Agenda item
Constitutional Matters: Committees
- Meeting of Annual County Council, Flintshire County Council, Tuesday, 10th May, 2016 11.00 am (Item 7.)
- View the background to item 7.
Decision:
RESOLVED:
That the County Council confirm the appointment of the Committees as outlined in section 1 of the report and above.
RESOLVED:
That the County Council confirm the size of the Committees as outlined in the report and above.
RESOLVED:
That the terms of reference for each Committee in Part 2 of the Constitution be approved.
RESOLVED:
That the allocation of seats and political balance for each Committee be agreed as Appendix 1 (Option 1).
RESOLVED:
(a) That the following Members be appointed Chair of the Standing Committees as indicated below:-
Constitution Committee - Councillor Robin Guest
Clwyd Pension Fund Committee - Councillor Alan Diskin
Democratic Services Committee - Councillor Robin Guest
Licensing Committee - Councillor Tony Sharps
Planning & Development Control Committee - Councillor David Wisinger
(b) That the Chairs of the Overview & Scrutiny Committees be allocated to the following groups:
Community and Enterprise Labour
Education and Youth Labour
Social and Health Independent
Organisational Change Independent Alliance
Environment New Independents
Corporate Resources Conservative
RESOLVED:
That the existing Local Choice Issues be confirmed.
RESOLVED:
That the appointment of an Appointments Committee, as detailed in section 8.01 of the report, be agreed.
RESOLVED:
That the three County Councillors on the Standards Committee be noted.
Minutes:
The Chief Officer (Governance) introduced the report which dealt with matters requiring decisions at the Annual Meeting of the County Council in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 1.1 (vii) – (xiv). Those matters were set out in separate sections of the report.
(A) Appointment of Committees
The Chief Officer (Governance) explained the requirement within Council Procedure Rules for certain committees to be appointed at the Annual Meeting, which were:
· Audit Committee
· Clwyd Pension Fund Committee
· Constitution Committee
· Democratic Services Committee
· Licensing Committee
· Planning and Development Control Committee
· Standards Committee
In addition, there were six Overview and Scrutiny Committees:
· Community and Enterprise
· Corporate Resources
· Education and Youth
· Environment
· Organisational Change
· Social and Health Care
Councillor Attridge moved approval that the County Council confirm the appointment of the Committees as outlined in the report. This was seconded by Councillor Kevin Jones and on being put to the vote, was carried.
RESOLVED:
That the County Council confirm the appointment of the Committees as outlined in section 1 of the report and above.
(B) Determination of the size of Committees
The Chief Officer (Governance) reported that the Annual Meeting must decide upon the size of each of the Committees it had appointed. The Constitution made provision for the size of the Committees which were:
Audit Committee |
7 |
Constitution Committee |
21 |
Democratic Services Committee |
21 |
Licensing Committee |
12 |
Each Overview and Scrutiny Committee |
15 |
Pensions Committee * (in addition to the places listed there are 4 places for co-optees) |
5 |
Planning & Development Control Committee |
21 |
Councillor Attridge moved approval that the County Council confirm the size of the Committees as detailed in the report and above which was seconded by Councillor Kevin Jones and on being put to the vote, was carried.
RESOLVED:
That the County Council confirm the size of the Committees as outlined in the report and above.
(C) Terms of Reference of Committees and Pension Delegations
The Chief Officer (Governance) reported that the Annual Meeting was required to decide the Terms of Reference of the Committees that it had appointed and that these were set out in Part 2 of the Constitution.
Councillor Attridge moved approval that the County Council confirm the current Terms of Reference of the Committees which was seconded by Councillor Kevin Jones and on being put to the vote, was carried.
RESOLVED:
That the terms of reference for each Committee in Part 2 of the Constitution be approved.
(D) Political Balance
The Chief Officer (Governance) reported that at, or as soon as practicable after the Annual Meeting, Members were required to decide the allocation of seats to political groups in accordance with the Political Balance Rules contained in the Local Government & Housing Act 1989 and the Local Government (Committees and Political Groups) Regulations 1990 as amended.
It was a statutory requirement that Committee seats should be allocated to political groups in so far as practicable in the same proportion as those groups had to the total membership of the County Council. Appended to the report was an option that met the Rules contained in the Act.
Councillor Attridge proposed that the County Council confirm the allocation of seats and political balance as outlined in Appendix 1. This was seconded by Councillor Christine Jones.
