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Democracy and General Purposes Committee

1 July 2020

 

Outside Bodies – Current Status

 

Final Decision-Maker

Democracy and General Purposes Committee

Lead Head of Service

Angela Woodhouse, Head of Policy, Communication and Governance

Lead Officer and Report Author

Ryan O’Connell, Democratic and Electoral Services Manager and Oliviya Parfitt, Democratic Services Officer.

Classification

Public

 

Wards affected

All

 

Executive Summary

 

The report informs the committee that Outside Bodies administration is continuing but is considered a low priority.  It also sets out the current information on Outside Body vacancies across committees.

 

Purpose of Report

 

To provide an update on the current status of Outside Bodies

 

 

This report makes the following recommendations to this Committee:

1.   That the low operational priority currently being given to Outside Bodies administration and the update on Outside Body vacancies be noted.

 

 

 

Timetable

Meeting

Date

Democracy and General Purposes Committee

1 July 2020



Outside Bodies – Current Status

 

1.       CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS

 

 

Issue

Implications

Sign-off

Impact on Corporate Priorities

Good governance has an indirect impact on all Corporate Priorities.

Democratic and Electoral Services Manager

Cross Cutting Objectives

Good governance has an indirect impact on all Corporate Objectives.

Democratic and Electoral Services Manager

Risk Management

None – report for information

 

Democratic and Electoral Services Manager

Financial

None – report for information

 

Democratic and Electoral Services Manager

Staffing

None – report for information

 

Democratic and Electoral Services Manager

Legal

Outside bodies are appointed to in accordance with the Council’s constitution and the standing orders/agreements of each outside body

Democratic and Electoral Services Manager

Privacy and Data Protection

None – report for information

Democratic and Electoral Services Manager

Equalities

None – report for information

Democratic and Electoral Services Manager

Public Health

 

 

None – report for information

Democratic and Electoral Services Manager

Crime and Disorder

None – report for information

Democratic and Electoral Services Manager

Procurement

·         None – report for information

Democratic and Electoral Services Manager

 

 

2.      INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

 

2.1        Outside bodies were reviewed at the end of 2019 with new rules introduced for advertising vacancies and considering whether to retain membership of the outside body where no nominees were forthcoming for two rounds of advertising.

 

2.2        Outside bodies are not easy to administer.  This is due in great part to the need to liaise with 33 outside bodies to ensure that things are being run smoothly and good governance is in place.  Although our internal processes are sound, due to a combination of staffing changes and the outbreak of Covid-19 the administration of outside bodies is set as a low priority.  The basic administration is continuing with outside body reports going to committees and nominations still being sought, but more detailed work and reviewing the need for positions has been put on hold.

 

2.3        As a result this report only updates the committee on the current status of Outside Body vacancies and the diagram below sets out the current number of vacancies.

 

2.4     Appendix 1 sets out the details of the vacancies.  A number of these are being advertised at the moment and the detail may have changed by the time of the Committee meeting.

 

 

3.   AVAILABLE OPTIONS

 

3.1     The Committee is recommended to note the update.

 

3.2     In addition the committee could provide a steer on desired action or information on Outside Bodies from Democratic Services, or add a future item into the Committee work programme.

 

 

4.        PREFERRED OPTION AND REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS

 

4.1     Due to the current workloads and staffing levels in Democratic Services it is recommended that the update be noted with no further action at this time.

 

 

5.       RISK

5.1      The report has no significant impact on risk.

 

6.       CONSULTATION RESULTS AND PREVIOUS COMMITTEE FEEDBACK

 

6.1     None

 

 

 

7.       NEXT STEPS: COMMUNICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DECISION

 

7.1     None

 

 

8.        REPORT APPENDICES

 

   Appendix 1: Outside Body Detail

           

 

 

9.        BACKGROUND PAPERS

 

None