Agenda item

Proposed changes to Part 4 of the Council’s Constitution.

The Committee received a report proposing changes to Part 4 of the Constitution.

The Chief Legal Officer proposed that since only the Council’s procedure rules were being taken forward at the current time, only this section needed to be reviewed. Therefore, the Committee was requested to review only Section 1 (previously named section A) of Part 4 of the Constitution at this meeting. Section 1 related to Council Rules of Procedure (Standing Orders) for Council, Committee, Sub-Committee and Advisory Panel meetings. The Committee agreed with this principle.

A printed copy of Annex 1 to the report was circulated to Members of the Committee at the meeting.

It was noted that following the Committee’s consideration of Part 4 of the Constitution at this meeting, the Chief Legal Officer would tidy the document to address matters of duplication and referencing within it, and update officer job titles and other elements in line with her standing authority to do so. Any such amendments would not change the meaning of the document.

Following consideration, the Committee:

(1)          Approved the changes to Part 4 of the Constitution as set out in the printed copy of Annex 1, subject to the following specific guidance:

a)            That definitions be included for the following terms: “Vice Chairman”, “Petition”.

b)            That the term “Standing Order” should be recognised to mean “Full Council Rule of Procedure” or “Committee Procedure Rule” during meetings of the Council, Committees, Sub-Committees, Advisory Panels or Joint Committees.

c)            That FCR and CPR number references within the document required updating.

d)            That item “(k) Chairman’s statements” be removed from FCR2 (Order of business at the Annual meeting of the Council).

e)            That the items in the list of business for ordinary meetings of the Council be reordered as follows: that “Business remaining from the previous meeting” become item “(f)”, that “Questions from Members” become item “(g)”, that “ Chairmen’s Statements” become item “(h)”.

f)             That consideration be given to cross referencing FCR 2.5 (relating to the consideration of business for which the press and public have been excluded) with the relevant section of the Access to Information Procedure Rules.

g)            That clarification be added to FCR 4.6 to state that 8 members in total must request a recorded vote for the request to be actioned.

h)            That clarification be added to FCR 4.8 to state that there shall be a recorded vote on any decision relating to the budget or council tax.

i)             That clarification be added to FCR 5.4 to explain the process for appointing to vacancies in the position of Chairman and Vice-Chairman of Committees, Sub Committees and Advisory Panels, and the process for appointing to vacancies in the general membership of Committees, Sub Committees and Advisory Panels.

j)             That FCR 5.5 should also list the Audit, Crime and Disorder and Scrutiny Committee.

k)            That the words “Council Chamber” in FCR 7.1 would be replaced with “Meeting”. That this change be replicated in the Committee Rules of Procedure.

l)             That FCR 8.1 and 8.2 be reworded to provide greater clarity of the timings.

m)          That FCR 10.1 be clarified that Chairman’s statements to Council would not be made at the budget meeting or Annual meeting, and that the words “and/or make comments” would be removed.

n)            That FCR 10.1 state that 15 minutes would be provided for questions in relation to the Chairman’s statements.

o)            That FCR 11 state that 30 minutes would be provided for questions from Members of the Council.

p)            That FCR 11.5 (e) (“Could be regarded as more than one question (ie: consists of multi-parts”)) be deleted.

q)            That FCR 11.11 be clarified to state that that time for questions from Members would be extended if necessary to receive urgent questions.

r)             That FCR 13 state that 90 minutes would be provided for to deal with motions.

s)            That FCR 13.5 be amended to enable a motion to relate to an issue of national significance upon which the Borough might wish to express a view.

t)             That FCR 14.4 be amended to read “…the Mayor will…”.

u)            That FCR 14.2 be amended to require Members to identify the FCR under which they are making a point of order, prior to explaining their reasoning for raising it.

v)            That FCR 14.8 be amended to state that the following time allowances be made for speeches:

·                     Chairman of Strategy & Resources Committee’s Budget speech: no limit

·                     Opposition Group budget speech: 10 minutes permitted to each group

·                     Chairman of Strategy & Resources Committee’s Summing up of Budget speech: 10 minutes

·                     Proposer of a motion: 7 minutes

·                     Seconder of a motion: 5 minutes

·                     Proposer of an amendment to a motion: 5 minutes

·                     Seconder of an amendment to a motion: 3 minutes

·                     All other speeches on motions: 3 minutes.

w)           That FCR 14.9 be amended to replace the words “call for a seconder” with “provide the name of a seconder”.

x)            That FCR 14.10 (c) (iv) be reworded as “points of personal explanation”.

y)            That wording be added to FCR15.5 to state that the mayor will not accept an amendment to a motion where its intention is to repeat a similar amendment already lost, or the nature of such.

z)            That the timings provided in FCR 15.8, 15.9 and 16.5 be amended to read “3 minutes”.

aa)         That the wording “Scrutiny Committee” within CPR 1, CPR 4.9 and CPR 6.4 be corrected to “Audit, Crime & Disorder and Scrutiny Committee”.

bb)         That the wording “Authority” within CPR 4.1 be amended to read “Council”.

cc)         That CPR 6.3 (no right to vote on items for which a Member has arrived late) should only relate to Planning Committee, and should not be amended to include other Committees.

dd)         That the word “policy” be deleted from CPR 10.1.

ee)         That the wording “have the same effect as voting against the officers’ recommendation (s) or” be deleted from CPR 12.6.

ff)            That CPR 12.9 be clarified to state that substitute members are not able to vote upon a motion which they proposed to Council, and which was referred to the Committee.