Issue - meetings

Timing of Council Meetings

Meeting: 08/03/2016 - Cabinet (Item 159)

159 Timing of Council Meetings PDF 101 KB

To make recommendations to the Council about the timing of future Council meetings.

Decision:

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL

(1) That the proposed changes to Council meetings as listed in paragraph 5.3(a) and (b) be approved.

(2) That, as there was no clear majority for changing the time of Council, that the Council considers either:

(a) A morning start time of 11:00am (with briefing sessions starting at 9:30am); or

(b) An afternoon start time. If the majority of Members vote for an afternoon meeting they will subsequently be asked to vote on either:

i. A 2:00pm start time (with briefing sessions starting at 12:30pm); or

ii. A 2:30pm start time (with briefing sessions starting at 1:00pm).

RESOLVED

That, subject to approval of (1) above, Councillors Apel, Lintill, Ridd and Tull be appointed to the Task and Finish Group on the Constitution.

Minutes:

The Cabinet considered the report circulated with the agenda (copy attached to the official minutes).

Mrs Hardwick introduced the report. She reminded the Cabinet that, following members’ disquiet at the length of two successive Council meetings, the Chief Executive had sent an email to members to survey their opinions on the length, frequency and timing of Council meetings. The results of the survey were set out in Appendix 2, and summarised in paragraph 5.3 of the report. These showed a wide spread of opinion. It was, therefore, proposed to put the two most favoured meeting times to the Council for decision. Paragraph 5.3 of the report also set out some other suggested changes to the conduct of meetings, including the establishment of a task and finish group (TFG) under her chairmanship to review the Constitution. She proposed that the other members of the TFG should be Councillors Apel, Lintill, Ridd and Tull.

The Chief Executive corrected recommendation 2.2(a), which should refer to a morning start time of 11.00am. She added that this was a difficult issue as the Council consisted of 48 individuals who all had different circumstances and preferences. The aim was to achieve the best fit, but it would not suit everybody.

The Chairman agreed that the Council ought to choose between the broad options of morning or afternoon meetings and then decide the actual start time. The TFG should review the Constitution to see whether meetings could be streamlined without imperilling backbench councillors’ right to hold the Cabinet to account.

Mr Finch suggested that a 10.30 am start time would best suit members who were in employment. Mrs Hardwick pointed out that the survey showed this was not necessarily the case, and suggested consideration should be given to alternating the start times of the Council meetings, in order to give all councillors the opportunity to participate at some. Mrs Lintill commented that an experiment with alternate start times had been carried out previously, but had not increased attendance. Mrs Keegan asked that the numbers attending Council meetings of different times should be made available to members. The Cabinet decided that the choice before the Council should be kept simple, as too many permutations could lead to confusion.