Decision details

The Service Director of Governance and Legal Services & Monitoring Officer presented a report proposing amendments to the Council’s constitution as recommended by the Standards Committee.

The report set out the proposed changes, which were:

Junior Executive Roles

The Leader of the Council had proposed the introduction of the role of Junior Executive Member.  The purpose of the change was to provide each of the Executive Members with an assistant who would help in delivering the work within their portfolios.  Article 7 of Part 2 of the Constitution would need to be amended with the introduction of this new role and a revised version of Article 7 was attached to the report at Appendix 1.

Access to Information Rules

There were a number of omissions and points of clarification that needed to be addressed in the Access to Information Rules.  Of specific note was the wording of Rule 4.2.12, which would be changed to place the responsibility for deciding whether a report should be exempt with the Monitoring Officer, which would be consistent with the Officer Delegation Scheme.  A revised version of the Access to Information Rules was attached to the report at Appendix 2.

Executive/Scrutiny Protocol

Within the revised Statutory Guidance on Overview and Scrutiny in Local and Combined Authorities, guidance was given on the creation of an Executive/Scrutiny Protocol.  As part of the review of scrutiny procedures a protocol had been created, the aim of which was to outline practical expectations of the relationships between Scrutiny Members and the Executive.  The proposed Executive/Scrutiny Protocol for insertion into the Constitution at 4.5.21 within Part 4.5 was attached to the report at Appendix 3.

Community Call for Action (CCfA)

A revised Community Call for Action was attached to the report at Appendix 4.

Members Roles and Responsibilities

The current document omitted the role of a Scrutiny Member, so this had now been added.  In addition, the role and responsibilities of the Vice-Chair of the Council had been added for clarity, and the new role of Junior Executive Member had also been included.  A revised Members Roles and Responsibilities section was attached to the report at Appendix 5.

Virement

There was currently a slight discrepancy between the two parts of the Constitution that dealt with virement, which were Part 4.3 (Budget and Policy Framework) and part 4.7.2(7) (Financial Regulations).  An amendment was proposed to make it clear that it was Members of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) who could authorise virements.  The proposed changes to the two sections were set out in Appendix 6 to the report.

Moved by Councillor John Ritchie and seconded by Councillor Sandra Peake

RESOLVED that the amendments to the Constitution, as detailed in the report, be approved.

(Service Director of Governance and Legal Services & Monitoring Officer)