Agenda item

To consider the report of the Governance Working Group in relation to changes to the Scheme of Delegation of Functions to Officers, Council Procedure Rules and the Petition Scheme - report attached.

The Council received the report of the Governance Working Group in relation to

(i)               a revised Scheme of Delegation of Functions to Officers in respect of the non- executive functions of Council; and

(ii)             amendments to Council Procedure Rules and the Petitions Scheme.

The revised the Scheme of Delegation of Functions to Officers provided for:

(a)            the migration of delegations from subject headings to the Statutory Officers and Executive Head service areas;

(b)            many of the delegations (particularly those from the Planning Applications Committee, the Licensing Committee and the Council in relation to HR functions) to be dealt with on an exceptions basis;

(c)             the removal of day to day management and administrative actions;

(d)            the removal of outdated and redundant delegations;

(e)            the transfer, to the General Principles, of a number of areas common to officers across the Council such as the service of notices, authorisations to enter premises, taking urgent action, etc.

The Working Group had recommended to the Full Council, in respect of the non-executive, and to the Executive, in respect of the executive functions, that the amended Scheme of Delegation of Functions to Officers be adopted.

The Executive, at its meeting on 27 January 2015, had considered the revised Scheme of Delegation as recommended by the Governance Working Group and had resolved that the revised Scheme in respect of the Executive Functions be adopted.

The Working Group had noted that there were currently no procedure rules to govern Portfolio Holder Question Time and had suggested that such a Procedure Rule should be introduced.  It was proposed that this should provide that the total time for Portfolio Holder Question Time would be no more than 20 minutes and emphasise that the time was for the Portfolio Holder to receive questions rather than give speeches.

In addition, the Working Group had reviewed the Council’s Petition Scheme and had proposed that the table in paragraph 3.2 of the Scheme be amended to make it clearer that only petitions which had received between 50 and 99 signatures would receive a response from the relevant officer. 

Resolved that

                                 (i)            the amended Scheme of Delegation of Functions to Officers in respect of the non-executive functions as set out at Annex A to the agenda report, be adopted;

                                (ii)            a Procedure Rule for Portfolio Holder Question Time be adopted, as follows:

11A.   Portfolio Holder Question Time

11A.1   The purpose of Portfolio Holder Question Time is to allow Members to ask questions of the Portfolio Holder which relate to their area of responsibility.

11A.2   One Portfolio Holder, as identified by the Leader, will respond to questions from Members each meeting.

11A.3   The Portfolio Holder may respond orally, by reference to published material or that which is readily available to the members, or in writing. The Questions will be put and answered without debate.

11A.3   The total time allocated to Portfolio Holder Question Time will be no more than 20 minutes.

                              (iii)            the Petitions Scheme at Part 4, Section L of the Constitution be amended as follows:

3.2       The response from the Council will depend upon the number of signatures received: