Agenda item

To consider a report from the Westmorland and Furness Joint Committee asking Council to adopt the Constitution for the Westmorland and Furness Shadow Authority, which creates a Leader and Cabinet Executive within the meaning of Part 1A of the Local Government Act 2000 (a) (arrangements with respect to local authority governance)(the shadow executive) (copy enclosed).

Shadow Authority members considered a report from the Technical Lead – Legal and Democratic Workstream and presented by the Chair of the Westmorland and Furness Joint Committee, which presented members with the proposed Constitution.

This had previously been considered by the Westmorland and Furness Joint Committee and a number of changes were suggested to this.  Councillor J Brook, as Chair of the Joint Committee, was pleased to confirm that the changes requested had been captured in the report.

An addendum report had been circulated to all members with changes to capture the power for the monitoring officer to grant dispensations and the standards committee. The appointment of Chairs at the Council meeting, substitutes and the increase in number of members on the Overview and Scrutiny Committees. It was those updated recommendations that the Joint Committee Chair was moving.

Members noted that the Joint Committee proposed the creation of a Constitutional Review Group, which would be a forum for members appointed to the Group to raise amendments to this constitution and to commence work on the constitution for vesting day and beyond. There would be 8 members on this committee, not 7, as indicated in the report.   

One of the members said although Furness made up one third of the area the ruling party does not have a member in Barrow.  He asked the Chair of the Joint Committee whether the Executive would be open to including a member from the Furness area.

The Chair of the Joint Committee replied to say the Executive would not be open to this, but the Shadow Authority for Westmorland and Furness was an all embracing Council.

One of the members asked when the Executive would be considering Section 24 arrangements, as these would be crucial to many council services.

Councillor Brook said the Executive would be considering this as soon as possible, but he did not have a firm date yet.  The Interim Monitoring Officer updated to say this would be considered by Cabinet on 10 June 2022.

One of the members asked about the section in the Constitution called Powers of Officers and asked for clarification on 10.9 Statutory Responsibilities of the Monitoring Officer and Chief Finance Officer and delegations.

The Interim Monitoring Office said that there were no proposals to have either a Deputy Monitoring Officer or  Deputy Chief Finance Officer at this stage.

One of the members raised a query about the Term of Office for Shadow Authority members, which seems a bit confusing, and the Interim Monitoring Officer clarified this.

Councillor Brook said this could be referred to the Constitution Review Group for further clarification.

The recommendations were seconded by Councillor Jarvis, and upon conclusion of the debate, put to a vote.  The vote was unanimous.

It was therefore RESOLVED, that the Shadow Authority for Westmorland and Furness:

(1)  approve that the seats on Overview and Scrutiny Committee be established as 14, rather than 12 as shown in the original report;

(2)  agree that each group may appoint substitutes to  the other committees and that the Chairs/Vice-Chairs of committees be confirmed by full Council and note that a future report on the agenda makes provision for this;

(3)  agree the additional amendments to the Constitution with regards to Dispensations and the responsibilities of the Monitoring Officer as set out in paragraph 3.5 of the addendum report.

(4) agree the additional amendments to the Constitution with regards to the Employment Procedure Rules  Officer as set out in paragraph 3.6 of the addendum report.

(5)  with the additions proposed at (1), (2), (3) and (4) above approve and adopt the proposed Constitution and therefore, amongst other things, create a    Leader and Cabinet Executive within the meaning of Part 1A of the Local Government Act 2000;    

(6)  should Members have any amendments to the Constitution which they resolve should be made or considered further, that they instruct their Officers to report back to the next meeting of the Shadow Authority, accordingly; and

(7)  Establish a cross-party Constitution Review Group of8 Members as set out in paragraph 3.7 of the addendum report       to contribute towards the review of the Shadow Authority constitution and  the preparation of the required post vesting day Westmorland and Furness Council Constitution.