Agenda item
Constitution Review Part A
- Meeting of General Purposes Committee, Tuesday, 11th December, 2018 6.00 p.m. (Item 4.1)
- View the background to item 4.1
Minutes:
The Committee received and noted a report that set out a draft copy of the new Part A of the constitution for consideration by the Committee as part of the current refresh of the Councils Constitution.
The Committees comments on Part A of the new constitution maybe outlined as follows:
The Committee noted that:
- This report follows on from the report to General Purposes Committee on 29 October 2018 which set out the initial reasons for the review;
- It is good practice to review the constitution regularly; it also follows on a recommendation of the recent Corporate Peer Review that highlighted the need to ensure that the Council removes bad bureaucracy whilst retaining good governance;
- The ‘Supplementary Documents’ (formerly called ‘Supporting Documents’) will remain a separate section but will be specified as being part of the Constitution. However, the delegations will remain in place to ensure that the relevant Sections can be updated as required;
- As agreed at the October meeting because discussions on the constitution will take place at the General Purposes Committee a constitution working group would not require for this review;
- This process would work best if the reviewed constitution was presented in stages;
- Part A of the new Constitution that is now before the Committee for consideration is a merger of the existing Parts 1 (Summary and Explanation) and 2 (Articles);
- Appendix 1 of the report provides an outline of how the different sections/articles have been combined;
- Whilst the content has been reviewed and re-organised, all sections of information have been retained. The overall length has now been reduced;
- The draft will be amended following any comments made at this meeting and then combined with other sections of the Councils Constitution and will then form a fully refreshed constitution to be presented to Council;
- Certain sections of Part A will be reviewed by the relevant Committees or the Mayor.
- Going forward they can consider whether they wish to confirm agreement to the following Sections at a later date or if the Committee is content for them to proceed direct to Council (i) Section 9 – Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Scrutiny Sub-Committees/Panels; and Section 11 – The Standards (Advisory) Committee and the Code of Conduct for Members;
- The Mayor would also be consulted in respect of any changes proposed in relation to Executive decision-making arrangements.
- Some minor amendments such as when the Monitoring Officer makes statutory guidance or minor changes would be reported to the Committee and this would be the oversite so as not have to go to Full Council just because it a statutory and legal requirement. Although there would still be the option of taking it to Full Council if necessary;
- When each Committee reviews its Terms of Reference there will be an opportunity to undertake a to review the role of their Co-Optees;
- With regard to the changes to key decisions there has been a significant revision undertaken to make it clearer which decisions should qualify as Key Decisions;
- The definition and guidance has been expanded for key decisions;
- Possible specific potential financial thresholds for certain key decisions (and officer decision publication) are also to be consulted on;
- Further consideration should be given at a future meeting as to those decisions that have a significant impact on the community in terms of what is a significant impact on two or more wards;
- The Freedom of the Borough is the highest award that the Council can bestow. It is a power that is very rarely used and is normally only awarded to local people who have in the opinion of the Council rendered eminent services to the Borough. Therefore, there is a need for the constitution to clarify what a freeman can and cannot do.
The Chair Moved and it was:-
RESOLVED
To confirm that the Committee wishes to review the final Part A at a later meeting.
Supporting documents:
- Constitution Review Part A, item 4.1 PDF 93 KB
- Appendix 2 - Draft Part A Constitution, item 4.1 PDF 293 KB
- Appendix 3 - Benchmarking, item 4.1 PDF 83 KB