Agenda item

The Constitution Working Group has been working on reviewing the entire constitution during the course of the past year to update and simplify it as set out in this report.  As part of the principles for its work, the Group has looked to streamline the constitution so that the council has a shorter document which contains the main, essential elements of what should be in a modern updated core constitution. Other documents which are important, but which do not have to be in the core constitution, have been moved into a collection of documents we are referring to as the Council Operating Framework.

The Group presented its recommendations to the Standards and Constitution Committee last month. The committee agreed the recommendations below be brought to Full Council: namely, that the revised constitution as set out in Appendix 1, along with the Council Operating Framework which contains documents that have been reviewed and moved out of the core constitution (set out in Appendix 2), be adopted. 

Council received a report presenting the recommendations of the Standards and Constitution Committee for the adoption of a revised constitution, along with the Council Operating Framework containing documents that have been reviewed and moved out of the core constitution. 

Councillor Liz Frost MOVED the recommendations in the report.

An amendment to the recommendations was MOVED by Councillor Liz Frost and SECONDED by Councillor Hannah Dalton.

The proposed amendment was as follows:

“Page 15 of the agenda

Paragraph 3.9 add: “? Review the Petitions Scheme to recommend types of petitions and numbers of signatures required.”

Page 74 of the agenda

Terms of reference

Delete: “3. To establish sub-committees to progress work of the committee.”

Amend 5. to read: “The committee will normally meet twice during the course of the year.”

Areas of responsibility

Amend e. to read: “Make recommendations to Council  for any items of expenditure.”

Page 11 & 12 of the agenda

Amended recommendations

(1) Approve that Appendix 1, an updated core constitution for the council, be adopted from 4 May 2023.

(5) Approve that Appendix 2, being the remaining documents from the constitution reviewed and updated and moved from the constitution , and not covered off by recommendations 2,3 and 4 above, be adopted as the Council’s Operating Framework from 4 May 2023.

Additional recommendation

(10) Agree that the Chair of the Crime and Disorder Committee will receive a Special Responsibility Allowance of 30% of Basic Allowance, and that this is included within the Members Allowances Scheme from May 2023.”

As the amendment was put by the proposer of the original motion, it became part of the substantive motion.

Upon being put the recommendations were CARRIED with 26 votes for, 2 abstentions and the Mayor not voting.

Accordingly, it was resolved to:

(1)      Approve that Appendix 1 to the report, an updated core constitution for the council, be adopted 4 May 2023.*

(2)      Approve moving the “Officers’ Code of Conduct” from the constitution into officer employment policies.

(3)      Approve moving the “Whistleblowing Policy” from the constitution into officer employment policies.

(4)      Approve the removal of the “Recording, Photography and Use of Social Media Protocol and Guidance (Part 5, Section 10)” from the constitution.

(5)      Approve that Appendix 2 to the report, being the remaining documents from the constitution reviewed and updated and moved from the constitution, and not covered off by recommendations 2, 3 and 4 above, be adopted as the Council’s Operating Framework 4 May 2023.

(6)      Approve the replacement of the “Crime and Disorder Sub-Committee" with a new “Crime and Disorder Policy Committee”.

(7)      Agree that the Standards and Constitution Committee review items shown in 3.9 below as part of its work programme.

(8)      Agree to retain the existing officer and councillor indemnity scheme, for the present time.

(9)      Agree the proposed committee member numbers shown on Appendix 3 to the report.

(10)   Agree that the Chair of the Crime and Disorder Committee will receive a Special Responsibility Allowance of 30% of Basic Allowance, and that this is included within the Members Allowances Scheme from May 2023.

*subject to the amendments to pages 15 and 74 detailed above.

Following the vote on this item, Councillor Julie Morris requested that the  minutes of the meeting record that Councillor Julie Morris and Councillor David Gulland had abstained from the vote on this item.