Agenda item

In accordance with the provisions of Article 15.02 (a) and (c) of the Council’s Constitution, to approve the recommended changes to the Constitution put forward by the Monitoring Officer and the Cabinet following a review undertaken by the Corporate Finance and Governance Portfolio Holder through a Working Party constituted for this purpose.

In accordance with the provisions of Article 15.02 (a) and (c) of the Council’s Constitution, full Council was requested to approve the recommended changes to the Constitution put forward by the Monitoring Officer and the Cabinet in their joint report following a review undertaken by the Corporate Finance and Governance Portfolio Holder through a Working Party constituted for that purpose.

Members were aware that, on 16 December 2022, Cabinet had considered a report of the Corporate Finance and Governance Portfolio Holder, which had requested it to approve the recommended changes to the Constitution for referral onto Full Council.

It was reported that the main proposals covered a number of miscellaneous amendments to the Council Procedure Rules, Articles of the Constitution, Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules, the Property Dealing Procedure, the Procurement Procedure Rules, the Financial Procedure Rules and Delegated Powers in order to ensure the Council’s Constitution remained effective, efficient and consistent at an operational level.

Members were aware that a summary of the proposed changes compared to the existing Parts of the Constitution was provided under each heading in the background section of the joint report and in each case, the content had been revised to provide greater clarity, ensure effectiveness and efficient up to date working practices for both Members and Officers and also to ensure it was in accordance with legislation, where necessary.

Councillors Turner, Stock OBE and Baker addressed the Council during the debate on this matter.

Having considered the outcome of the annual review of the Constitution and the Cabinet’s recommendations arising therefrom, and in order to enable those recommendations to be approved and adopted:-

It was moved by Councillor G V Guglielmi and:-

RESOLVED that –

(a)    the Council’s Constitution be amended to reflect the proposed changes as set out in Appendices A to M attached hereto this report and that those changes come into immediate effect;

(b)    Council notes and endorses the Monitoring Officer’s firmly reiterated advice that Members using the “Approval of the previous Minutes” item on agendas as a way of raising matters from that previous meeting, whether loosely connected or not, is not acceptable as such actions did not comply with the need to give the requisite public notice of matters that would be discussed at a committee etc. meeting i.e. it breached local government law;

(c)    Council further notes and endorses the proposed change to Article 7.08 (Cabinet Procedure Rule 1.5), as set out in Appendix N; and

(d)    Council additionally notes that:-

(i)    the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny, Lawyers in Local Government and the Association of Democratic Services Officers are proposing to issue guidance in the area of “call-ins” of Executive decisions and so it is likely that this Council will need to look further at this in 2023 (and particularly its implications for Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules 17 and 18) once that guidance is issued;

(ii)  the practice guides prepared by the Head of Democratic Services & Elections to assist members of Overview and Scrutiny Committees and support officers to develop appropriate approaches to individual enquiries would be reviewed in Autumn 2023;

(iii) the Council’s Procurement Strategy and the Procurement Procedure Rules will need to be reviewed once the Procurement Bill (HL) currently at Report Stage in the House of Lords is enacted and come into effect; and

(iv) the review of the Council’s procedure for Planning Committee Site Visits as set out in the Members’ Planning Code and Protocol (in Part 6 of the Constitution) is still ongoing although at this current time no constitutional changes have been highlighted as being necessary.