Agenda item

Report of the County Solicitor (CSO/17/26), attached, on the remedial action taken in updating the Constitution (Scrutiny Procedure Rules) and also future working practices, as outlined in section 5 of the report, in line with the delegated powers of the Monitoring Officer (Article 15(a)(i)), in light of recent events and subsequent investigation into the proceedings of the Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee.

The Committee considered the report of the County Solicitor (CSO/17/26), which asked the Committee to note the remedial action required in updating the Constitution (Scrutiny Procedure Rules) and also future working practices, as outlined in section 5 of the report, in line with the delegated powers of the Monitoring Officer (Article 15(a)(i)) and in light of recent events and subsequent investigation into the proceedings of the Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee.

The report updated the Procedures Committee on required amendments to the Constitution (Scrutiny Procedure Rules) and future working practices in relation to Committee Allocation Schedules, in order to provide clarity on voting rights of Co-opted Members serving on Scrutiny Committees. 

The County Solicitor also updated the Committee on the other constitutional issues arising from the aforementioned investigation, including future training events, briefings for Chairs and Vice Chairs of Scrutiny whilst also highlighting the neutrality required of Scrutiny Committees.

The Council’s Constitution has always been absolutely clear on the voting rights of the Co-opted Members of the Children’s Scrutiny Committee, (Scrutiny Procedures Rules – 4.0), but neglected to afford the same level of clarity to the District Council Co-optee of the Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee.

The County Solicitor has accepted the fact the Scrutiny Procedure Rules were not aligned with the Standing Orders and so to ensure its Constitution and Procedures were transparent and democratic and accessible to all reported the following actions;

a)     Amendments  to the Constitution – proposed to read as follows:

Scrutiny Procedure Rules

                  2.0        MEMBERSHIP OF SCRUTINY COMMITTEES

2.1  All councillors except the Chairman of the Council and members of the Cabinet may be members of a Scrutiny Committee. However, no member may be involved in scrutinising a decision of another committee in which he/she has been directly involved.

                  3.0        CO-OPTEES (Voting Scheme)

3.1  A Scrutiny Committee is entitled to recommend to the Council (which shall appoint committees in accordance with Standing Order 21) the co-option of one or more persons as voting or non-voting members of the Committee.

                  4.0        OTHER REPRESENTATIVES

                  4.1        The Children’s Scrutiny Committee (or any successor committee dealing with education matters) shall include in its membership the following voting representatives:

      (a)        1 Church of England diocesan representative;

      (b)        1 Roman Catholic diocesan representative; and

      (c)        1 parent governor representative representing primary, secondary and special schools in the county.

                  who shall vote only on matters relating to the Council's functions as a Local Education Authority and not on other matters considered by the committee although they may remain in the meeting and speak to those other items.

                  4.2        The Health & Adult Care Committee (or successor committee) shall include in its membership 1 voting representative of City, Borough and District Councils in the administrative County of Devon, to collate and represent the views of the District Councils.

b)    Committee Allocation Schedules for Council Annual Meeting:

i)              That future recommendations before the Council will read…………

·         that, and in accordance with the Council’s Scrutiny Procedure Rules, the County Council appoints the total numbers of voting (v) or non-voting (nv) members to those Committees, Joint Committees and Working Parties/Panels referred to (a) above as thus denoted in the Appendix (the Council’s voting scheme) circulated at the meeting for the period expiring at the date of the Annual Meeting of the Council in 2018;

ii)             That the ‘Committee Allocations Schedule’ will be reflected in line with above denoting voting (v) or non-voting (nv) against every Co-opted Member to be appointed by the Council.

iii)            The provisions in relation to the voting co-optees are outlined in the Scrutiny Procedures Rules which form the Voting Scheme. The Council will refresh that voting scheme as is best practice from time to time, in line with the requirements of the Act.

The Leader further undertook to raise the role of the District Council co-opted representative, in particular the expectation they consult with other District Councils on matters under consideration at the Scrutiny Committee, at the next meeting of the Devon Local Government Steering Group on 20 October 2017.

It was MOVED by Councillor Connett, SECONDED by Councillor Wright, and, nem com.

RESOLVED that the proposals outlined in the report and the subsequent amendments to the Constitution (Scrutiny Procedure Rules), as outlined above and appended to these minutes, be endorsed, with the addition of the words ‘to collate and represent the views of the District Councils’ at paragraph 4.2, outlined in red above.