Democracy in Crawley

How decisions are made and who represents you

Agenda item

Review of the Constitution

To consider report LDS/197 of the Head of Governance, People & Performance.

Minutes:

The Committee considered report LDS/197 of the Head of Governance, People & Performance which considered whether any amendments were required to the Constitution. The Democracy and Data Service Manager guided the Committee through each of the four sections of the report, where proposed changes to the Constitution were put forward for the Committee’s consideration. The Committee held individual debates and votes on each section.

 

Appointment of Independent Member(s) to the Audit Committee

 

The proposal sought the Committee’s view on the CIPFA advice that local authorities’ Audit Committees should have Independent Member(s) with a ‘financial background’, co-opted on to the Audit Committee to help provide a critical friend/challenge. It was noted that the views of current Audit Committee members were sought and they were in support of the proposal.

 

During the debate Members commented they were in collectively support of the proposal but felt that any co-opted member to any Committee should not be able to be appointed to either a Chair or Vice Chair position, especially as they would not have voting rights.

 

Clarification was sought as to the recruitment process for the proposed Independent Member(s) to the Audit Committee. It was confirmed that the proposal would mirror the approach used to recruit and appoint the Council’s Independent Person(s), including interviews with senior officers and then the proposed candidates being cleared by both Group Leaders prior to being put forward to Full Council for appointment. The Committee confirmed their support for this route.

 

 

RESOLVED

 

a)            That the Full Council be recommended that an independent member be co-opted as a non-voting member to the Audit Committee as of the 2023/24 municipal year, with the independent member being unable to hold the position of either the Chair or Vice Chair of the Audit Committee.

 

b)            That the recruitment process be delegated to the Head of Governance, People & Performance in consultation with the Section 151 Officer and the Chief Executive, with the proposed co-optee nominee being brought to Full Council for final appointment.

 

 

Allocation of Chairs and Vice Chair of Committees

 

The Committee considered Section 6 of the report which detailed the allocation table contained within the Constitution that set out how Chairs and Vice Chairs of Committees would be allocated. The allocation process was brought back to the Committee to be reviewed after it had been in place for two years following adoption, on request of the Chair of the Governance Committee.

 

The Committee held a long and vociferous debate over the current Allocation of Chairs and Vice Chair of Committees protocol during which Councillor Pritchard tabled a proposed revision to the protocol, which was seconded by Councillor Y Khan.

 

The Committee was split between support for the current existing arrangements and those Councillors supporting the tabled revision. Those that spoke in support of the status quo and against the tabled revision made comments including:

 

·         The current table allocation took the politics out of the allocation and was based on a scientific approach i.e. determined by on the number of seats each party had.

·         There was no evidence that the current protocol had not worked since it had been in place.

·         The proposed table was a backwards step, but was not unexpected.

·         Some felt cynical and felt that the change would damage relations between the Groups.

 

Those that spoke in support of Councillor Pritchard’s proposal made comments including:

 

·         The revised proposal would allow the Administration to have the opportunity to hold the casting vote of each Committee as they were the Party that the residents had placed in control of the Council, and therefore each Committee.

·         It allowed the new Members of the Council at the AGM to be able to select who they felt should be Chairs and Vice Chairs of each Committee.

·         It gave more flexibility over the selection of Chairs and Vice Chairs.

·         The proposed approach would ensure that the Council was using the same approach that most Councils used across the county and the country.

 

In response to a question raised, it was confirmed that the most recent guidance by the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny (CfGS), made no reference (as its predecessor had), over the suggestion that Scrutiny Commission/Committees should be chaired by an opposition Councillor. Officers also confirmed that they had not found any guidance from CIPFA regarding an opposition Councillor chairing Audit Committees.

 

Following the conclusion of the debate, a request was made for a recorded vote on Councillor Pritchard’s proposal. The Chair of the Governance Committee invited the Democracy and Data Manager to commence the recorded voting process.

