Agenda item

To consider a report from the Monitoring Officer (copy enclosed)

The Chief Legal and Monitoring Officer reminded members that at the meeting of the Shadow Authority on the 23 January 2023 members agreed to note and refer matters raised by political groups on the Constitution to the cross party Constitution Review Working Group (CRWG)  for further review and to report back to Council. This report set out their recommendations on those matters referred to them and dealt with updates to the Constitution in respect of Local Choice Functions and the Statutory and Proper Officer Scheme.

The Working Group met on the 15 February 2023 and had made a number of recommendations including outstanding matters relating to the allocation of Local Choice Functions and the designation of roles within the Statutory and Proper Officer Scheme.

The Chief Legal and Monitoring Officer took members through the detail relating to Local Choice Functions, and the meeting of the working group held on 15 February.  The working group was now making a recommendation for approval 

Members of the CRWG had also reviewed the provisional allocation made by officers for the Statutory Officer and Proper Officer appointments and Appendix 2 to the report was now recommend for approval.  However, members noted this would be kept under review by the working group, and that since the review of the Appendix the role of Caldicott Guardian had been added for completeness. 

The CRWG had been asked to consider a proposal on further development of the element of the constitution in relation to the allocation of Chair and Vice-Chair roles, particularly the Scrutiny ones and others that attracted SRAs.  This was on the basis of the current arrangements used by Cumbria County Council.

The view of the CRWG was that, in view of the specific requirements in the Westmorland and Furness Constitution which does safeguard the position of opposition political parties, it was not considered necessary to introduce a weighting scheme at this point. However, it is suggested that the position should be kept under review.

The CRWG had been asked to consider a challenge from members about the element of the constitution that awarded power to the Cabinet to oversee the Revenue and Capital Budgets for Housing, plus the Tenants Forum Budget.  The suggestion from some members was that powers over all Revenue and Capital Budget setting should be reserved to Council and not Cabinet.

This was reviewed by the CRWG with advice provided by the Council’s external solicitors.  The Working Group requested a briefing on the HRA account for members which would be made available shortly.

The CRWG considered a suggestion that minutes of the Cabinet should be included on the agenda for all Council meetings and the working group agreed this should be adopted.

The Chief Legal and Monitoring Officer drew members’ attention to the suggestion that a Member Development Steering Group be established to deal with member development issues including induction, IT support, and ongoing briefings and development opportunities for all elected members.  This group would have no formal decision making powers.

Cllr Connell moved the recommendations, which were seconded by Cllr J Brook.

Cllr Dew asked the Chief Legal and Monitoring Officer a couple of points of clarification. 

Firstly, whether members would be able to ask questions about the Cabinet minutes on the day or if they would need to be submitted in advance of the Council meeting, and secondly whether there would be any possibility of amending the constitution in future if needed.

The Chief Legal and Monitoring Officer said the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had asked if it would be possible to keep the Constitution under review, and she informed members this would be effected.

The Chief Legal and Monitoring Officer agreed to provide a written response to the question about Cabinet minutes.

The recommendations were then put to a vote, which was unanimous.  It was, 

RESOLVED, that the Shadow Authority:

(1) approves the list of Local Choice Functions at Appendix 1 to the Report;

(2) approves the list of Statutory Officers and Proper Officers at Appendix 2 to the Report;

(3) agrees not to implement a politically proportionate points system for the appointment of Chairs and Vice Chairs of Scrutiny, in view of the specific requirement to appoint an opposition group member as Chair or Vice Chair of standing Overview and Scrutiny Committees, but to agree to keep the matter under review;

(4) agrees to amend the current wording in the Constitution in relation to the appointment of Chairs and Vice Chairs of Overview & Scrutiny Committees to;

The Chairs and Vice Chairs will be appointed by Council annually. Whenever practicable, the Chair of the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee and either the Chair or Vice Chair of other Scrutiny Committees shall be from a political group other than those members forming the Cabinet or shall be an independent Member.

(5)  notes the position in relation to the HRA account;

(6) agrees the recommendations in relation to other matters raised in respect of the Constitution as set out at paragraph 8.2 and 8.3 of this report;  

 (7) agrees to establish an informal Member Development Steering Group on a cross party basis to deal with Member Development and Training issues.