Agenda item

Review of New Governance Arrangements

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report providing a review of the new governance arrangements which were introduced at the Annual Council meeting in May 2013.  The new governance structure was intended to address concerns with the previous structure in the following areas - Perception of remoteness/ inaccessibility of portfolios; feeling of disengagement from influence and decision-making; lack of training and development (succession planning for future Cabinet members); and the need to streamline the system to match the resource available.

 

The report also outlined alternative governance options such as a Committee System or a hybrid model requiring Secretary of State approval.

 

At its meeting on 10th July 2013, the Governance Committee  asked the Head of Transformation and Strategy to develop a questionnaire seeking Members’ views of the new governance structure.  The questionnaire was circulated to all Councillors on 25th October 2013.  To date 20 responses to the questionnaire had been received.

 

The Monitoring Officer reported that she had spoken to Kathy Billington at the Department for Communities and Local Government who had confirmed that to date no applications for hybrid models had been received.  There was no clear definition of a hybrid model however, if a Council opted to pursue this route an application for approval of the model would have to be made to the Secretary of State.  Once this approval had been granted the application would have to follow a process through the House of Commons and House of Lords as any proposed system would have to be suitable for any Local Authority.  If a new system were introduced it would also have to remain in place for a minimum of five years meaning that any decision taken this year would bind a future Council.

 

The Committee felt that in light of the information reported by the Monitoring Officer it would not be practical or cost effective to pursue a hybrid model at this time.

 

It was generally felt that Members still did not feel involved in the decision making process and there was a lack of engagement.  One of the main issues with the new system was that there was not sufficient opportunity for Members to debate issues before decisions were taken.  Members reported that they now felt less aware of decisions that were being taken than was the case under the previous system.

 

A Member suggested that at the beginning of the municipal year there had been teething problems with the new system as there had been a long gap between the new system being approved and the first cycle of meetings.  Once the meetings were underway there had not been any real business to consider and instead Members had been presented with information as if there had been a change in Council rather than a change in Committee structure.  Members also questioned why business from the work plans of the previous Select Committees had not been transferred to the work plans of the Cabinet Advisory Committees.

 

A visiting Member expressed disappointment that some Councillors were making very little effort to engage with the new committee structure and stressed that Councillors had a responsibility to attend meetings and involve themselves when opportunities were presented.

 

The Committee felt that any decisions that were taken surrounding whether to recommend a further change to governance arrangements should be informed by the responses to the questionnaire that had been circulated.  The Committee agreed that the Governance Working Group should be established to review the responses to the questionnaire and asked Officers to fix a suitable date for the first meeting.

 

Action 1: That Officers arrange a suitable date for the first meeting of the Governance Working Group where the responses to the governance questionnaire could be considered.

 

Resolved: That the Governance Working Group be established to review the responses to the Governance Questionnaire circulated on 25th October 2013.

 

Supporting documents:

 

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