Agenda item

(a)       That the proposed changes be recommended to Council subject to rephrasing to address the point made by Councillor C. Carver

(b)       That the Democracy and Governance Manager bring a report to a future meeting on Corporate Service Standards for responses to communications.  

The Democracy and Governance Manager introduced the report and explained that a 3 year programme to update the Constitution was now in place.  Six areas of the Constitution had been identified for review in year one.  This report introduced suggested changes to Part 1, Part 2 and Part 8.  Changes to Part 1 were shown as tracked changes in Appendix 1 and Part 2 in Appendix 2. Appendices 3 and 4 referred to changes in the table showing the Senior Management team to include Heads of Service.  Appendix 5 referred to the Review and Revision of the Constitution and the Democracy and Governance Manager pointed out a further change to Appendix 5, whereby  the sentence in the underlined paragraph should read “Where the changes are consequential” rather than “Where the changes consequential.

The Democracy and Governance Manager explained that the guiding principles of the review were to update current arrangements and to avoid ambiguity.  He also informed the Committee that the Welsh Government were currently in the process of preparing a model constitution for all local Welsh Authorities.

            Councillor R. C. Bithell referred to page 16 of the report and asked if the Appeals Committee could deal with all types of appeals, such as transport services and social care.  The Democracy and Governance Manager said that the Committee dealt with those appeals which our policies or procedures gave an appeal to it.  Councillor Bithell asked whether response times to customer queries should be included under Citizen’s Rights on page 16.  The Democracy and Governance Manager in response said that the section dealt with legal rights, although if the Committee wished, the Constitution could be expanded to include procedures for Corporate Communication.  Councillor Bithell asked if the Democracy and Governance Manager could investigate this further.

            Councillor J.B. Attridge questioned the use of a protocol in the Constitution when responsibility with it lay with the Chief Executive.  He asked for clarification about corporate service standards in terms of customer communications.  It was agreed that the Democracy and Governance Manager research the matter and submit a report to a future meeting.

            Councillor R.C. Bithell asked if the Overview and Scrutiny function was affected by delegation to and from other local authorities on page 49. He was concerned about powers being taken away from Flintshire County Council.  The Chair said this matter would be dealt with under Agenda Item 6.  The Head of Legal and Democratic Services advised that a report went to Executive in February 2012 setting out in detail the scrutiny arrangements for regional collaboration projects.

            Councillor C. Carver asked about page 4 of Appendix 1, with reference to Citizens Rights and asked if this meant citizens had the right to contact their local councillor about any matters of concern to them, even if it concerned matters outside of their ward or even Flintshire.  The Chair said that it was expected that members referred cases outside their ward to the relevant member for that ward for them to pursue.    The Head of Legal and Democratic Services said that a local councillor would then refer a matter in their ward to a relevant officer of the council or to the portfolio holder. The Democracy and Governance Manager said that this could be re-phrased to clarify the matter.  Councillor C. Carver referred to Article 19 – Review and Revision of the Constitution in Appendix 5 and observed that Cabinet could make decisions that could not be called in which would then amend the constitution.   The Democracy and Governance Manager said that the procedure was rarely used and did involve consultation with the Chair of the Council and only applied in the case of urgent decisions.  The Head of Legal and Democratic Services said that that it was unlikely that Cabinet would need to amend the consultation urgently.

            Councillor R. C. Bithell asked if the Member development and training referred to Democratic Services Committee (Appendix 1, page 4) was applicable to all Members.  The Head of Legal and Democratic Services said that every Member would be supported.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the proposed changes be recommended to Council subject to rephrasing to address the point made by Councillor C. Carver

(b)       That the Democracy and Governance Manager bring a report to a future meeting on Corporate Service Standards for responses to communications.