 

For the proposal: Councillors Jhans, Jones, Y Khan, Lamb, Lunnon, Malik, and Pritchard (6)

 

Against the proposal: Councillors Bounds, Burrett, Crow, Lanzer, and McCarthy (5)

 

Abstentions: None (0)

 

The Chair declared that the proposal was carried – votes in favour 6 and votes against 5 with 0 abstentions.

 

 

RESOLVED

 

That the Full Council be recommended to replace Part 2, Section 6.2 Chair and Vice Chair of Committees with the following:

 

Chair and Vice Chair of Committees: The positions of Chair and Vice Chair for each Committee shall be elected by a simple majority at the Annual Meeting of the Full Council. The appointment of the Chair and Vice Chair of a Committee should not include Councillors from the same political group (where possible)." 

 

 

Webcasting Formal Meetings of the Council

 

The Committee considered Section 7 of the report that sought a steer from the Governance Committee as to whether the Council should be webcasting formal meetings of the Council going forward (now that all meetings were being held in the new Town Hall) and if that was the case then to ensure that the constitutional groundwork was in place to enable that to happen. It was noted that the whilst the webcast technology was designed into the new committee rooms not all the equipment was in place and that webcasting would not be able to commence before Annual Full Council in May 2023 at the earliest.

 

A full debate was held on the concept of webcasting Council meetings with the Committee collectively being in agreement that the Council should be webcasting as many meetings as possible, whilst acknowledging that there may be cost implications.

 

During the debate Committee members expressed various views over the proposal as to what the correct retention period for the webcasting recording should be with the general feeling that the proposed retention of 6 months was too low.  A number of options were suggested during the debate including retention for a calendar year, a municipal year, 15 months, and 6 years. In response to the discussion the Committee was informed that the initial 6-month period was the retention for webcast meetings during the Coronavirus pandemic, and that it aligned with the Council’s current retention protocol. Members were also informed that the timescale for the retention should be clear and not excessive as too long a period might lead to issues with regard to GDPR.

 

The Committee then agreed that the retention period should be a minimum of 6 months for all Committees initially and that further consideration could happen once and if webcasting had commenced.

 

 

RESOLVED

 

That the Full Council be recommended that:

 

a)            once the necessary functionality is available, all formal meetings of the Council (with the exception of the Employment Panel and Grants Appeal Panel), subject to cost and practicality, be webcast as soon as possible.

 

b)            recordings of webcast meetings be retained for a minimum of six months after the meeting takes place.

 

c)            the Head of Governance, People & Performance be delegated authority to make any necessary consequential amendments to the Council's Constitution.

 

 

Protocol on the Appointment of Honorary Aldermen and Honorary Freemen

 

The Committee considered Section 8 of the report that sought a steer from the Governance Committee as to a proposed revision to the Protocol on the Appointment of Honorary Aldermen and Honorary Freemen. It was noted that both Protocols had not been revised for a significant number of years and it was the only section of the current Constitution that had not been revised during the review in 2019. The Committee was informed that one of the key drivers for the revisions was linked to the statute that requires a two thirds Full Council majority for the Appointment of Honorary Aldermen and Honorary Freemen, which wasn’t currently covered in the protocol.

 

During the debate a query was raised as to whether the 20-year service proposed in the Honorary Aldermen protocol could include combined services a Member of Parliament or Member of West Sussex CC along with services as a Borough Councillor. In response it was explained that Honorary Aldermen in statute must relate to the District/Borough Council bestowing the Honour. But those other elected bodies could be used as evidence to bestow the title of Honorary Freemen instead.

 

The Committee were in general support of the proposal, with Members feeling that the suggested 20 years minimum timescale was sensible compared to the current wording of Councillors who have served in that capacity for a significant time...greater than the average length of service’.

 

A number of clerical corrections to the proposed Protocols were raised, and the Committee supported those revisions and requested that they be changed by Officers accordingly, prior to submission to Full Council.

 

 

RESOLVED

 

That the Full Council be recommended that the revised Protocol on Appointment of Honorary Aldermen/Women or Honorary Freemen/Women which is set out as Appendix A be adopted.

 

 

 

Supporting documents: