Agenda item

Councillor Nunn presented the report to Council which sought Members’ approval regarding allocation of places on committees between the political groups in accordance with the political balance requirements of the Local

Government and Housing Act 1989 and to confirm the appointment of Committee Chairs, Deputy Chairs and members. The report also invited Council to note the names of the Leaders and Deputy Leaders of the political groups and to note the members of the Cabinet.

Councillor Patel seconded the report.

Members debated the report, and the following comments were made:

·       It was felt by some Members that Chairs of Scrutiny should be opposition members since it could be difficult for the administration to scrutinise its own members/group.

·       The way that the Chairman was currently elected was not fair; the position belonged to the entire district, not just the group in power. This should be done through the Democracy and Standards Committee, or through a formal motion.

·       The Constitution made a point of using ungendered language and the Chairman should follow this example.

·       Members felt sad that Councillor Bowen was leaving her Cabinet Member post. She had been a hard-working and responsive Member.

·       Changes to committee membership should be advertised by the Monitoring Officer. Also, the scrutiny work programme had not been sent out to Members.

·       Women made up 52% of the population and were disproportionately affected by Brexit, the pandemic, domestic violence and sexual violence, and there were now only 2 women sitting on the Cabinet.

·       Responding to an earlier comment, it was stated that Scrutiny Chairs would have no issue challenging colleagues in their own party. This had in fact been the case in some of the predecessor authorities.

·       It was noted that at the last Place OSC only 5 members attended the meeting and they were all Conservative.

·       It was further noted that the Conservative Party was the only political party in the country to elect 2 female Prime Ministers.

Following the debate, the recommendations were put to a vote.

Upon a vote, the recommendations contained within the report were agreed.

RESOLVED:

Council:

a)    Received the names of the Leaders and Deputy Leaders of the political groups as set out at Appendix A of the report.

b)    Noted the members of the Cabinet set out at Appendix A of the report.

c)     Agreed to constitute and decide on the allocation of places on committees between the political groups in accordance with the political balance requirements of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989, as set out in section 5 of the report.

d)    Confirmed the appointment of Committee Chairs, Deputy Chairs and members to the various Committees and Joint Committees as set out at Appendix A of the report.

e)    Noted that the appointments to the Local Area Planning Committees are not politically balanced as they fall within the political balance exemption for area committees; but should reflect the political makeup of the relevant area.

f)      Delegated to the Monitoring Officer the power to appoint councillors and substitute councillors to committees and sub-committees in accordance with the wishes of the Group Leaders except where appointments to those bodies is exercisable only by the Cabinet.