Issue - meetings
Tower Hamlets Constitution - Part 1 Summary and Explanation and Part 2 Articles – Proposed Changes
Meeting: 08/03/2017 - General Purposes Committee (Item 3)
As the Council is operating Executive arrangements then it must have a Constitution and also ensure that this Constitution is kept up-to-date. It is a Monitoring Officer role to review the Constitution and make recommendations to ensure that the aims and principles of the Constitution are given full effect. In that regard, a key role for the Monitoring Officer is to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the Constitution adopted by the Council and to make recommendations for ways in which it could be amended in order better to achieve the purposes of the Constitution.
Additional documents:
- Enc. 1 for Tower Hamlets Constitution - Part 1 Summary and Explanation and Part 2 Articles – Proposed Changes, item 3 PDF 171 KB
- Enc. 2 for Tower Hamlets Constitution - Part 1 Summary and Explanation and Part 2 Articles – Proposed Changes, item 3 PDF 5 MB
- Enc. 3 for Tower Hamlets Constitution - Part 1 Summary and Explanation and Part 2 Articles – Proposed Changes, item 3 PDF 192 KB
Minutes:
Graham White, Acting Corporate Director, Governance and Interim Monitoring Officer, introduced the report, which proposed a number of changes to Parts 1 and 2 of the Council’s Constitution. Paul Greeno, Senior Corporate and Governance Lawyer, provided further detail on some of the proposed changes. The Committee heard:
· Proposals to clarify the roles of the Chief Executive and Mayor arise in part from requirements of the DCLG Commissioners, outlined in the Best Value Action Plan. The proposed wording reflects current practice.
· A reduction in the number of policies in the Council’s Policy Framework has been proposed to reduce the burden on Full Council and reflect best practice.
· The Council’s Monitoring Officer currently has power to make minor revisions to the Constitution to reflect decisions taken by the Council or changes in legislation or to correct matters of fact. Any changes made under this delegated power will be reported to Councillors.
Mr Greeno alerted the Committee to several technical errors within the circulated report and appendices, which he explained would be corrected prior to the report’s submission to Full Council.
Officers agreed to investigate whether wording on paragraph (d) on page 90 of the report could be amended, as some members felt the paragraph was unclear.
RESOLVED that the General Purposes Committee:
1. Noted the spreadsheet in Appendix 1 setting out the revisions and the reasons;
2. Agreed that all the proposed revisions are non-material;
3. Agreed the revised Part 1 Summary and Explanation of the Constitution in Appendix 2 with the revisions shown as tracked changes, subject to rectification of any technical errors;
4. Agreed the revised Part 2 Articles of the Tower Hamlets Constitution in Appendix 3 with the revisions shown as tracked changes, subject to rectification of any technical errors; and
5. Noted that the revisions to the Constitution will go to Council for approval.