Agenda item

To receive a report from the Monitoring Officer to consider:

 

a)    The Appointment of the Scrutiny Committee and Standing Committees of the Council for the Municipal Year 2020/21.

b)    Approval of the terms of reference and number of voting places on the Scrutiny Committee and Standing Committees of the Council for the Municipal Year 2020/21.

c)    Approval of the political balance calculation.

d)    Approval of the allocation of committee seats to political groups and membership of each committee for the Municipal Year 2020/21.

e)    Election of Chairs and Vice Chairs of Committees for the Municipal Year 2020/21.

 

The Monitoring Officer presented her report which requested that Members  approve the political balance for the Council, elect Chairs and Vice Chairs and appoint Members to committees as well as retain the existing scrutiny arrangements. She explained that the recommendations had been split into 3 groups of recommendations as set out below for Members’ consideration.

 

Recommendations 2.1 and 2.2

Councillor Orson proposed recommendations 2.1 and 2.2 and Councillor Higgins seconded.

 

RESOLVED

 

(1)       To APPOINT the Scrutiny Committee and Standing Committees as set out in paragraph 5 of the report for the Municipal Year 2020/21.

 

(2)       To AGREE the terms of reference and number of voting places on the Scrutiny Committee and Standing Committees as detailed at paragraph 5.1 of the report for the Municipal Year 2020/21.

 

(Unanimous)

 

Recommendations 2.3 and 2.4

Councillor Orson proposed revised recommendations to those in the report as there had been dissent from Members outside of the Conservative Group with regard to the proposal to include the non-aligned Member in the political balance calculation.  As the report clearly set out, there must be unanimity in order to depart from the usual rules on political balance as set out in Section 15 and 16 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 and include non-aligned Members in the calculation. The calculations set out in the report (at paragraph 5.2) represented the status quo and showed the position if all Members agreed that the non-aligned Member was included in the political balance calculation. As he was aware that not all Members were in agreement with this proposal, then the motion in its current version would fail due to lack of unanimous consensus.

 

As a result he presented a revision to the calculations on political balance (paragraph 5.2 of the report) which reflected the statutory calculation regarding political balance, and did not include the non-aligned Member in the calculations and which could be approved through simple majority. He therefore proposed the following revised recommendations :

 

2.3 Approves the political balance calculation set out at revised paragraph 5.2 (as presented to Members at the meeting);

 

2.4 Approves the allocation of committee seats to political groups as set out in revised paragraph 5.2 and notes the membership of each committee as set out in revised Appendix A;

 

As mentioned these recommendations complied with s.15 and s.16 of the 1989 Act and therefore required a simple majority to be carried.

 

Councillor Higgins seconded.

 

RESOLVED

 

(3)       To APPROVE the political balance calculation set out at the revised paragraph 5.2 of the report as follows :

 

Group Name or Non-aligned	No of Cllrs	Percentage across the Council	Allocation of Seats over 4 Committees 38 seats
			Decimal	Rounded no
Conservative	21	77.78%	29.56	30
Opposition	6	22.22%	8.44	8
Totals	27	100%	38 seats	38 seats

 

(4)       To APPROVE the allocation of committee seats to political groups as set out in revised paragraph 5.2 of the report (as shown in the below table) and notes the membership of each committee as set out in revised Appendix A;

 

Group Name or Non-aligned	Audit & Stand-ards	Planning	Scrutiny	Employ-ment	TOTAL
Conservative	8 (7.78)	9 (8.56)	8 (7.78)	5 (5.44)	30
Opposition	2 (2.22)	2 (2.44)	2 (2.22)	2 (1.56)	8
Totals	10	11	10	7	38

 

(27 in favour, 1 abstention)

 

Recommendation 2.5

Councillor Orson proposed recommendation 2.5 and Councillor Higgins seconded.

 

Councillor Evans congratulated the Mayor on his extension in the role and thanked the Leader for his commitment to working together. He advised that he would be abstaining on this motion as he felt the Opposition Group should be represented in the Chairs and Vice Chairs of Committees. 

 

RESOLVED

 

(5)       To APPROVE the appointments of Chairs and Vice Chairs of Committees as set out at Appendix B.

 

(22 in favour, 6 against)