Agenda item

6.1

The Committee received a presentation from the Interim Director of Legal and Governance, David Hollis. The report updated Members on the progress of the 6-month review of governance arrangements. It sets out the activity carried out during the ‘Engagement’ Phase of the review, detailed the findings from the Engagement, identified key areas for action in the next, ‘Action Planning’ Phase of the review.

6.2

The Policy and Improvement Officer, Emily Standbrook-Shaw explained that appendix 1 of the report listed many areas of the system which may require change. The Committee were asked if that list targeted the right areas of the system and to identify any further areas for review.

6.3

The Policy and Improvement Officer mentioned that they had received good levels of engagement from Officers and Members through the drop-in sessions. She added that the level of citizen engagement was lower than anticipated.

6.4

The Chair of the meeting (Councillor Sue Alston) read out the recommendations from the report, for the Committee to reflect on whilst asking questions and making comments.

6.5

Members of the Committee asked questions and made comments and the key points to note were: -

6.6

A Member of the Committee raised concerns around the timetable and how close to the AGM (Annual Meeting of the Council) they were before having to put forward recommendations.

The Interim Director of Legal and Governance, David Hollis explained that the AGM was not the last phase of this review and that any aspect of the review that needed further consideration will continue after the AGM.

The Policy and Improvement Officer added that a timetable of meetings of the Governance Committee will be circulated to the Committee.

6.7

A Member of the Committee asked if the AGM was the only meeting of Full Council where changes to the constitution can be made.

The Interim Director of Legal and Governance confirmed that changes to the constitution could be carried out at any meeting of Full Council.

6.8

A Member of the Committee asked how the review of Full Council, that was tasked to the Whips, would feed back into this review of governance arrangements.

The Interim Director of Legal and Governance explained that the Governance Committee would receive a report once the Whips had recommendations from the review of the Full Council meeting.

6.9

A Member of the Committee mentioned the importance of identifying key stages of the review, so the Committee had an action plan and knew what they were working towards in time of the next meetings of Full Council.

6.10

A Member of the Committee referred to the list at appendix 1 which stated ‘Consider whether current Committee remits are appropriately balanced.’ The Member did not feel that this could be considered until the elections had taken place as following the results of the election, the administration may decide upon different Committees remits as to what was agreed at the AGM.

Another Member of the Committee mentioned it would still be good practice to identify Committee remits, prior to the AGM. The administration may or may not agree with what was recommended by the Committee.

6.11

A Member of the Committee stated they were disappointed with the reference to addressing the recommendations from the Involve report, as it looked like the activity around public engagement had been put to one side.

The Head of Policy and Partnerships, Laurie Brenan explained that this had been a capacity issue. He mentioned that public stakeholders were fundamental to this system and will be part of the process, therefore asked the Committee to not read that aspect as public engagement been put to one side. He added that the longer-term goal was for Policy Committees not being the only route for public participation.

6.12

The Chair of the meeting (Councillor Sue Alston) mentioned that ‘public involvement’ should be added to the end of point 1 of ‘Committee Activity’ so that the line read as follows:- ‘Consider how we can create capacity in the system for Policy Committees to undertake more policy development, pre-decision scrutiny and public involvement.’

6.13

A Member of the Committee asked if the recommendations from the Involve report had been provided to the Committee.

The Head of Policy and Partnerships explained that report from involve will feature at a future meeting of the Governance Committee.

6.14

A Member of the Committee raised the importance of Committees being adequately briefed and received papers in sufficient time. There also needed to be sufficient time, prior to a meeting, to engage with members of the public.

The Head of Policy and Partnerships mentioned this was an aspect that were being looked at as part of Officer training, so that they could provide Members with adequate support in the preparation of Council meetings.

6.15

A Member of the Committee asked whether Local Area Committees (LACs) could be given greater decision-making responsibility.

The Policy and Improvement Officer stated that the reference to LACs in the report were for Members to consider how they operated going forward, although this would be a piece of work that needed to be carried out beyond the review of governance arrangements.

The Head of Policy and Partnerships mentioned that he had attended the LAC Chairs group to discuss the relationship between LACs and Policy Committees.

6.16

A Member of the Committee commented that the current process for referring issues from LACs the Policy Committees were slow, and that the 7 LAC Chairs following the AGM, needed to be aware of the importance of that role.

6.17

A Member of the Committee stated they would like to see a climate impact assessment carried out and shown on Committee reports.

The Improvement and Policy Officer mentioned that the intention was to re-name the heading ‘Impact Assessments’ and that climate would be part of that.

The Chair of the meeting (Councillor Sue Alton) stated that many aspects of the list reported at appendix 1 would need to be considered prior to the AGM and that this needed to be reviewed further as part of the Working Group.

6.18

A Member of the Committee referred to previous discussions by the Committee around Co-opted Independent Members and how they could be an asset to the Committee.

The Chair of the meeting (Councillor Sue Alston) mentioned that the Committee may want to invite witnesses to the Committee’s workshops, dependant on the topic being discussed at the time.

6.19

RESOLVED:  That the Governance Committee:

·       consider and note the findings from the Engagement Phase of the review.

·       note that findings related to Full Council have been passed to the Full Council working group for consideration as part of their work.

·       consider whether the issues identified for the Action Planning Phase of the Review are the right ones and;

o   agree that those requiring a change to the system are taken forward to Governance Committee Action Planning Workshops

o   agree that those requiring improvements to how we explain, communicate and support the system are actioned by officers, with progress reports back to Governance Committee at the appropriate time

o   identify which issues can be actioned prior to the Council’s AGM in May 2023, and which will be actioned in the longer term 

o   consider how issues relating to the wider system, beyond the scope of this review are taken forwards.