Agenda, decisions and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Cllrs Simon Carswell (substituted by Cllr Theo Butt-Philip), Cllr Barry Clarke (virtual attendance), Cllr Hugh Davies, Cllr Helen Kay, Cllr Christine Lawrence (virtual attendance), Cllr Martin Lovell (substituted by Cllr Dixie Darch), Cllr Steven Pugsley.

Apologies were received from Cllr Simon Carswell (substituted by Cllr Theo Butt-Philip), Cllr Barry Clarke (virtual attendance), Cllr Hugh Davies, Cllr Helen Kay, Cllr Christine Lawrence (virtual attendance), Cllr Martin Lovell (substituted by Cllr Dixie Darch), Cllr Steven Pugsley.

To approve the accuracy of the minutes from the last meeting of the SCC Constitution and Governance Committee held on 23 March 2023.

The minutes of the Somerset County Council Constitution and Governance Committee held on 23 March 2023, were agreed upon and signed by the Chair.

To receive and note any declarations of interests in respect of any matters included on the agenda for consideration at this meeting.

(The other registrable interests of Councillors of Somerset Council, arising from membership of City, Town or Parish Councils and other Local Authorities will automatically be recorded in the minutes: City, Town & Parish Twin Hatters - Somerset Councillors 2023 )

Councillorspresent atthe meetingdeclared thefollowing personalinterests in their capacity as a Councillor of a Town or Parish Council or any other Local Authority:-

Councillorspresent atthe meetingdeclared thefollowing personalinterests in their capacity as a Councillor of a Town or Parish Council or any other Local Authority:-

The Chair to advise the Committee of any items on which members of the public have requested to speak and advise those members of the public present of the details of the Council’s public participation scheme.

For those members of the public who have submitted any questions or statements, please note, a three minute time limit applies to each speaker and you will be asked to speak before Councillors debate the issue.

We are now live webcasting most of our committee meetings and you are welcome to view and listen to the discussion. The link to each webcast will be available on the meeting webpage, please see details under ‘click here to join online meeting’.

The were no questions received for Public Question Time.

No questions were received for Public Question Time.

To receive an update on the Parliamentary Constituency Review and the Elections Act 2022.

The Elections Manager, Steven Lake, introduced the report and presented a slideshow to update the Committee on the Final Recommendations that formed part of the Final Report of the 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England and also an update on the impact of Voter Identification at the recent elections that formed part of the amendments brought in by the Elections Act 2022.

The Constitution and Governance Committee requested the presentation be made available on the Council website and noted the presentation and report.

The Chair of the Constitution and Governance Committee, Cllr Ross Henley, invited Elections Manager, Steven Lake to present the update on the Boundary Commission Parliamentary Constituency Review and Electoral Changes.

Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries Review

The Elections Manager, Steven Lake, presented the report, with the aid of a PowerPoint presentation, highlighting:  the final report recommendations of the 2023 Boundary Review of Parliamentary Constituencies in Somerset; summarised the process of Government approval and implementation of the recommendations; that the new parliamentary boundaries are expected to come into effect 1 October 2023; that the new constituencies will be used at the next General Election and that any By-Election in the meantime will continue to use the existing constituency.

The Monitoring Officer, David Clark, further added to the above points that there are seven parliamentary constituencies within Somerset boundaries, with three Cross-County boundary constituencies established following the boundary review; North Somerset, Mid Devon and Bath & Northeast Somerset. Additionally, the Monitoring Officer, informed Members that as a result of the majority of population of those constituencies sitting within Somerset, the Returning Officer function for the three Cross-County boundary constituencies would sit with Somerset Council.

The Chair of the Constitution and Governance Committee, Cllr Ross Henley, invited comments from other Members present, questions and points raised included:

     •  The introduction of more Cross-County Boundary constituencies, both

         locally and nationally, following changes to the Boundary Commission

         restrictions.

     •  The Government funding for Local Authorities to facilitate a General

         Election, including the cost of the Election set by Parliament, the

         funding provision and claim process, the financial and resources

         impact on the Council to process and claim back costs / funding,

         comparable money spent and received through the claim process.

