Agenda item

5.1

The Committee received a presentation from Craig Rogerson (Democratic Services) on Sheffield's new committee system which, subject to approval by the Council, would become effective from May 2022.

5.2

Mr Rogerson referred to the reasons for the change to the Council’s governance structure, and the work undertaken so far. He stated that the principal aim of the new structure was to put the voice of residents at the heart of the decision-making process, and that a report on the new arrangements was to be considered at an extraordinary meeting of the Council to be held on 23rd March, 2022.

5.3

Mr Rogerson highlighted the proposed changes to the Council’s governance structure, indicating that there was to be a move from the current leader/Co-operative Executive model to a system of multiple new policy committees, which would have cross-party membership, with the regulatory committees and Local Area Committees remaining. He referred to the new toolkit to be used by the new policy committees, which contained a list of 12 options relating to how they proposed to engage with the public.

5.4

Councillor Sue Alston, as a member of the Governance Committee, which had been involved in the change process, stated that the Committee had spent a considerable amount of time listening to what the public wanted in terms of a committee system which fully engaged with local residents.

5.5

The Committee noted the information reported as part of the presentation now made.