Issue - meetings

To consider carried motions relevant to the Committee’s remit, provide comment and consider whether to add details to the Work Programme for 2021/22.

RESOLVED that: the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee:

a)    Agreed that no further action is necessary on those motions within its remit where it has been identified that the matter is already closed, as indicated by notes included in the report.

b)    Agreed that the Committee is not in a position to identify that other motions within its remit are closed and therefore recommended that these motions should be considered for re-adoption by Full Council.

The Democratic Services Assistant Manager presented the report, which invited the Committee to comment on carried motions on notice from predecessor councils within its remit.  This matter was being considered by each of the Overview and Scrutiny committees at meetings in November.  This was intended to inform action by the Democracy and Standards Committee and Full Council in response to a motion agreed by Full Council on 15July 2021.

The Committee considered the report.  In response to questions from members the Committee was advised that the identification in the report of motions that could be treated as no longer required was not definitive.  It was open to the Committee to consider whether issues raised by previous motions should be included in its work programme or to comment on motions that might be adopted again by the Council.  However, when doing so, the Committee was asked to recognise that it might not serve a useful purpose for the Council to re-adopt an original motion that was now several years old even if the subject of the motion was still a live issue.

Committee members commented that it was not feasible for the Committee to consider in detail each of the previous motions within its remit to establish whether or not they had been adequately resolved.  However, this work needed to be done by WNC to avoid losing previous motions that were still valid.  It was felt that the Committee should comment to the Democracy and Standards Committee that previous motions should be considered for re-adoption by the Council unless it was clear that they were closed.

RESOLVED that: the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee:

a)     Agreed that no further action is necessary on those motions within its remit where it has been identified that the matter is already closed, as indicated by notes included in the report.

b)     Agreed that the Committee is not in a position to identify that other motions within its remit are closed and therefore recommended that these motions should be considered for re-adoption by Full Council.