Agenda item

Committee considered a report in relation to areas for review within the Council’s Constitution prior to submission to Annual Council for adoption.

 

The following 8 areas had been identified for review at this meeting;

 

Delegation Scheme – authority to implement legal changes

 

From time to time, changes in legislation, government guidance or other regulatory changes impacted on Council policies. 

Currently, all such changes must be brought to Executive or Council for approval, (depending on the nature of the policy) even though in the vast majority of cases there was no discretion for Members and the amendments must be accepted.

 

This can prove difficult where changes must be implemented within a short timescale and cannot practically be reported to Members in time.  It was therefore proposed that the power to make amendments to policies be delegated to Directors and Heads of Service in the Delegation Scheme.

 

Where there was any discretionary element to the changes, or the impact of the changes in legislation etc were significant, these could still be reported to Members.

 

The proposed wording of the delegation was;

 

To make amendments to Council policy, subject to consultation with the Monitoring Officer, in order to:

 

i)             reflect changes in the law, government or regulators’ guidance, and other Council policies;  or

ii)            correct obvious, technical or clerical errors and to take account of changes of any names or titles.

 

In response to a Member’s query, the Monitoring Officer suggested that the wording, ‘non-substantive’, be added to the above sentence as follows;

 

To make non-substantive amendments to Council policy, subject to consultation with the Monitoring Officer, in order to: …

 

Reserves – approval of Transformation Reserve – Delegation

 

Presently, there was a specific delegation to the Section 151 Officer to approve expenditure from the Transformation Reserve.  However, although the Section 151 Officer needed to be aware of expenditure from this Reserve, it was not necessary for this Officer to be the delegatee.  The actual decisions came through the governance structure set up to deal with Transformation Programme projects and it would be the Transformation Governance Group (TGG) (which included the Leader and other Members) that would decide to progress a project, not the Section 151 Officer.

 

It was suggested that the delegation be given to the Director of People with an additional requirement that the Section 151 Officer not only has to see the proposal but initials the Delegated Decision form (DD form) to evidence that she has been consulted.

 

The Budget and Policy Framework Rules at 4.3.6 (2) would also need amending to refer to the Director of People.

 

Reserves – approval of expenditure from Reserves by Executive

 

It has always been the case that expenditure from Reserves is agreed by the Executive/Cabinet in a formal decision (this was previously in the Constitution but for some reason was removed).  A decision route for expenditure from the Reserves was required for openness and transparency reasons, therefore, this was required to be put back into the Constitution.

 

Time limits for Questions and Motions to Council

 

Currently, the deadline for questions and motions to Council was midday, 7 clear working days before the day of the meeting.  This gave very little preparation time for those who had to answer the questions or those who wanted to participate in the motion debate.

 

Accordingly, it was suggested that the deadline be extended by either a further 5 working days or 10 working days. 

 

Members agreed that the deadline should be extended to 12 working days.

 

Budget and Policy Framework/Financial Regulations conflict

 

With regard to virements, a recent audit report had highlighted that the Budget and Policy Framework Rules conflicted with the Financial Regulations.

 

The Budget and Policy Framework Rules as amended last year stated at 4.3.6 (1) on page 129:-

 

Executive or budget managers shall be entitled to vire across budget heads within the budget framework with the exception of salary related budgets and required to inform the relevant Portfolio Holder when the virement is in excess of £25,000.

 

(The reference to the Portfolio Holder was added last year following the annual review).

 

Financial Regulations state at 4.7.3 (7):-

 

Strategic Alliance Management Team (SAMT) and Heads of Service have the authority to transfer savings from one budget area towards additional expenditure in another budget area.

 

For alignment, it was suggested that the following be added to the Financial Regulations at 4.7.3 (7):-

 

The SAMT member is required to inform the relevant Portfolio Holder when the virement is in excess of £25,000.

 

A reminder should be given via SAMT and the Service Managers Forum.

 

Small increases in expenditure and effect on the Council’s Budget

 

Changes made to how services were provided (to make them better), sometimes had no cost involved.  However, if the cost was significant, a report would be presented to the Executive.  As the rules stood currently, a very small increase in budget required formal Member approval and a report would also need to be considered by the Executive.

It was felt that where small increases were involved these could be done by Delegated Decision which would ensure transparency (a formal decision is recorded) whilst still involving Members, (the Leader and/or Deputy Leader and/or Portfolio Holder have to be consulted on every delegated decision) but give a faster route and avoiding Executive dealing with minor increases.

