasons. 

A Member asked for clarification on the reference to the Party Whip at paragraph 12 of Appendix B6.  The Director for Legal and Democratic Services advised that Members of Scrutiny Committee should not be subject to a party whip and it was important to include the information as a fail safe.

A Member queried when Members would be able to access the completed version of the Constitution and the Director for Legal and Democratic Services advised that the document would be submitted to Council on 17 April for approval and would be adopted by Council at its annual general meeting on 7 May.  It was anticipated that Members would have access before the May election but the document would not be in use until the annual meeting.

A Member acknowledged that the Council was moving towards a paperless system, commenting that they hoped that hard copies of the Constitution would be available for Members and the public.

There being no further comments or questions from Members, Councillor Simpson moved the recommendation and Councillor Faulkner seconded.

RESOLVED that the comments provided by Members on the proposed structure of the Constitution be submitted to Council.