Agenda item

To consider the review of Part B of the Constitution.

Resolved that the Constitution and Governance Committee considered the review of Part B and the proposed amendments set out in Appendices 2 and 3 for recommendation to the Council’s Annual General Meeting on 22 May 2024.

The Governance Specialist, Clare Rendell, introduced the report which set out the proposed amendments to Part B of the Constitution that were discussed as part of the review.

During the discussion, the following points were raised:-

·       Councillors queried whether the limit of 8 speakers would be enough for some of the larger meetings, such as the Annual General Meeting of Council and the budget setting cycle of meetings.

The Governance Specialist advised that the Chair would still have the discretion to allow for more speakers if they felt it would benefit the meeting debate.

·       Councillors requested clarification on the reasons why a document might be classified as confidential and whether those clauses could be added to this section of the Constitution.

·       Councillors further requested whether the procedure for excluding the press and public could be included in this section.

The Governance Specialist advised that both the guidance on confidential information and the procedures for the exclusion of the press and public were guided by legislation, so were not required to be listed in the Constitution.

·       Some concern was raised on the suggestion of taking petitions to the Local Community Network (LCN) meetings and that the delay between each meeting could mean that the petition organiser would not see any results.

The Governance Specialist advised that the petition scheme had not been amended as part of the review, so currently petitions could be taken to the LCN meetings, however, most were taken to Full Council for submission.

·       Councillors suggested that the responses to public questions given at meetings should be quick.  They further suggested that lead members should only get 3 minutes to reply, which was the same time limit for the public to read out their submissions.

The Governance Specialist advised that they were working on implementing shorter responses for public submissions at meetings.

·       Some concern was raised on the deadline date for public submissions and that it did not allow for much time for public to submit their questions.

The Governance Specialist advised that the Chair would still have the discretion to allow for late submissions.

·       Some concern was raised about restricting the numbers of questions to 2 questions.

The Governance Specialist advised that the Chair would still have the discretion to allow for more questions to be raised. They also clarified that members of the public could submit more than 2 questions, however, they might only receive a verbal response to the first 2 questions during the meeting and then receive a full written answer to all questions after the meeting.

·       Councillors highlighted that some questions raised during Public Question Time were not always related to items on the agenda and queried whether stakeholder forums could be used for such queries.

·       Councillors hoped that the LCNs would meet more frequently going forward to allow for better public engagement and be able to process petitions in a timely manner.

The Governance Specialist agreed with the points raised and that Full Council was often seen as the only venue for members of the public to raise their questions, when they could use many of the other committee meetings along with the LCNs, to engage with and raise any issues.

·       Councillors requested that a review of the Petition Scheme be added to the work programme for the Committee.

Resolved that the Constitution and Governance Committee considered the review of Part B and the proposed amendments set out in Appendices 2 and 3 for recommendation to the Council’s Annual General Meeting on 22 May 2024.