Agenda, decisions and minutes

            The Chair confirmed that none had been received.  

To receive any declarations of interests from Members.

The Head of Legal and Democratic Services advised that all Members had a personal interest in agenda item number 11 – Consultation by the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales (IRPW).

            On agenda item number 12 – Single Status Implementation Plan, the Head of Legal and Democratic Services said the same declarations of interest would be recorded as those at County Council on 29 October 2013.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting on 23 October 2013.

The minutes of the meeting held on 23 October 2013 were submitted.

Councillor Richard Jones asked if there was a response to the question on collaborative projects and whether there were any new projects where the three stage reporting Protocol which had been adopted had not been followed.  The Chief Executive responded that he would follow that up and guidance would be re-issued.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

A copy of the Chair’s communications had been circulated to all Members before the meeting.

No petitions were submitted.

The Chair confirmed that no Notices of Motion had been received.

To note the answers to any questions submitted in accordance with County Council Standing Order No. 9.4(A).

The following questions had been submitted by Councillor Tony Sharps:

(1)       How many homes could be built on the sites for residential development allocated in the UDP that have not as yet received planning permission?

(2)       How many homes have received planning permission but have not yet been developed?

A copy of the responses to the questions, provided by the Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Environment, was circulated to all Members before the start of the meeting.  A copy of the response is attached at Appendix 1 to the minutes.

The Minute Books, Edition 3, has been circulated to Members.  Members are now entitled to ask questions on these minutes, subject to certain limitations, and answers will be provided at the meeting.  Members are requested to bring to the meeting their copy of the Minute Book.  Any questions must have been received by the Democracy and Governance Manager prior to the close of business on 6 November 2013.

The Chair confirmed that no questions had been received.

That the changes to Article 7 set out in Appendix A to the report be approved.

The Democracy and Governance Manager introduced the report which detailed the proposed changes to the Audit Committee role contained in Article 7 of the Council Constitution.

            A review of the Committee’s role had taken place and been reported to the Audit Committee on 30 July 2013 and Constitution Committee on 16 October 2013.  The revised wording following consideration by those Committees was attached at Appendix A to the report.

            The main changes were:

·        The role of the Committee was clarified in terms of financial affairs

·        The work of the Committee was specified for risk management, corporate governance, treasury management and collaborations

·        The review of the Anti Fraud and Corruption Strategy, Fraud Response Plan and Whistleblowing Policy was included

·        Reports from other regulatory bodies were included

·        Approval of the Internal Audit Charter, the receipt of the Annual Report and the monitoring of performance indicators was included

·        A strengthening of reporting on the implementation of audit recommendations

·        From the Local Government Measure, the ability of the Committee to require the presence of a Member or officer (previously ‘request’)

·        The frequency of meetings as laid down by the Local Government Measure – at least once a year, but as many as the Committee wanted

·        The training requirements for the Committee

·        The need for the Committee to act apolitically was stated

Councillor Bernie Attridge proposed that the County Council support the recommendation outlined in the report which was seconded by Councillor Alison Halford.

RESOLVED:

That the changes to Article 7 set out in Appendix A to the report be approved.

a)         That the Council’s response to consultation on the draft annual report for 2014/15 be as follows:

1. The Council expresses concern about the two proposed changes to introduce more local choice in relation to the payments to be made to Committee Chairs, Civic Heads and Deputy Civic Heads (determinations 3 and 6 in the draft annual report).  One of the most important features of the Councillors’ allowance in Wales is that it is independent of those who receive those allowances.  Greater local choice on the level of allowances could therefore give rise to the appearance of a conflict of interest and should be rejected.
2. In relation to the first and second determinations in the draft report relating to increases in basic allowances/salary and the payments to the Leader, Deputy Leader and other Cabinet members, the Council believes it would be inequitable for Members to receive a greater increase in their pay than the majority of Council staff and would only favour these increases if those staff on NJC terms and conditions were receiving at least a 1% increase in their pay.
3. The Council agrees with the proposal of removing the maximum reimbursement for an overnight stay in Cardiff so that for all overnight stays outside of London the maximum reimbursement would be £95.
4. The draft annual report does not propose any increase in the number of Councillors who can be paid for having special responsibilities and therefore does not address the discrepancy between those Councils who have a larger number of Councillors (such as Flintshire) and those that do not (such as Isle of Anglesey).  Only 25.7% of Flintshire’s membership can receive payments for their special responsibilities whereas in Anglesey it is 50% and there is no good reason for this discrepancy.

