Issue - meetings

New Executive Model

Meeting: 08/09/2021 - Democracy and General Purposes Committee (Item 54)

54 New Executive Model pdf icon PDF 210 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Head of Policy, Communications and Governance introduced the report and outlined the executive model proposed by the Committee’s working group and the response to the survey sent to Members. The model included four Policy Advisory Committees (PACs) to carry out pre-decision scrutiny, and one Overview and Scrutiny Committee in accordance with the legislative requirements. The survey of Members showed that 68% of respondents agreed in principle with the model outlined in the report.

 

In response to questions, it was confirmed that regulatory Committees had not been considered or changed when the new executive model had been developed. It was acknowledged that there would be resource implications within the Democratic Services Team. A fixed-term contract had been approved for a Democratic Services Officer to support the development of the model and the local government boundary review project. The Constitution would be created using a previous version the 2014 when the Council had an executive model in place, and the Legal Team with external expert advice would lead this work.

 

Concern was raised that the PACs would have limited powers to influence decisions made, and that Councillors without a Cabinet position would have limited influence in decision-making.

 

It was argued that the proposed model was designed to be inclusive and encourage engagement from Members who did not hold Cabinet positions.

 

RESOLVED: That

 

1.  The Executive Model outlined at 3.3 of the report be recommended to Council for adoption at the next Annual Meeting of the Council in 2022;

 

2.  Council be asked to approve the next steps as per the timetable set out in paragraph 2.4 and section 7 of the report;

 

3.  Council be asked to approve the use of reserves to fund the work required to review and redraft the constitution; and

 

4.  The working group continue to operate and review the redrafted significant parts of the constitution prior to the Committee’s consideration for recommendation to the Council for adoption.

 

Note: Councillor Cooke joined the meeting during this item.