Agenda item

To seek approval of the Outside Bodies Procedure Rules for inclusion in the Council’s Constitution and to agree appointments to the Outside Bodies

Full Council were being requested to endorse a set of procedure rules in relation to how the Council’s Outside Bodies list would be collated and maintained. The Council had an important role to play in a variety of organisations at national, regional, and local level.

It was important that Council involvement in any organisation was of benefit and constructive, and that councillors felt confident that their individual involvement was meaningful and provided value.

It had been agreed at Full Council in May 2021 that a review would be commenced into Outside Bodies and appointments made to them on behalf of the Council. Work had been undertaken since then to understand the Outside Bodies previously appointed to by the predecessor Councils and the nature of the appointments to them.

The Democracy and Standards Committee received a copy of the draft Outside Bodies Procedure Rules at its meeting held on 16th September 2021 and were invited to comment. The Committee endorsed the Rules for formal discussion by Council and recommended approval. The Procedure Rules would ensure that there was a clear procedure for appointments to Outside Bodies.

The Procedure Rules would be supplemented by Guidance to Members about Outside Bodies. In addition, the Council would develop fact sheets for each of the Outside Bodies throughout the year to ensure that Members were advised on key information about the appointment such as whether there were indemnities and insurance in place, how often the meetings were and how they should report back to the Council. These would be developed with those Members who were appointed in 2021/22 and would be ready for the Annual Meeting to be held in May 2022.

The Scrutiny Commission at its meeting held on 24th August 2021 agreed to establish a Scrutiny Panel in order to draft a suggested list of approved Outside Bodies for consideration by Council for 2021/22. The Scrutiny Panel firstly determined whether the Council should make appointments to the organisations on the Outside Body list. They also categorised the Outside Bodies into categories of Key Strategic Partnerships and Community Partnerships. Those that were identified as Strategic would be appointed to by the Leader of the Council. The Outside Bodies listed in Appendix B would be appointed by Full Council.

It was noted that a review of Outside Bodies would be undertaken each year by a Scrutiny Panel to enable appointments to be made prior to or at the Annual Meeting. Those Members who were appointed to Outside Bodies would be asked to complete an annual review submission to assist the Scrutiny Panel in their review.

Councillor John McGhee agreed that it was important that the Council monitored its involvement with Outside Bodies, including costs associated with any membership. Under this item Councillor McGhee also hoped that a review of officer involvement with external organisations would be conducted, to ensure appropriate benefit to the Council was being achieved.

Councillor Maxwell supported the proposal that clear and regular information was fed back to all councillors from representatives on Outside Bodies. This would assist in ensuring that the Council’s continuing involvement with these organisations was beneficial to all parties, and all councillors felt more engaged.

Nominations for the vacant positions had been sought from the recognised political groups prior to the meeting, these had been circulated. Two positions were contested; the Chair conducted a ballot by show of hands as appropriate.

Councillor David Brackenbury MOVED the recommendations within the report; Councillor Helen Harrison SECONDED the recommendations.

RESOLVED that: -

(i)            The Outside Bodies Procedure Rules (Appendix A) be approved; and

(ii)           The following Outside Bodies appointments be made: -