Elections Act 2022

Voter ID requirement

The Elections Manager, Steven Lake, presented the report with the aid of a PowerPoint presentation, highlighting: that as part of the Elections Act 2022, voters are now required to show photo identification to vote in polling stations; that the first Elections requiring voter ID had taken place on 4 May 2023; summarised the statistics collated in Somerset; Taunton Town Council Election and Somerton and Frome Parliamentary By-Election, including the number of eligible electors, number of votes cast and number of electors that did not have the opportunity to vote due unacceptable voter ID or chose not to vote due to opposing the use of voter ID; that Elections had taken place in 230 areas in England and around 27 million people had been eligible to vote; summarised the Electoral Commission interim analysis of the voter ID at the May 2023 Local Elections in England, including the number of people that were aware of the use of photo ID, the application for and use of the voter authority certificate and the number of non-voters because of the voter ID requirement, the number of people not issued with a ballot paper and the number of people returning and able to vote after later presenting voter ID; local and national statistics comparisons.

The Chair  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To receive an update on the Internal Governance Arrangements of Somerset Council.

The Acting Strategic Manager for Business Change, Alastair Higton, introduced the report which described the new informal corporate governance arrangements and assured the Committee of their purpose and intention.

The Constitution and Governance Committee noted the report and provided feedback and views on the arrangements in order to ensure they remained appropriate, fit for purpose and consistent with the established democratic and constitutional governance.

The Chair of the Constitution and Governance Committee, Cllr Ross Henley, invited Acting Strategic Manager for Business Change, Alastair Higton, to present the report.

Acting Strategic Manager for Business Change, Alastair Higton, proceeded to present the report with the aid of a PowerPoint presentation, highlighting: the new informal corporate (whole Council non democratic, non-constitutional) governance arrangements in place to develop the culture of the organisation, through values and behaviours, to improve and build a new organisation that works across our teams and with Elected Members, to  join up services, systems and partnerships to get better outcomes and succeed together; the arrangements to allow decisions to made in confidence, with transparent democratic governance so that Members are able to see, understand and challenge the plans and work of the Council; the three new Leadership Team forums, all with a different purpose and replacing previous meetings: Executive Leadership Team, Corporate Leadership Team, Service Director Leadership; the three new boards - Transition, Transformation and Change Board, Medium-Term Financial Plan Board, Performance, Risk and Budget Board; that Services will also have arrangements to support their operations; that the arrangements have taken learnings from the Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) programme alongside the vision to develop leaders who are empowered and accountable; that the arrangements do not replace or reduce the role of formal Constitutional decision-making and democratic governance; summarised the relationships between informal and formal governance and assured Members that their critical role in governance and leadership of Somerset Council is not undermined.

The Chair of the Constitution and Governance Committee, Cllr Ross Henley, invited comments from other Members present, questions and points raised included:

• The support for the ambition, proposed setups and the breaking down of silos across the organisation.
• How transparency, collaboration and feedback from meetings and Boards would take place in real time, how information and actions to be fed through and communicated to appropriate individuals / groups / channels to deliver ambitions, plans and outcomes from meetings, the process of communicating and referral of information.

Acting Strategic Manager for Business Change, Alastair Higton, described the process of connecting the organisation and increasing the number of networks across the organisation through creating and building relationships through sharing information, with informal decisions recorded and shared with appropriate and relevant groups of people, and the plan to continually review and respond as appropriate.

• The possibility of Council wide / public confusion referring to Executive (administration) and Executive Leadership Team.
• The comparison of resources / officer time with the new meetings / groups / boards with previous Leadership arrangements / meetings.
• The importance of improving the reporting of risk to fully understand where there is risk, where the responsibilities are to protect the organisation and to scan for risk.

Acting Strategic Manager for Business Change, Alastair Higton to report risk reporting comments to the Performance and Risk teams.

• How the new Leadership Team Forums / Boards fit with existing Committee arrangements and the ability to respond to Members with confidence and clarity,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To receive a verbal update form the Chair of the Constitution and Governance Committee.

The Chair of the Constitution and Governance Committee, Cllr Ross Henley, provided the Members with a verbal update on some of the queries raised at the Workshop held in June 2023:

·       The suggestions and feedback regarding Full Council meeting delivery, and the improved operation of Full Council held 26 July 2023.

·       Councillor proposal views regarding Gifts and Hospitality.

The Monitoring Officer, David Clark, advised the Constitution and Governance Committee that a Gifts and Hospitality report to be considered at the Standards Committee -  30 August 2023.

The Chair of the Constitution and Governance Committee, Cllr Ross Henley, provided Members with a verbal update on some of the queries raised at the Workshop held in June 2023: -

• The suggestions and feedback regarding Full Council meeting delivery, and the improved operation of Full Council held 26 July 2023.
• Councillor proposal views regarding Gifts and Hospitality.

The Monitoring Officer, David Clark, advised the Constitution and Governance Committee that a Gifts and Hospitality report was to be considered at the Standards Committee - 30 August 2023