Agenda item

11.1

RESOLVED: On the motion of Councillor Peter Rippon, seconded by Councillor David Baker, that this Council:-

(a)

approves the proposals set out in the report to merge the Audit Committee  and the Standards Committee to form a single Audit and Standards Committee, with proportionality applied and a membership of 7 (non-Executive) Members of the Council, and a maximum of 3 non-voting co-optees;

(b)

approves an implementation date for the new arrangements of 1st September 2016, so as to enable recruitment to the two co-opted member vacancies, and authority be given to the Acting Executive Director, Resources and the Director of Legal and Governance to commence the recruitment process;

(c)

approves that the three Parish/Town Councils be invited to jointly send one representative to attend meetings of the new Audit and Standards Committee when Standards matters are to be considered;

(d)

agrees that, in order to ensure that each political group has the required number of seats overall in comparison to the total number of seats available on all committees to reflect their composition on the Council as a whole, the final adjustment of one seat, to take effect from 1st September 2016, where the Labour Group is required to give up one seat to be allocated to the Liberal Democrat Group, be from the Economic and Environmental Wellbeing Scrutiny and Policy Development Committee, and accordingly, appoints Councillor Penny Baker to serve on that Committee with effect from 1st September;

(e)

appoints Councillors Alan Law, Bryan Lodge, Pat Midgley, Josie Paszek and Peter Price as the five Labour Group Members, and Councillors Vickie Priestley and Paul Scriven as the two Liberal Democrat Group Members, to serve on the new Audit and Standards Committee, and confirms that the current Audit Committee independent co-optee (Elizabeth Stanley) be appointed to serve on the new Committee for the remainder of her current term of office (to 17th May 2017);

(f)

approves that the Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources be invited to attend meetings of the new Committee as an observer and receive the agenda papers, as is the current practice for the Audit Committee;

(g)

approves that the Consideration and Hearing Sub-Committees (each comprising three Members of the parent Committee and 1 Non-voting Co-opted Member) be retained;

(h)

approves the proposal to reduce the number of Independent Persons from three to two, and authorises the Director of Legal and Governance to commence the recruitment process with a view to appointing the two Independent Persons to serve from when the terms of office of the three current Independent Persons ends in November 2016;

(i)

authorises the Director of Legal and Governance to compile and approve the terms of reference for the new Committee (in consultation with the Interim Director of Finance and Commercial Services and the current Chairs of the two Committees) and to revise the Council’s Constitution and relevant procedures, as and where appropriate, to reflect the arrangements now approved; and

(j)

agrees that these new arrangements be reviewed in a year’s time.