Agenda item

The Council is asked to consider the report and its appendices (attached to the agenda) and the following recommendations made by the Corporate Governance and Audit Committee at its meeting on 10 January 2022:

1.    That any constitutional changes to local meeting practice enabled by future changes in the law are delegated to the Monitoring Officer in Consultation with the Chairmen of Corporate Governance andOverview and Scrutiny Committee.

2.    That Council debate the preferred timing of meetings in November 2022 following the trial of evening meetings to inform Agenda Item 10 the annual committee date setting item for meetings implemented from May 2023.

3.    To createa further panel to provide members with a forum to discuss Housing and Community activity of the Council.

4.    That the Constitution be amended such that political balance be achieved across all four panels (Economic, DPIP, Environment & Housing & Communities)on the same basis as that applied towards all full committees.

5.    That all panels be chaired by a relevant cabinet member.

6.    That Corporate Governance and Audit Committee:

a.    consider and establish new arrangements for questions to the Executive and how to improve visibility and frequency of this section of the Full Council agenda; and

b.    recommend that questions to SLT be held every second meeting of Council as a separate session to that meeting.

7.    That the calendar for Business Routing Panel be amended such that it meets twice annually, and that Panel Chairmen be added to the membership of those meetings.

Cllr Hobbs proposed the recommendations which were seconded by Cllr Brown.

As the Chair of Corporate Governance and Audit Committee and the Chair of the Governance Task and Finish Group Cllr Hobbs then introduced the item.

Cllr Dignum commented that the council’s version of a Hybrid meeting was missing from the report. He added that reports to Full Council should be taken via all party Panels. Cllr Apel added that Overview and Scrutiny Committee should also be included.

Cllr O’Kelly requested clarity of whether the purpose of Panels is to scrutinise or to develop policy. With reference to recommendation 2.6 she drew attention to the Panels being chaired by a Cabinet member and the difficultly she saw for Panel’s then providing a scrutiny role. With reference to recommendation 2.9 she explained that meetings in public should be the default. With reference to recommendation 2.16 she questioned whether 2023 would be too late to review.

Cllr Brown thanked Cllr Hobbs for Chairing the Group and gave his support to the recommendations based on what the Group had achieved. He asked whether it should be mandated for the Chairs of Panels to be Cabinet members.

Cllr Moss noted the progress of the Review following his original Motion to Council.

Cllr Evans with reference to recommendation 2.2 explained that the evening meeting trial could have been agreed for a longer period of time. He noted that approximately 95% of council’s hold evening meetings.

Cllr Bowden requested clarification of what a high level dashboard for members would be. Mrs Shepherd explained that it was an original recommendation to Corporate Governance and Audit Committee and had not been agreed so was not for consideration.

Cllr Oakley explained that when Panels meet in private it often facilitates full and frank discussions. He asked that consideration be given to the capacity of how much could be covered by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. He also asked if the number of ‘Ask SLT’ pre-council sessions could be increased.

Cllr Donna Johnson noted her thanks to Colin Copus for his time spent interviewing her as part of the Governance Review process. She asked that when allocating places on Groups and Panels that consideration be given to members skill sets and that those skill sets be utilised wherever possible. Cllr Sharp agreed.

Cllr Sharp asked if all members could be sent links to join meetings for learning and development purposes.

Cllr Brisbane spoke in support of the Committee System having previous experience as an elected member in a council that ran a Committee System.

Cllr Hobbs thanked Mr Bennett and Mr Ward for their ongoing support with the Review. He explained that meeting timings would always be for debate as there is no one time that suits all.

Cllr Brown in response to the question from Cllr Bowden explained that Mr Bennett had endeavoured to create a guide for members of where information is held.

In a vote the following resolutions were carried:

1. That any constitutional changes to local meeting practice enabled by future changes in the law are delegated to the Monitoring Officer in Consultation with the Chairmen of Corporate Governance and Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
2. That Council debate the preferred timing of meetings in November 2022 following the trial of evening meetings to inform Agenda Item 10 the annual committee date setting item for meetings implemented from May 2023.
3. To create a further panel to provide members with a forum to discuss Housing and Community activity of the Council.
4. That the Constitution be amended such that political balance be achieved across all four panels (Economic, DPIP, Environment & Housing & Communities) on the same basis as that applied towards all full committees.
5. That all panels be chaired by a relevant cabinet member.
6. That Corporate Governance and Audit Committee:
   1. consider and establish new arrangements for questions to the Executive and how to improve visibility and frequency of this section of the Full Council agenda; and
   2. recommend that questions to SLT be held every second meeting of Council as a separate session to that meeting.
7. That the calendar for Business Routing Panel be amended such that it meets twice annually, and that Panel Chairmen be added to the membership of those meetings.