Agenda item

To notify Members of recent urgent Executive Decisions taken by the Leader of the Council on behalf of the Cabinet.

Decision:

That –

 

(a)     the contents of the report be noted; and

 

(b)     the urgent decisions taken by the Leader of the Council on behalf of the Cabinet,  as detailed in this report, be formally endorsed.

Minutes:

The Cabinet gave consideration to a report of the Leader of the Council (A.7) which notified Members of recent urgent Executive Decisions taken by the Leader of the Council on behalf of the Cabinet.

 

The Cabinet recalled that, as part of the Council’s response to the COVID-19 public health emergency the Council’s Monitoring Officer had produced a formal “Note on Decision Making Business Continuity Arrangements” which had set out the ways in which the normal operational business of the Council could continue in relation to decisions which would normally be referred to Cabinet, Council or Committees.

 

In relation to Cabinet decisions the Monitoring Officer’s formal Note, as issued on 20 March 2020, had contained the following information and advice:

 

“The Constitution requires certain matters to be decided by Cabinet collectively.  The Leader of the Council may exercise any of the powers delegated to the Cabinet:

 

a. Following a resolution of the Cabinet (subject to the Constitution), or

 

b. In cases of urgency, in consultation with the Monitoring Officer and/or Section 151 Officer.

 

In cases of urgency the decision of the Leader of the Council will be recorded and published in accordance with the Constitution.  The Leader of the Council will also be required to make a public statement at the next formal meeting of the Cabinet which will explain why they had taken the decision as a matter of urgency.

 

Therefore, following consultation with the Leader of the Council, it was recommended that to enable formal decisions to be made on behalf of Cabinet the following procedure should be adopted:

 

   Reports that would have been considered by Cabinet are emailed to the Group Leaders;

   a period of five working days would be provided for Group Leaders to email any comments/questions etc. to the relevant Portfolio Holder, Leader and officer(s) identified;

·       responses to comments/questions would be supplied to the Group Leaders;

   this information will be taken into account by the Leader prior to making his formal decision;

   a formal decision will be published recording the matters taken into account;

·       at the first formal meeting of Cabinet a report of the decisions taken by the Leader under urgency powers will be produced; and

   if it was necessary for a key decision to made under urgency provisions this must be reported to Full Council (in accordance with the Access to Information Procedure Rules 15 & 16.2).

 

Whilst it was anticipated that decisions taken during urgency provisions would be limited or uncontroversial in nature, with Group Leaders’ comments being sought prior to decisions being made, it must be highlighted that the ability of Members to undertake the statutory overview and scrutiny function is not removed.”

 

The Monitoring Officer had considered that, in responding to COVID-19, the Council was in exceptional times which therefore satisfied the grounds of urgency.

 

It was reported that in making the decision in question the Leader of the Council had exercised his delegated power as set out in the Council’s Constitution in Part 3, Schedule 3 (Responsibility for Executive Functions) - Section 3 (General Principles Regarding Decision Making by the Cabinet) – Principle 4b [Part 3.28].

 

Members were reminded that the decisions taken as a matter of urgency had related to:-

 

(1)    Approval of a Revised Discretionary Business Grants Scheme (Phase 3) [Published 31 July 2020]

 

Decision: (a) To agree a revised Discretionary Business Grants Policy (Phase 3); and

 

(b) To authorise the Chief Executive to implement and administer the scheme and amend the policy in line with any emerging Government guidance.

 

(2)    Approval of a Revised Discretionary Business Grants Scheme (Phase 4) [Published 24 August 2020]

 

Decision:  (a) To agree a revised Discretionary Business Grants Policy (Phase 4);

 

(b) To authorise the Chief Executive to implement and administer the scheme and   amend the policy in line with any emerging Government guidance; and

 

(c) To authorise the Portfolio Holder for Housing, in consultation with the Chief Executive, to implement any necessary local discretionary changes required to the scheme to enable applications to be considered from as many businesses in the District as possible.

 

Having considered the contents of the report:

 

It was moved by Councillor Stock OBE, moved by Councillor G V Guglielmi and:

 

RESOLVED that –

 

(a)   the contents of the report be noted; and

 

(b)   the urgent decisions taken by the Leader of the Council on behalf of the Cabinet,  as detailed in this report, be formally endorsed.

Supporting documents: