Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received from Councillors Miss A R Bond, Mrs L M Broadley, M L Darr, Mrs S Haq and Mrs S B Morris.

To appoint substitute Members in accordance with Rule 4 of Part 4 of the Constitution.

Councillor J Kaufman substituted for Councillor M L Darr.

Members are reminded that any declaration of interest should be made having regard to the Members’ Code of Conduct. In particular, Members must make clear the nature of the interest and whether it is 'pecuniary' or ‘non-pecuniary'.

None.

To read, confirm and sign the minutes of the previous meeting in accordance with Rule 17 of Part 4 of the Constitution.

By affirmation of the meeting, it was

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED THAT:

The minutes of the meeting of the previous Committee held on 24 July 2018 be taken as read, confirmed and signed.

To read, confirm and note the Action List arising from the previous meeting.

By affirmation of the meeting, it was

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED THAT:

The Action List arising from the meeting of the previous Committee held on 24 July 2018 be noted.

To receive any Petitions and, or, Deputations in accordance with Rule 24 of Part 4 of the Constitution.

None.

Report of the Senior Democratic Services Officer / Legal Officer

The Committee gave consideration to the report as set out on pages 6-9 of the agenda, which asked it to note the progress achieved to date in updating and revising the Council’s Constitution, taking into account feedback received from individual Members and Members of the Constitutional Working Group (CWG) .

The Head of Law & Governance provided the Committee with a brief summary of the report, which gave an overview of the feedback received from Members following circulation of a revised draft Constitution after the previous meeting of Full Council in December 2018. The feedback received had been largely supportive of the revised Constitution as a whole, however there remained a divergence of opinion with regard to a small number of key procedural issues which still needed to be addressed.

In relation to quorum, Officers had recommended that this should be set at a minimum baseline of 3 Members for all meetings; however the CWG indicated that it wished to increase the fixed minimum number of Members present to one third of the overall Membership for all meetings.

With regard to the requirement for an item to be moved and seconded before it can be debated, the Head of Law & Governance stated that Officers recommended the retention of the provision in the existing Constitution i.e. that no speeches should be made until a motion was on the table. This was recommended on the grounds that the principles of good governance, best practice, case-law, statutory guidance and the Constitutions of other local authorities consistently advocated this approach as an example of good administration, avoiding the risk of decisions being challenged on procedural grounds. This approach also allows the Chair of a meeting to exercise efficient control, keeping track of any amendments moved during the course of debate.

Members however took a different view, and felt that although this provision had existed within the Council’s Constitution for a number of years, it had seldom been applied in practice and to the best of their knowledge was not applied at other local authorities either. Members were instead of the view that Committees should be able to hold a free debate, from which it was anticipated that a substantive motion would arise. The Committee felt that this would resolve the issue of members of the public in attendance forming the impression that by moving a recommendation at the beginning of the debate, those Members moving and seconding the motion had already reached a pre-determined view.

The Head of Law & Governance acknowledged that there were acute difficulties involved in balancing the principles of good governance with the desire to satisfy public perception, but reiterated that the view of Officer’s was that good governance should always take priority over public perception.

With regard to a formal scheme of substitutions, the recommendation of Officers was that there should be a fixed proportional number of named substitutes for each Committee, who should be trained as appropriate where the requirement for training in order to sit on the Committee existed.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

Report of the Democratic & Electoral Services Manager

The Committee gave consideration to the report as set out on pages 10-15 of the agenda, which asked it to approve the Committee’s participation in a pilot of paperless meetings, commencing with a ‘paper light’ meeting on Tuesday 5 March 2019. Subject to the success of the pilot, it was proposed that the paperless approach be extended to all Council and Committee meetings on a phased basis.

Members welcomed the opportunity to undertake the pilot and recognised the potential benefits that this could deliver in terms of reducing the Council’s carbon footprint, improving Member IT skills, delivering cost savings and freeing up Officer time for other areas of Member support.

To ensure that Members were adequately prepared to undertake the pilot, it was requested that in advance of the March meeting Officers should contact each Member of the Committee to confirm that they possess a device capable of running the Modern.gov app through which the agenda papers will be delivered. It was also requested that a user guide for the app be provided to all Members to provide instruction on how to make best use of the various annotation tools available.

It was agreed that an Officer from Democratic Services would be in attendance in the Committee Room from one hour before the start of the March meeting to offer any pre-meeting support required in setting up and using the Modern.gov app.

It was moved by the Chair, seconded by B Dave and

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED THAT:

(i)       The next meeting of Change Management Committee scheduled for Tuesday, 5 March 2019 be designated as a pilot ‘paper light’ meeting;

(ii)     The first meeting of Change Management Committee in the 2019/20 Municipal Year be designated as a pilot ‘paperless’ meeting;

(iii)   Subject to the success of the above pilots, a phased Council-wide transition to paperless meetings be implemented, with the timetable to be agreed in consultation with Committee Chairs; and

(iv)    That the Council’s intention to purchase the Modern.gov restricted app to facilitate the transition to paperless meetings be noted.

Report of the Head of People & Performance

The Committee gave consideration to the report as set out on pages 16-21 of the agenda, which asked it to note the comparison of absence levels across the Council during the third quarter of 2017/18 against the third quarter of 2018/19.

The Head of People and Performance provided the Committee with a brief summary of the report, and drew the attention of Members to the actions being taken to reduce sickness and increase wellbeing across the organisation, in particular to address some of the root causes of long-term absenteeism.

Members welcomed the report and were especially pleased to note the achievement of a reduction in short-term sickness levels from 4.2 days per full time employee (FTE) in 2017/18 to 3.25 days per FTE in 2018/19. The range of benefits available to employees and the popularity of the Health at Work days were also acknowledged to have contributed significantly to the Council’s success in creating a supportive and productive working environment for staff.

It was requested by the Committee that Members be kept appraised of the Council’s ongoing absence management performance, by way of periodic updates included in the Members Bulletin.

It was moved by the Chair, seconded by K J Loydall JP and

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED THAT:

The contents of the report be noted.

The press and public are likely to be excluded from the remainder of the meeting in accordance with Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 (Exempt Information) during consideration of the item(s) below on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information, as defined in the respective paragraph(s) 1, 2 and 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act and, in all the circumstances, the public interest in maintaining the exempt item(s) outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

By affirmation of the meeting, it was

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED THAT:

The press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting in accordance with Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 (Exempt Information) during consideration of the item on the grounds that it involved the disclosure of exempt information, as defined in the respective paragraph(s) 1, 2 and 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act and, in all the circumstances, the public interest in maintaining the exempt item(s) outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

Verbal Presentation of the Chief Executive

The Committee received a verbal update from the Chief Executive, delivered and summarised in closed session.

By affirmation of the meeting it was

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED THAT:

The contents of the verbal update be noted.