The Director of Strategy,
Insight and Governance introduced the report on the planned
six-month review of the Council’s Constitution, in response
to the change of Governance model from May 2022. The recommended option in the report was to
conduct the review via a working group with representation of all
groups that would report back to the Committee before
recommendations were made to full Council. The report recommended that the scope of the
review would cover Part C of the Constitution as the area with the
most issues identified, though there would be consequential
amendments to the other parts of the Constitution.
The Committee supported the
review, and the use of the working group with political
representation across all groups but felt that the working group
should determine the scope of the review. This would include issues identified by officers,
including the absence of rules and information, for example on how
to conduct call-ins, as well as issues identified by
Councillors.
It was noted that the Committee
would retain overall responsibility for the review as the working
group would report back to them. It was
clarified that the membership of the working group did not need to
come from the Committee and that Group Leaders would be asked to
nominate members for the group with three Conservatives, and one
from each other group.
RESOLVED:
1.
That option 1 in section 3 of the report be approved
with a working group appointed to carry out a review of the
constitution, reporting to this committee with their findings in
March 2023 to ensure any changes can be recommended to council for
adoption for the next municipal year; and
2.
That the working group determine the scope of the
review.