Agenda item

This report sets out recommendations on the decision making structure for 2011/12 which the Council needs to consider and determine.

The Council considered a report on its non-executive and regulatory committee arrangements for the Council year May 2011 to May 2010 and other associated business.

On a motion from Councillor Paul Crossley, seconded by Councillor Manda Rigby, it was

RESOLVED

(1) To approve the structure for non-executive and regulatory decision making, Overview & Scrutiny and the Standards Committee as set out in the Constitution, and identified in its current form in the report at Appendix 2, with the following amendments;

1. That there be six O&S Panels (to be known as Policy Development and Scrutiny Panels) rather than the five contained in the Appendix, with the broad remits as set out in Attachment 2 to the minutes, and authority delegated to the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the Group Leaders, to finalise and publish the precise remits;
2. That the Restructuring Implementation Committee comprise three Members in the proportionality; Liberal Democrat 1, Conservative 1, Labour 1.

(2) To note the updated political proportionality as set out in Attachment 1 to the minutes, updated to reflect the notification of the formation of political groups in the ratio 29 Liberal Democrat, 29 Conservative, 5 Labour and 1 Independent, and revised decision making structure as outlined in the report and minute (1) above;

(3) To approve the terms of reference for and proposed actions by Committees and Panels etc as set out in Appendix 2 to the report subject to (1) a. and b. above and constitute those bodies accordingly;

(4) To approve the appointment of Members to the Committees and Panels in accordance with the requirements of political proportionality as shown in Attachment 1 to the minutes and nominations made by the political groups;

(5) To appoint, as Chairs and Vice-Chairs of such bodies, those Councillors as may from time to time be nominated by the political group to whom the chairmanship/vice-chairmanship of the body is allocated, as set out in Attachment 1 to the minutes;

(6) To authorise the Monitoring Officer to fill any casual vacancies in membership of all the bodies constituted and vacancy in the office of Chair or Vice-Chair of such bodies in accordance with the wishes of the political groups and the allocation of chairing entitlements made at this meeting;

(7) To determine that the bodies on which independent members are to have seats as either voting or non-voting members are as set out in Attachment 1 to the minutes and appoint such members accordingly;

(8) To authorise the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the Chairs and Vice-Chairs of the Policy Development and Scrutiny Panels, to constitute and support any required Panel joint working as outlined in the report;

(9) To agree that Council wishes to make an allocation of Political Assistants to eligible groups as set out in the report;

(10) To approve the allocation of Political Assistants to the Conservative and Liberal Democrat groups in accordance with section 8 of the report and instruct the Monitoring Officer to make available to the other two groups an appropriate level of support to enable them to discharge their roles effectively;

(11) To invite Councillors to be Member Champions for the interests identified in Section 9 of the report, or alternative proposals, and asks any so interested to notify the Monitoring Officer within one month with a view to such expressions of interest being decided by Group Leaders in due course;

(12) To note the position regarding the frequency of meetings (as set out in Section 10 of the report) as the basis for enabling the diary of meetings to be prepared, with the following variations;

1. There to be two-monthly Council meetings in July, September, November, January, February and May;
2. There to be monthly meetings of the Cabinet

and to authorise the Monitoring Officer to project dates forward and prepare the diary on this amended basis;

(13) To note and approve the proposed freeze on members’ allowances and the recommendations of the Independent Panel both as set out in the report and in respect of the removal from the Chair of the Regulatory Access Committee of any entitlement to an allowance;

(14) To note the facility available under the approved Scheme for Councillors to forego all or some of an allowance and;

1. The Group Leaders’ intention to appoint to chair the six Policy Development and Scrutiny Panels, members who have agreed to forego one-sixth of their Special Responsibility Allowance (SRA);
2. The Leader’s intention to appoint to Cabinet, members who have agreed to forego a proportion of their SRA with the intent that the overall cost of SRAs for Cabinet and the Overview and Scrutiny function will remain the same, the Independent Panel having previously advised that the reallocation of SRAs to recognise particular roles within the approved budget, provided it was undertaken transparently, was acceptable to them;
3. The Leader’s intention to forego his Group Leader’s allowance and allocate it pro rata to the Vice Chairs of the Policy Development and Scrutiny Panels;

(15) to instruct the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with Group Leaders, to review the Overview & Scrutiny rules and other aspects of the Constitution with a view to identifying appropriate mechanisms to ensure the optimal involvement of Vice-Chairs in the conduct of Overview & Scrutiny business and report thereon to the next meeting of Council;

(16) To designate the Strategic Director Children’s Services as the Director of Adult Services as required by Section 6 of the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970, as set out in Section 11 of the report;

(17) To note the arrangements regarding Members IT as set out in the report;

(18) To instruct the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with Group Leaders, to review existing arrangements for appointments on outside bodies and report back thereon within four months; in the meantime current appointments to continue where councillors continue in office or temporary appointments be made under existing mechanisms;

(19) To appoint the Leader as a representative to the Avon & Somerset Police Authority Joint Committee in accordance with paragraph 13.3 of the report;

(20) To authorise the Monitoring Officer to make and publicise any amendment to the Council’s Constitution required, or take any other necessary action, as a result of decisions taken at this meeting on this and other reports within the agenda, or otherwise as required by law;

(21) To ask the Standards Committee to review its procedure for investigation of complaints and report back thereon to the September meeting of Council with the intention of;

1. Making the system fairer to those who are complained about; and
2. Making proposals for the implementation of the Localism Bill currently before Parliament.