Agenda item

CONSTITUTIONAL MATTERS: COMMITTEES AND OUTSIDE BODIES

Decision:

RESOLVED:

That the County Council confirm the appointment of the Committees as outlined in section 2 of the report and above.

RESOLVED:

That the County Council confirm the size of the Committees as outlined above and in section 3.01 of the report.

RESOLVED:

That the terms of reference for each Committee in Part 2 of the Constitution, including the terms of reference for the new Overview and Scrutiny Committees, be approved.

RESOLVED:

That the allocation of seats and political balance for each Committee be agreed as Appendices 1 and 2 respectively.

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/Independent

Education and Youth Labour/Independent

Social and Health Labour/Independent

Organisational Change New Independents

Environment Independent Alliance

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 appointment of outside bodies be delegated to the Chief Executive in consultation with Group Leaders and non-aligned Members.

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

· Clwyd Pension Fund

· Constitution

· Democratic Services

· Licensing

· Planning and Development

· Standards

In addition, there were six Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

Councillor Tony Sharps moved approval that the County Council confirm the appointment of the Committees as outlined in the report. This was seconded by Councillor Bernie Attridge and on being put to the vote, was carried.

RESOLVED:

That the County Council confirm the appointment of the Committees as outlined in section 2 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 Aaron Shotton moved approval that the County Council confirm the size of the Committees as detailed above which was seconded by Councillor Bernie Attridge and on being put to the vote, was carried.

RESOLVED:

That the County Council confirm the size of the Committees as outlined above and in section 3.01 of the report.

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. The terms of reference for the Overview and Scrutiny Committees, considered earlier in the meeting as part of the Overview and Committee Structure item, would take immediate effect and be incorporated into the Constitution.

Councillor Aaron Shotton moved approval that the County Council confirm the current Terms of Reference of the Committees This was seconded by Councillor Bernie Attridge and on being put to the vote, was carried.

RESOLVED:

That the terms of reference for each Committee in Part 2 of the Constitution, including the terms of reference for the new Overview and Scrutiny Committees, 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. The agenda for the Annual Meeting was despatched before the by election in the Caergwrle Ward which had taken place on 7 May and following that by election, a recommended allocation of seats, shown as Appendix 1, and political balance for each Committee, shown as Appendix 2, were circulated.

He explained that the largest group, Labour, needed to have the majority on one of the Committees based on the allocation rules and it was proposed that this be on the Social and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee. It could however be on any Committee.

Councillor Aaron Shotton proposed that the County Council confirm the allocation of seats and political balance as outlined in Appendices 1 and 2. This was seconded by Councillor Bernie Attridge.

Councillor Carver said that the number of seats allocated to the Conservative group had reduced over time despite the size of their group not changing. The Chief Officer (Governance) explained that each time the allocation was calculated it was done on a proportionate basis so if the Council had not been at its full complement when the political balance was considered, the Conservative group would have had a higher proportion of Members. Now that the Council had its full complement of 70 Members the Conservative group represented a smaller proportion of the Council as a whole.

Councillor Tim Newhouse proposed an amendment to Appendix 2 so that the Conservatives had two places on Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee with the New Independents reducing to one place, and the New Independents had two places on Organisational Change Overview and Scrutiny Committee with the Conservatives reducing to one place. This was seconded by Councillor Clive Carver.

A vote was taken on the amendment and was lost.

Following a number of concerns expressed on the lack of time Members had to consider the proposals, the Chair adjourned the meeting for 15 minutes to allow political groups to consider Appendices 1 and 2 which had been circulated at the start of the meeting.

On returning to the meeting, a vote was taken on the substantive motion and this was carried.

RESOLVED:

That the allocation of seats and political balance for each Committee be agreed as Appendices 1 and 2 respectively.

(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. Following the by election, it was proposed that the Labour and Independent Groups had three Overview and Scrutiny chairs with the other three between the remaining largest political groups which were Independent Alliance, Conservative and New Independents.

Councillor Aaron Shotton moved the following, which was seconded by Councillor Bernie Attridge:

Overview & Scrutiny Committee Group to Choose Chair

Community and Enterprise Labour/Independent

Education and Youth Labour/Independent

Social and Health Labour/Independent

Organisational Change New Independents

Environment Independent Alliance

Corporate Resources Conservative

Councillor Aaron Shotton then provided names of the following Members to be appointed as Chairs which was seconded by Councillor Bernie Attridge:

Community and Enterprise Overview & Scrutiny Committee

Councillor Ron Hampson

Education and Youth Overview & Scrutiny Committee

Councillor Ian Roberts

Social & Healthcare Overview & Scrutiny Committee

Councillor Carol Ellis

Councillor Mike Peers moved an amendment that the Organisational Change Overview and Scrutiny Chair be allocated to the Independent Alliance group with the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Chair being allocated to the New Independents group which was seconded by Councillor Gareth Roberts.

On being put to the vote the amendment was lost.

A vote was taken on the substantive motion which was carried.

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/Independent

Education and Youth Labour/Independent

Social and Health Labour/Independent

Organisational Change New Independents

Environment Independent Alliance

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.

Councillor Aaron Shotton proposed that the existing table of Local Choice Functions included in Part 3, Section A, Table 3 of the Constitution, be confirmed. This was seconded by Councillor Bernie Attridge and 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.

Councillor Aaron Shotton proposed that the previous practice should continue. This was seconded by Councillor Bernie Attridge and 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) Nominations to Outside Bodies

The Chief Officer (Governance) explained that the list of outside bodies to which the Council made appointments, and the current appointments, was appended to the report. The Council was recommended to delegate to the Chief Executive, in consultation with Group Leaders and non-aligned Members, any changes to the appointments to these bodies.

Councillor Aaron Shotton moved approval that the appointment of outside bodies be delegated to the Chief Executive, in consultation with Group Leaders and non-aligned Members. This was seconded by Councillor Bernie Attridge and on being put to the vote, was carried.

RESOLVED:

That the appointment of outside bodies be delegated to the Chief Executive in consultation with Group Leaders and non-aligned Members.

(I) 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 of Cabinet Members). 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 8. PDF 86 KB