To receive any questions or petitions from members of the public.
Minutes:
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5.1 |
The Committee received a question form a member of the public, prior to the meeting.
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5.2 |
Woll Newall
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What had the Governance Committee learnt from other large cities in the "Core Cities" group that were already using a committee system, like Belfast and Glasgow, and how has this influenced the design of the committee system you are proposing for Sheffield?
In response to question 1, the Chair (Councillor Julie Grocutt) explained there were no other Core Cities in England which operated under committee system. The legislative and governance environment in Scotland and Ireland were very different to England. Neither Belfast or Glasgow had ever transitioned from a Cabinet and Leader system to a committee system, since they had always run a version of a committee system. Officers had met with senior leaders from Belfast to explore whether a link would be constructive. As an example of the differences, Belfast Council is not responsible for Adult Social Care, Housing or Planning and they are not able to run local area committees because of, amongst other things, sectarian considerations. It was added the Council had been very transparent about what they had learnt from other Councils throughout this process going back over several years, with six case studies in the evidence pack, in-person witness statements from several other councils, and back in 2019 a site visit to Melton Mowbray as part of the Scrutiny inquiry.
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