(b)       That the Democracy and Governance Manager be the appropriate officer for the purposes of the determinations in paragraph 4(i) and (iii) of  Appendix 1

The Democracy and Governance Manager introduced the report which outlined a draft response to consultation by the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales (IPRW) on its draft annual report for 2014/15.

            A report on the consultation document was submitted to the Constitution Committee on 16 October 2013 and their views were reflected in the report before Members. 

            On 1 November 2013 the IRPW issued a supplemental report in respect of payments to co-opted members, details of which were included in Appendix 1 to the report.  The determinations in that supplement report were to take effect on 1 January 2014.

It was agreed at the meeting of Constitution Committee that the Democracy and Governance Manager would prepare a draft response to the consultation document which was attached as Appendix 2 to the report.

Details of the proposed changes of the IRPW were outlined by the Democracy and Governance Manager as:

·        An increase of basic allowance for Members in 2014/15 from £13,175 to £13,300 p.a.

·        An increase in payment to the Leader by £500 p.a.

·        An increase in payment to the Deputy Leader by £40 p.a.

·        An increase in payment to Cabinet Members by £220 p.a.

·        Local choice to be given to each County Council to choose which of three salary bands to pay each individual Committee Chair.  It was proposed it would be either £8,700, £6,700 of £4,700 p.a.  At present, all Committee Chairs received the same extra payment of £8,735 for their added responsibility

On paragraph 3.05 of the report which detailed the proposed increase to the amount paid to the Leader of the largest so called opposition group, the Democracy and Governance manager apologised for an error contained in the report which read that that post would receive an increase from £3,745 p.a. to £8,700 p.a.  This was incorrect and the allowance for that post would decrease slightly.  He therefore suggested that paragraph 3 of the proposed response should be excluded. 

            Also proposed by the IRPW was:

·        Local choice in payments to Civic Heads and deputy Civic Heads

·        Removal of the current maximum reimbursement for an overnight stay in Cardiff (£120) – the maximum for all such overnight stays outside of London to be £95

The draft annual report made no proposals to change the limit of 18 on a number of ‘senior salaries’ which Flintshire could pay its members who had special responsibilities.  This represented 25.7% of the Council membership when for other Councils it could be as high as 50%.

On co-opted members, Members were asked to agree that the Democracy and Governance Manager be the appropriate officer for the purposes of the determinations outlined in 4(i) and 4(iii) of Appendix 1.

Councillor Bernie Attridge proposed that the County Council support the recommendation outlined in the report which was seconded by Councillor Robin Guest.

            Councillor Aaron Shotton moved an amendment to the proposed Council’s response for point 1 to read “The Council expresses concern about the two proposed changes to introduce more local choice in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 66.

Verbal Update by the Chief Executive and Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development

That the verbal update be received.

The Chief Executive updated the situation following the recent Special Meeting (29 October 2013).

The Trade Unions were requesting permission from their national offices to ballot their members on the proposals and it was hoped approval would be given shortly which would enable the ballot to take place in early 2014.

The target date for employees receiving their individual letters was week commencing 2 December 2013 and a staff communication update had been sent out that day.  The implementation date of Single Status was 1 April 2014.

Members would be kept informed of the exact date that the letters would be sent to employees and would receive information on how to deal with any queries and details of where employees should be signposted to.

Managers had attended meetings to provide them with details on how to deal with any queries from employees following receipt of the letters.

RESOLVED:

That the verbal update be received.

There was one member of the press in attendance.