Councillor Mike Peers moved an amendment and proposed an alternative option that was handed out to Members, Option 2. Councillor Peers said his proposal did not make any significant changes but would result in the Independent Alliance Group having three Members on both Constitution Committee and Democratic Services Committee, which was one less on Constitution Committee as shown on Option 1, and one more place on Corporate Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee. It was his proposal that the New Independents lose one place on Corporate Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee and gain one place on Constitution Committee. This had been suggested with the support of the New Independents Group Leader. On being put to the vote this was lost.
A vote was taken on the substantive motion which was carried.
RESOLVED:
That the allocation of seats and political balance for each Committee be agreed as Appendix 1 (Option 1).
(E) Appointment of Chairs of Standing Committees
The Chief Officer (Governance) reported that Committee Chairs were appointed by different bodies with some being subject to restrictions. A table in the report provided details of which body was to appoint which Chair.
For the Committees that the County Council was responsible for appointing the Chair, Councillor Aaron Shotton moved the following, which was seconded by Councillor Bernie Attridge and on being put to the vote, was carried:
§ Clwyd Pension Fund Committee - Councillor Alan Diskin
§ Constitution Committee - Councillor Robin Guest
§ Democratic Services Committee - Councillor Robin Guest
§ Licensing Committee - Councillor Tony Sharps
§ Planning & Development Control Committee - Councillor David Wisinger
It was reported that the Chairs of Overview & Scrutiny committees were chosen by the political groups and were dependent on the strength of the various groups and which groups had seats on the Cabinet. The two groups with seats on the Cabinet comprised 57.14% of the total number of Councillors and were entitled to three of the six seats. The remaining three seats must be allocated between the other four groups. The larger sizes of the Independent Alliance and Conservative groups meant they were entitled to one seat. The Liberal Democrat group and New Independent group were the same size and had the same entitlement. Therefore Council must decide which group was to be allocated the remaining chair.
Councillor Aaron Shotton moved the following, which was seconded by Councillor Attridge:
Overview & Scrutiny Committee Group to Choose Chair
Community and Enterprise Labour
Education and Youth Labour
Social and Health Independent
Organisational Change Independent Alliance
Environment New Independents
Corporate Resources Conservative
Councillor Aaron Shotton then provided names of the following Labour Members to be appointed as Chairs which was seconded by Councillor Attridge:
Community and Enterprise Overview & Scrutiny Committee
Councillor Ron Hampson
Education and Youth Overview & Scrutiny Committee
Councillor Ian Roberts
Councillor Sharps provided the name of the Independent group member for the following:
Social & Healthcare Overview & Scrutiny Committee
Councillor Carol Ellis
RESOLVED:
(a) That the following Members be appointed Chair of the Standing Committees as indicated below:-
Constitution Committee - Councillor Robin Guest
Clwyd Pension Fund Committee - Councillor Alan Diskin
Democratic Services Committee - Councillor Robin Guest
Licensing Committee - Councillor Tony Sharps
Planning & Development Control Committee - Councillor David Wisinger
(b) That the Chairs of the Overview & Scrutiny Committees be allocated to the following groups:
Community and Enterprise Labour
Education and Youth Labour
Social and Health Independent
Organisational Change Independent Alliance
Environment New Independents
Corporate Resources Conservative
(F) Local Choice Functions
The Chief Officer (Governance) reported that the Council was required to agree such parts of the Scheme of Delegation relating to those local choice functions which could be decided either by the Council or the Cabinet and/ or delegated to officers.
On being put to the vote, was carried.
RESOLVED:
That the existing Local Choice Issues be confirmed.
(G) Nominations to Internal Bodies
The Chief Officer (Governance) reported that the existing Scheme of Delegation provided for an Appointments Committee for first and second tier officers comprising of seven Members. This was not a Standing Committee and was convened when required by seeking nominations from Group Leaders. Previously it had been usual for Committee Members to be politically balanced including the relevant Cabinet Member. The Council had previously agreed that the Chair or Vice Chair of the relevant Overview & Scrutiny Committee be one of the Members of the Committee. It was recommended that the Council continue the previous practice.
On being put to the vote, was carried.
RESOLVED:
That the appointment of an Appointments Committee, as detailed in section 8.01 of the report, be agreed.
(H) Standards Committee
The Chief Officer (Governance) explained that the Standards Committee included five independent members, a Community Council member and three County Councillors (not to be the Leader or a Cabinet Member). The three County Council Members were appointed at the last Annual Meeting for a period of four years.
RESOLVED:
That the three County Councillors on the Standards Committee be noted.
Supporting documents:
- Constitutional Matters : Committees and Outside Bodies, item 7. PDF 107 KB
- Appendix 1 - Political Balance, item 7. PDF 42 KB