| Minutes: | CONSTITUTION COMMITTEE 16TH APRIL 2002 Minutes of the resumed meeting of the Constitution Committee of the Flintshire County Council held at County Hall, Mold, on Tuesday, 16th April 2002. PRESENT: Councillor I.B. Roberts (Chairman) Councillors L.A. Aldridge, R.C. Bithell, D. Butler, A.R. Cattermoul, D.M.D. Clayton, D. Darlington, E.F. Evans, E. Hall, R.G. Hampson, P.G. Heesom, K. Iball, R.K. Jones, E.E. Matthew, M. Matthews, D.G. Parry, H.G. Roberts, S. Roberts, C. Shone, N.R. Steele-Mortimer, D.R. Wilkes and G.D. Williams. APOLOGIES: Councillors J.G. Beard, T.W. Jones, N. Phillips, A. Popplewell and I.L. Roberts. IN ATTENDANCE: Chief Executive, County Secretary, Assistant County Secretary and Administration Services Manager.
5. LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 2000 - part 2 - constitution A report of the County Secretary, copies of which had been previously circulated together with a draft constitution, were submitted. In addition the County Secretary had circulated a letter to all Members of the Committee with the report advising that it was very much a "live" document and its contents had been derived from a number of sources including not least the Modular Constitution proposed by the National Assembly for Wales which in itself contains several variations for almost every eventuality. At this stage the document would contain a number of errors which would be corrected during proof-reading and that some reconciliation between cross references may be necessary. In addition Members were reminded that Financial Regulations and contract procedure rules were essentially the Council's existing Contract Standing Orders, Financial Regulations and Financial Standing Orders updated and amended to observe the statutory requirements of the Local Government Act and subordinate legislation to reflect the Executive Arrangements. The County Secretary advised that the draft constitution accompanying this report was capable of being completed, subject to Members' observations for presentation to the County Council on the 23rd April or at the latest the Annual Meeting on 7th May, 2002. A move to quarterly meetings diaried for the County Council could be accomplished with minimum disruption to existing patterns with meetings diaried for the 16th July and 22nd October, 2002 and 14th January and 25th March, 2003 with the budget meeting on 4th March, 2003. If this proved acceptable then an any approved constitution and its operation should be kept under review and considered at the County Council on 16th July and 22nd October with the proviso that the latter meeting be required to expressly re-affirm or amend the constitution for publication. It was anticipated most operational issues would have been identified and the document reduced, so far as was possible into plain language by the 22nd October County Council. The County Secretary then proceeded to draw a number of points to Members' attention. In relation to finance reference was made to the financial procedure rules, contract procedure rules and the Treasury Policy Management Scheme and that in relation to the budget the Council would set the virement limits. On Scheme of Delegation reference was made to the fact that the Executive would act as a collective and only in very urgent cases would an individual Executive Member be consulted by the relevant Chief Officer with the decision being made by the Chief Officer or the Chief Executive under delegation within the budgetary policy framework. Whilst it was intended that every contract let by the Council would be in writing the Council could set a limit to which this applied and the sum of œ50,000 had been included in the constitution. In addition a current anomaly was to be addressed concerning arithmetical checking of documents. When the Director of Adult Social Care and the new Director of Educational Services and Recreation had been appointed the Appointment Panels had included in the appointments the appropriate protocol in relation to the Social Services function. The Officer Code of Conduct remained in draft form and was still subject to the outworkings of a working group which was enlarging upon the statutory code introduced by the Assembly. In relation to call-in arrangements by Overview and Scrutiny and the need to refer the matter to a special Council meeting then this would be arranged within ten working days which would be increased to fifteen if there was a scheduled meeting available. The Lifelong Learning, Overview and Scrutiny Committee would have co-opted persons and it was suggested by the County Secretary that three of these places should go to Parent Governors, one to the Church in Wales and one to the Catholic Church. It had been established that in relation to A.D. Waste the Council representative need not be an Executive Member. The Access and Information rules appeared not to allow the Executive to have urgent items included in the Agenda and this point was being looked at in conjunction with the National Assembly. On the matter of joint working arrangements which required representation by Executive Members this was already covered in relation to the Wirral and North Wales Consortium and the Trunk Roads Agency but there were other Members representing the Council in relation to the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the Flintshire and Denbighshire Joint Agricultural Committee and it was hoped that this aspect would be further clarified by the National Assembly. The Assistant County Secretary referred to the Overview and Scrutiny procedure rules in Part 4 and to the document which had been circulated prior to the meeting following consultation with the Chair and Vice Chairs of the existing Committees. The Executive Member for Economic Development and Tourism made reference to Leader Plus the requirement for a dispensation which was