Agenda item

The Director for Legal & Democratic Services to submit a report which

 

(1)  informs members of the Independent Remuneration Panel’s recommendations contained within a report and to seek approval of the recommended changes to Special Responsibility Allowances; and

 

(2)  asks members to note any changes will be incorporated into the Member Allowances Scheme which forms part of the Council’s Constitution.

The Mayor welcomed Mr John Cade, Chair of the Welland Independent Remuneration Panel and invited him to present the panel’s report on the Member Allowances Scheme for 2019/20 following approval of the Council’s new governance arrangements. 

 

Mr. Cade explained that

 

(a)  as legally required the panel was  convened to consider any changes to the Member Allowances Scheme mainly relating to the Special Responsibility Allowances for those Members who would hold a position within the new governance structure but they also considered comments from 4 other Councillors.  The panel met on 9 January and invited the Leader, Chief Executive and Director for Legal and Democratic Services to present their views. He thanked the Director for Legal and Democratic Services and the Senior Democracy Officer for their support;

 

(b)  the timing of the new arrangements gave the panel some certainties for instance that a Scrutiny Committee Chair was needed to be in place.  However some other areas of responsibility were still being worked through around the roles of the Leader and Cabinet members and how decisions would be made; whether these were by the Cabinet, delegated to Cabinet members or delegated to officers, and these levels of decision-making needed to be in place for the panel to be able to work out the demand and responsibility attributable to each of the different roles;

 

(c)  therefore the panel felt that a follow up review 6 months on from May 2019 eg. January 2020, would allow time for the new arrangements to be embedded and any change proposed at that time to the existing allowances could be backdated to May 2019 if required;

 

(d)  the panel recommended that the Leader and Cabinet members remain at the same rate (Cabinet member to have parity with the existing Chairs) and the Scrutiny Chair and Vice Chair align with the current Chair and Vice Chair allowances;

 

(e)  the panel was pleased to note that scrutiny was to be a key factor of good governance in the new arrangements and this was reflected in the Chair allowance being set at the same level as the  Cabinet member;

 

(f)   the panel felt that the Deputy Leader role did show a clear increase in responsibility in taking on a portfolio as well as the Deputy Leader role and therefore recommended an increase of 1.85 of the basic allowance;

 

(g)  the panel was requested to review the workload of the Planning Committee Chair and this was considered alongside the Chair for Licensing and Regulatory matters and it was felt that the  responsibility levels were similar and therefore no change was recommended however if requested the panel could review this position in January alongside the impact of the Cabinet member responsibility on these areas;

 

(h)  the panel was asked to look at the Chair of the Community Safety Partnership and was subsequently advised that this role would be incorporated into the relevant Cabinet member’s responsibilities therefore this was not pursued.

 

There was concern expressed by a Councillor that planning was a big job in the rural area and the Member was disappointed that there had been no change in the allowance for this role.  Mr Cade responded that the panel recognised the demand and could review the position in January when looking at the Cabinet member role but it was felt there was not a case for an increase at this stage.

 

It was noted that paragraph 3.11 of the report included the word ‘percent’ and this was an administrative error. 

 

The Leader thanked Mr Cade and declared a personal interest in being a friend of one of the panel members.  He explained that the panel’s recommendations should be followed and welcomed the increase to the Deputy Leader allowance.  He was also pleased to see the parity for the Chair of Scrutiny with the Cabinet member and moved the recommendations in the report. 

 

Councillor Freer-Jones seconded the motion

 

On being put to the vote, there were 21 in favour with 1 abstention. 

 

RESOLVED that

 

(1)   the following Special Responsibility Allowances be approved :-

 

Position                          Detail relating to role                     Allowance

per annum

 

Leader of the Council  Role includes Chair of

Cabinet with authority to

take delegated decisions                £12,781

 

Deputy Leader               Role includes Vice Chair of

Cabinet and portfolio with

authority to take delegated

decisions                                           £8,887

 

Cabinet Member           Role includes portfolio

with authority to take

delegated decisions                                    £4,084

 

Chair                               Scrutiny Committee                         £4,084

 

Chairs                             Regulatory Committees                  £4,084

 

Vice Chairs                    Scrutiny and Regulatory                £1,204

Committees                                      

 

(2)  the Member Allowances Scheme be amended to reflect the changes approved at this meeting and be incorporated as part of the Council’s Constitution.

 

(Councillor Lumley left and re-entered the meeting during the preceding item.)

(Mr Cade here left the meeting.)