Agenda item

(a)       That the decisions which the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales has made on Member salaries for 2019/20 be noted; and

(b)       That the County Council notes that a further report will be made to the June meeting, once all appointments to senior salary posts have been made following the Annual General Meeting on 7 May 2019.

The Democratic Services Manager presented the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales (IRPW) Annual report for 2019/20 which determined the rates of payment for elected and co-opted Members of Welsh Local Authorities for the next financial year.  The draft proposals had been considered on 20 November 2018 when Members had opposed the proposed increases as being unjustifiable.

Members were reminded of the obligation to apply the determinations of the IRPW (as set out in the report) unless they chose to independently and voluntarily write to the Democratic Services Manager to forego all or any element of the payment.  A further report would be submitted to the County Council in June, once all appointments to senior salary posts had been made following the Annual General Meeting.

The recommendations in the report were proposed by Councillor Bernie Attridge and seconded by Councillor Ian Dunbar.

Councillor Richard Jones asked about the possibility of all Members voting to forego the increase and was advised that such representations must be made in writing (by letter or email) by individual Members.

Councillor Aaron Shotton said it was unfortunate that the timing of the report coincided with the Council Tax setting and that the same level of scrutiny did not apply to appointments to other public bodies across Wales.  In reiterating the views expressed at the November meeting, he said that he would not be accepting the proposed increase.

The Chief Executive said that the report was submitted annually to the County Council and that consideration may be given to how this was done in future, given that all the information was published.

In response to a question from Councillor Dunbar, the Chief Executive advised that as the Council was entirely responsible for paying allowances, any decision by Members to refuse their increase would have the effect of reducing this specific budget pressure.  Alternatively, Members may wish to pass the increase on to a third party if they wished.

Councillor Carol Ellis proposed an amendment that Members vote on whether to accept the increase in advance of writing to the proper officer, in order to reduce the budget pressure.  This was seconded by Councillor Richard Jones.

To assist the debate, the Chief Executive said that such a vote would only be advisory but raised concerns that this could put pressure on Members in considering their individual circumstances.

Councillor Ellis confirmed that she wished her amendment to stand.

On hearing the officer advice, Councillor Jones withdrew his seconding of the amendment.

The amendment was subsequently seconded by Councillor Helen Brown.

Councillor Neville Phillips spoke against the amendment on the basis of the officer advice.

Whilst Councillor Mike Peers understood the rationale behind the amendment, he agreed with the officer advice that Members should not vote and instead make their own decision on whether to opt out of the increase.

Having been proposed and seconded, the Chief Executive summarised the amendment as a third recommendation which was agreed by Councillor Ellis as follows: That the County Council invites all Members to forego the annual increase in salary/allowance on a voluntary basis.

On being put to the vote, the amendment was lost.

The substantive motion, as previously moved and seconded, was put to the vote and carried.

Members were advised that written notification to forego all or any element of the payment must be made to the Democratic Services Manager by 8 March 2019.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the decisions which the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales has made on Member salaries for 2019/20 be noted; and

(b)       That the County Council notes that a further report will be made to the June meeting, once all appointments to senior salary posts have been made following the Annual General Meeting on 7 May 2019.