Issue - meetings

This report sets out the progress made on implementing the decisions of the Council on 14^th September 2017 relating to the governance arrangements for local authority trading companies.

The Council considered a report setting out the progress made on implementing the decisions of Council on 14^th September 2017 relating to the governance arrangements for local authority trading companies.

Councillor Sarah Bevan, as Chair of the Resources Policy Development & Scrutiny Panel, informed Councillors of her Panel’s recommendations when they considered this item earlier in the week.  Those recommendations were incorporated into the resolution below.

On a motion from Councillor Tim Warren, seconded by Councillor Charles Gerrish, it was

RESOLVED to approve the proposed amendments to the Protocol for governance arrangements of local authority trading companies and the consequent Constitution changes, as set out in the report and summarised in paragraph 5.2, with the addition of the following further recommendations from Resources Policy Development & Scrutiny Panel;

1.  With regard to the Group Leaders Briefing (Appendix E, page 215 of the agenda pack),

  i.  the Group Leaders may hold a separate briefing to discuss such matters if they wish (separate from their standard meetings which can be time pressured) and may send an appropriate substitute from their group;

  ii.  Minutes should be taken at the above briefings;

  iii.  Group Leaders (or their substitutes) can ask that their concerns (or dissent) are noted in the minutes; and

2.  The proposals for Scrutiny should be reviewed early in the new administration (after May 2019, but before November 2019).

[Notes:

1.  The above resolution was carried with 52 Councillors voting in favour and 2 Councillors abstaining.]

A report on ‘Council Company Governance Update’ is attached. There will also be a presentation at the meeting.

Please note this report is also on the agenda for the 8^th November Council meeting. 

Maria Lucas, Director of Legal and Democratic Services, gave a presentation to the Panel on ‘Company Governance’ which covered the following points:

·  Overview

·  Background

·  Recommendations from EY

·  Protocol on Company Governance

·  Group Structure

·  2017 Council Report resolutions

·  Report for Council

·  Scrutiny

Panel members asked the following questions and made the following points:

Councillor Samuel asked if Group Leaders (referred to in Appendix E) would be able to share information from their meeting with the group. He explained that this could cause a disconnect between Groups Leaders and their group which was not acceptable. The officer explained there would be a duty of confidentiality and that information on decisions could be accessed by members of the group via the weekly list which the Group Leader could draw attention to. Councillor Gerrish, Cabinet Member for Finance and Efficiency, explained that he understood the concern but that a balance must be sought as this would be potentially commercially sensitive information so details could not be widely shared.

Councillor Rayment stated that he wanted to see more robust scrutiny and suggested that the Group Leaders meeting be replaced with this Panel or a duplicate as Group Leaders may not be the right people to scrutinise proposals. The Panel includes opposition members and back bench members. The officer responded that the report presents a working model and all authorities are learning on this issue. She explained that the Panel will have 6 monthly performance reports and could also ask questions through the Weekly List process. Councillor Rayment stated that he wanted pre decision scrutiny.

Councillor O Brien stated that pre decision scrutiny would be logistically difficult to arrange. She stated that she agreed that the Group Leaders may not be the best people to scrutinize but that she was reassured that the 151 officer and Monitoring Officer would also be there to advise. She suggested that confidential minutes should be taken and that the Panel should see reports every 3 months rather than every 6 months.

Councillor Gerrish, Cabinet Member for Finance and Efficiency, explained that there would be occasions where the Panel could consider a business case of a proposal and this would be in the cases where ADL also had a planning application to be considered. A planning application can take 6-8 weeks so a meeting of this Panel could be called to consider the business case. He did add that where ADL want to acquire a site not in the Council ownership and a rapid decision is needed, this would have to be done under the urgent process. Councillor Davis agreed that this is a good way forward.

Councillor Becker stated that he had strong misgivings about a Panel discussing commercial issues as the item may become political. Councillor Gerrish explained that the difference between this Council and others is that the Council own ADL and provide funding which is public money so it would be right for the Council to take an interest in how the Company operates. Councillor Gerrish stated  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31