 

Clearly the Section 151 Officer would need to be able to exercise control over this and it was therefore suggested that a new delegation be given to the Section 151 officer ad follows;

 

To authorise small increases in individual budgets of up to £10,000 per budget per year on one occasion in any financial year subject to a delegated decision notice (DD) being produced.

 

Council Procedure Rules - Rule 8 Questions by the public

 

Bolsover District Council restricted who may ask questions to Council to members of the public who were on the Council’s Register of Electors or who were Non Domestic Rate Payers to the District.

 

A review showed that neighbouring authorities allowed any member of the public to ask questions at their council so long as they met the scope.

 

Concern had been raised that people who had a connection to the District may not qualify to ask a question under this current rule and consideration had now been given to extend this to include people who had a local connection to the District.

 

For the purposes of Housing, the Housing Act 1996 defined that a person had a local connection to a district if –

 

1.    (a) they are, or were in the past, normally resident there, and that residence was of their own choice; or,

2.    (b) they are employed there; or,

3.    (c) they have family associations living there; or,

4.    (d) of any special circumstances.

 

Committee could accept that anyone could ask a question as the current scope limited this to a matter which was one the Council had a responsibility or which affected the District.  This restriction would ensure that whomever asked a question could only do so if it genuinely affected the District.

 

The proposed wording of the amended rule 8.1 (a) was -

 

Members of the public who are on the Register of Electors for Bolsover District Council, or who are Non Domestic Rate Payers to District, may ask questions of Members of the Executive at ordinary meetings of the Council.

 

Access to Information – Member attendance during exempt items of Executive

 

The Council Procedure Rules made provision, at rule 25.3 for Members who were not appointed to the relevant Committee or Sub-Committee to remain in a meeting of that Committee or Sub-Committee during the private session considering exempt items, unless the Committee or Sub-Committee asked them to leave.

 

This rule had in practice been applied to Executive, although technically Executive was not a Committee.  It was therefore proposed, in the interests of clarity, that the term Executive be added to the wording of this rule.

 

Moved by Councillor Andrew Joesbury and seconded by Councillor Tricia Clough

RESOLVED that the following changes to the Council’s Constitution be agreed and recommended to Council for approval;

 

1          Scheme of Delegation to Officers - all Strategic Directors and Heads of Service;

 

a)    To make amendments to Council policy, subject to consultation with the Monitoring Officer, in order to:

iii)           reflect changes in the law, government or regulators’ guidance, and other Council policies;  or

iv)           correct obvious, technical or clerical errors and to take account of changes of any names or titles.

 

b)    the wording, ‘non-substantive’, be added to the following sentence;

To make non-substantive amendments to Council policy, subject to consultation with the Monitoring Officer, in order to: …..

 

            2          Reserves – approval of Transformation Reserve - Delegation

 

a)    This delegation be moved to the Director of People,

 

b)    Delegated Decisions relating to Transformation Projects to be initialled by the Section 151 Officer to evidence that she has seen them,

 

c)    The Budget and Policy Framework Rules number 4.3.6 (2) be amended to refer to the Director of People.

 

            3          Reserves – approval of expenditure from Reserves by Executive

Executive functions in Part 3 of the Constitution at point (8) to be amended as follows;

 

The provision of such resources (including expenditure from Reserves) as may be necessary for the proper operation of the Council provided the resources are within the Budget and Policy Framework.

 

4          Time limits for Questions and Motions to Council

 

The deadline for questions and motions to Council be changed to midday, 12 clear working days before the day of the meeting. 

 

            5          Budget and Policy Framework/Financial Regulations conflict

 

The following be added to the Financial Regulations at 4.7.3 (7):-

 

The SAMT member is required to inform the relevant Portfolio Holder when the virement is in excess of £25,000.

 

A reminder should also be given via SAMT and the Service Managers Forum.

 

6          Small increases in expenditure and effect on the Council’s Budget

 

Add at 4.10.13 the following (Section 151 Officer Delegation Scheme);

 

a)    To authorise small increases in individual budgets of up to £10,000 per budget per year on one occasion in any financial year subject to a delegated decision notice (DD) being produced.

 

7          Council Procedure Rules - Rule 8 Questions by the public

 

Rule 8.1 (a) be amended as follows;

 

Members of the publicwho are on the Register of Electors for North East Derbyshire District Council, or who are Non Domestic Rate Payers to District, may ask questions of members of the Cabinet at ordinary meetings of the Council.

 

8          Access to Information – Member attendance during exempt items of Executive

 

‘Executive’ be added to the wording at 25.3 in the Council Procedure Rules.

 

(Governance Manager)