Issue - meetings
Dispensations under section 33 of the Localism act 2011
Meeting: 30/01/2020 - Standards Advisory Committee (Item 3)
3 Dispensations under section 33 of the Localism act 2011 PDF 317 KB
Minutes:
Janet Fasan, Divisional Director, Legal Services and Deputy Monitoring Officer, introduced the regular update report on Dispensations granted to Members under Section 33 of the Localism Act 2011.
She noted that as well as the general dispensations set out in the report, a specific dispensation had been granted for all Members at the recent Council meeting to allow Members to debate a motion requesting government support for a pay increase for local government officers. It was explained that the Member Allowances scheme provided that should officers receive a percentage pay increase then Members would also receive that uprating and that therefore they had a pecuniary interest.
It was further noted that there was a general dispensation granted to allow Members to debate their Member Allowances Scheme but it was not currently wide enough in scope to cover situations like the one set out above. It was suggested that it would be sensible to widen the scope of the dispensation to cover such situations.
Members discussed the report and agreed to the request to vary the general dispensation as set out above.
RESOLVED
1. That the report be noted.
2. That the general dispensations be amended to make it clear that Members were able to discuss matters relating to local authority staff pay without need for a specific dispensation.