Members are reminded to consider the categories of interest in the Code of Conduct for Members to determine whether they have an interest in any agenda item and any action they should take. For further details, please see the attached note from the Monitoring Officer.

Members are reminded to declare the nature of the interest and the agenda item it relates to. Please note that ultimately it’s the Members’ responsibility to declare any interests and to update their register of interest form as required by the Code.

If in doubt as to the nature of your interest, you are advised to seek advice prior to the meeting by contacting the Monitoring Officer or Democratic Services

None were declared.

To elect a vice-chair for the Committee for the 2024/25 municipal year.

Proposed by Councillor Abu Chowdhury and seconded by Councillor Musthak Ahmed it was:

RESOLVED that:

1.    Councillor Shafi Ahmed be elected as the Vice Chair for the General Purposes Committee for 2024/25.

To agree the unrestricted minutes of the General Purposes Committee meeting held on 27 February 2024.

The unrestricted minutes of the General Purposes Committee meeting held on 27 February 2024 were agreed as a correct record.

To review the Committee’s work plan for the current municipal year.

The Committee noted the 2024/25 work plan.

Joel West, Democratic Services Team Leader (Committees) introduced the report that asked the Committee to consider and note their terms of reference and delegated powers. The report also set out the dates of scheduled committee meetings for the year. Members asked that advance notice be provided of any amended start times during Ramadan.

RESOLVED that the General Purposes Committee

1.    Notes its terms of reference, quorum, membership and dates of future meetings as set out in Appendices 1, 2 and 3 to the report.

Farhad Ahmed, Head of School Governance and Traded Services, introduced the report that set out details of applicants who have applied to be nominated as the local authority governor at Tower Hamlets maintained schools. Farhad provided some additional detail on the applicants and the work currently underway to encourage local residents to apply to be school governors in Tower Hamlets.

The Committee noted that despite being raised at the previous Committee meeting, the application forms for nominees still made it difficult to compare length of time resident in the borough.  Farhad explained that this error in the forms had now been corrected and future nominations reports would be clearer in this regard.

RESOLVED that the Committee:

1.    Agree to nominate the applicants to the positions that are available for local authority governors at maintained schools in Tower Hamlets as set out in the report.

The Chair informed members that the Head of Electoral Services had informed him that due to the urgent and significant additional work arising in the elections team following the recent General Election announcements, the Head of Electoral Services was unable to supply an elections update for consideration at this meeting. Accordingly, the Chair asked the Committee to agree to the item’s withdrawal from the agenda.

Some Committee members indicated dissatisfaction with the lack of opportunity for the Committee to feed-into elections preparation.

RESOLVED that the Committee agreed that:

1.    The elections update is withdrawn from this agenda, with a report on the outcome of the GLA and General Elections be received at the next meeting.

Joel West, Democratic Services Team Leader (Committees) provided the Committee with an update on Constitution updates, including:

·         The Constitution Working Group (CWG) was due to meet on 19 June (having had to postpone at the last minute from end of May) and it would be looking at reports from ADSO as well as some potential actions relating to the LGA Peer Review. The next meeting of GPC would receive an update on that work.

·         Following a request from Members a second set of documents would go to CWG members later this week seeking input ad feedback on the preferred direction of Constitution review work.

·         Some minor changes to the Constitution were likely to be required following the conclusion of the senior structure review the Chief Executive was undertaking. Any such changes would be reported at the relevant time.

RESOLVED that the Committee noted the verbal update on Constitution changes.

None.

A motion to exclude press and public was not required.

To agree the exempt minutes of the General Purposes Committee meeting held on ….

None.