Agenda item

As agreed at Council, the Monitoring Officer was tasked with refreshing the Constitution.  Assisted by officers from Legal & Democratic Services and a Member working group, this exercise is nearly complete with consensus reached on most points.  However, the working group requested the following 3 issues be brought to full Council for a decision, before subsequent inclusion in the final refreshed version scheduled for the July Council.

The Council considered a report covering three issues highlighted during the Constitution review work on which the Constitution Working group could not agree, for full Council to consider.

Councillor Richard Samuel, in summing up, acknowledged the strength of feeling and suggested the Constitution Working group would look at how it could be ensured that there is no reduction in public access for questions and statements.

On a motion from Councillor Richard Samuel, seconded by Councillor Joel Hirst, it was

RESOLVED to

1.  Agree the use of ‘Chair’ as the default terminology within the revised Constitution and confirms that the principle of allowing individual Chairs of bodies to choose how they wish to be addressed in meetings should remain.

2.  Confirm that there should be no change to the principle which requires the full text of a statement to a Council meeting from a member of the public or a councillor to be submitted in writing by the published deadline for registering this intention.

3.  Agree that the expression of this principle in Part 4 (A) Rule 34 of the Council’s Constitution be clarified, as follows:

“Councillors and members of the Public have the right to put forward petitions and statements at a Council meeting. The submission must be relevant to the Council and/or the Bath & North East Somerset area. All statements (including those supporting a petition) must be submitted in writing (this to include transmission by email) and must be lodged with the Monitoring Officer no later than close of business 2 clear working days before the day of the meeting at which the submission is to be made (e.g. Monday 5pm for a meeting on a Thursday).”

4.  Note that Councillors have no involvement in ‘vetting’ statements in advance of meetings, and that all Councillors on a committee/panel/body to which a statement will be made receive them at the same point before the meeting.

5.  Note that when a statement is received, officers will check that it does not breach the requirements listed in the Constitution, and that if it does so and time permits, they will work with the person to try and enable them to make a statement that complies with the rules.

6.  Note that the rationale for having sight of statements in advance will enable Councillors to have the opportunity to consider the issues raised, in order to respond in a meaningful way and ask pertinent questions: otherwise, Members have little option but to thank the speaker. It also enables the Monitoring Officer or their staff to check that statements comply with the rules above.

7.  Recommend that the Constitution Working Group consider a mechanism by which public speakers can receive a formal response to their statements, within a reasonable time.

8.  Note that Democratic Services will endeavour to assist and support people who are disadvantaged through protected characteristics under the Equalities Act, discussing any specific particular difficulties with someone in this situation and finding ways to overcome those, as they have always done as part of their responsibilities under the Act.

9.  Request that the Monitoring Officer produce guidelines on the acceptable forms for written statements (for example, to clarify whether bullet points are acceptable), and that Council should consider these as part of the Constitution Review report in July 2022; and

10.Confirm that the existing principle of not considering political group motions at the Annual General meeting of Council is intended to cover the Annual General Meeting in any form, and therefore should not be compromised by holding an ordinary meeting following the Annual General Meeting.

[Notes:

1.  The above resolution was carried on a split vote as set out below;

Resolution 1    - Unanimous

Resolutions 2–9   - Councillors in favour – 33, Councillors against - 16

Resolution 10    - Councillors in favour – 42, Councillors abstaining - 7.

2.  During debate, an amendment had been moved by Councillor Robin Moss and seconded by Councillor Vic Pritchard to delete recommendations 2 – 9 and replace with the words “There is no requirement for any written copy to be provided prior to addressing council meetings”.  This was lost on a named vote;

Councillors in favour; Councillors Vic Clarke, Chris Dando, Sally Davis, Michael Evans, Liz Hardman, Eleanor Jackson, Grant Johnson, Yukteshwar Kumar, Paul May, Robin Moss, Paul Myers, Lisa O’Brien, June Player, Vic Pritchard, Brian Simmons, Karen Warrington, Joanna Wright.

Councillors against; Councillors Rob Appleyard, Sarah Bevan, Colin Blackburn, Alison Born, Shelley Bromley, Neil Butters, Sue Craig, Paul Crossley, Jess David, Tom Davies, Winston Duguid, Mark Elliott, Andy Furse, Kevin Guy, Joel Hirst, Lucy Hodge, Duncan Hounsell, Shaun Hughes, Hal McFie, Ruth Malloy, Matt McCabe, Michelle O’Doherty, Bharat Pankhania, Manda Rigby, Dine Romero, Mark Roper, Richard Samuel, Alastair Singleton, Shaun Stephenson McGall, Karen Walker, Sarah Warren and Ryan Wills.]