responded to by the County Secretary and Chief Executive. In response to the Local Member for Trelawnyd and Gwaenysgor the County Secretary explained the reason behind the formal composition for Audit Committee contained in Article 7 which was to achieve what the Council had indicated they wished of substitutes not being applicable. However it has not to be part of political balance with the nominations being open to the groups and thereby determined by the full Council. It would require no Members to vote against under the Legislation. The Leader of the Council referred to the A.D. Waste position and in particular the remuneration being the same as for Executive Members as proposed by the Welsh Local Government Association to which he disagreed. In relation to the appointment of Chairs and Vice Chairs to the new Scrutiny Committees at the Annual meeting the Assistant County Secretary confirmed to the Leader that it would first be necessary for the groups to advise of their nominations for membership of each of these committees. On Members' allowances the Leader indicated that he would be meeting the other group leaders and advised that he was not minded to enforce the 10% in relation to Special Responsibility Allowances for group leaders. The Member for Mostyn expressed a view that this was a very important document and not just of a technical nature making particular reference to the composition of the Audit Committee and political balance in relation to the ten Executive Members. In particular the Member made reference to a letter received by the Leader of the Council from the appropriate National Assembly Minister concerning the Council's position in relation to submissions made under Part 2. As a point of order the Leader of the Council advised the Member that he had received the letter on the 10th April the day after the last meeting of the Constitution Committee and had immediately made the information available to the Chief Executive which confirmed that approval had been given to the Council's submission and suggested that the Member should write to the Minister if he was not satisfied. The Member indicated he would do this. The Chief Executive confirmed the view expressed by the Leader whilst the County Secretary made reference to discussions held with Officers at the National Assembly which had earlier indicated the views now confirmed in the letter of the Minister. The Member for Mostyn reiterated previous issues concerning the issue of the letter and then indicated he wished to comment upon the constitution as explained by the County Secretary. The Chairman advised the Member that the five minutes allowed by Members to speak on an issue as laid down in the Standing Orders had now passed and that the Officer concerned had ensured that the clock had been stopped during the interruptions of the Member's points. Reference was made by the Member for Mold East to the position of co-opted Members on to the Lifelong Learning Scrutiny Committee being able to vote, the role of political party whips in relation to Scrutiny Committee meetings and the numbers required for the issue of minority reports. In response the County Secretary indicated that co-opted Members would be able to vote and that in relation to a minority report it would perhaps be better not to specify a number and review it by the Council should the need arise in the future. The Executive Member for Finance referred to how decisions were made in Article 1 in relation to the Audit Committee and felt that reference to income also needed to be included in addition to that of expenditure. In relation to Audit Committee form and composition the Member for Mold East requested that the County Secretary prepare a more readable interpretation of what was intended. The Member for Gwernaffield made reference to previous questions already submitted to the County Secretary and requested confirmation that the purpose of today's meeting was just to give any agreement in principle as he indicated the Liberal Democratic group required more time to consider the documentation. In relation to Notice of Motion he made reference to the previous court case which had resulted in the Council's Standing Order being changed from two to one Member. In reply the County Secretary confirmed that the purpose of today's report was just to agree a direction in principle and that in relation to the Notice of Motion issue he concurred with the sentiments expressed by the Member, a view also supported by the Leader of the Council. The Member for Mold East made reference to Article 8.03 (D) on the role of the Executive and that of the Leader of the Council and in relation to the Standards Committee requested clarification of where it referred to complaints against Councillors both points being responded to by the County Secretary. RESOLVED: (1) That the draft constitution and proposed timetable of meetings be approved in principle subject to the Notice of Motion referred to in Part 4 10.1 being amended to be signed by one Member of the Council. (2) That the Officers be authorised to complete the draft by amendment to the Council's Contract Standing Orders, Financial Regulations and Standing Orders and Scheme of Delegation. (3) That the County Council on the 23rd April, 2002, be recommended to adopt this constitution as its constitution for its Executive Arrangements to be implemented from the date of the Annual Meeting on 7th May, 2002.
6. DURATION OF MEETING The meeting commenced at 4.00 p.m. and adjourned at 5.20 p.m. ................................................... Chairman SUMMARY OF DECLARATIONS MADE BY MEMBERS IN ACCORDANCE WITH FLINTSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL'S CODE OF CONDUCT CONSTITUTION COMMITTEE DATE: 16TH APRIL, 2002 MEMBER ITEM MIN. NO. REFERS NO DECLARATIONS WERE MADE |
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