Issue - meetings

The Director of Strategy, Insight and Governance introduced the report and outlined the three options for Policy Advisory Committee and Overview and Scrutiny Arrangements following the workshop held and the previous Committee meeting. These included:

• Model B (Cabinet plus Policy Advisory Scrutiny Committees), which had 11 votes at the workshop;
  
  
• Model E (Cabinet plus Cabinet Advisory Committees and 1 Overview and Scrutiny Committee) which had 4 votes at the workshop; and
  
  
• Model A (Current Model – up to 4 Policy Advisory Committees (PACs) plus 1 Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) which had 4 votes at the workshop.
  
  

It was advised that changes to the current system would need to be agreed by the Full Council and would require changes to the constitution.

The Committee had also included in their review of the governance arrangements consideration of a new constitution. It was advised that, if an easier-to-use version of the constitution was required, this would need to have input from Members and be presented to the Committee before a recommendation could be made to Council.

Some Members expressed that Model B, which had the most votes at the workshop, would provide a stronger framework for Member engagement and would be an improvement on the existing model. The model could be adopted before the May 2024 elections. Overall, it was agreed that the current model should be retained as it worked well, and that it would be detrimental to introduce significant changes to the governance model before an election. It was noted that the incoming Members could look to change the model in the future if this was the preferred option. However, it was requested that the PACs be reduced from four to three to make better use of time and resources.

Concerns were raised that elements of the current constitution, such as reports from outside bodies, were not being properly utilised and not outlined in enough detail. It was requested that officers produce an amendment for the constitution for the next meeting as an additional recommendation.

RESOLVED: That

1. No change be made to the Policy Advisory Committee and Overview and Scrutiny arrangements; and
   
   
2. The existing Constitution remain.