Issue - meetings

For debate and decision.

Cllr Mark Hawthorne, Chairman of the Constitution Committee, presented the recommendation from the meeting held on 16 January 2017.

RESOLVED to ratify the changes to the Constitution made by the Monitoring Officer under delegated powers as set out in annex A to the report.

For debate and decision on the day unless the Chairman decides otherwise.

The report includes the recommendations of the Independent Remuneration Panel and the changes proposed to the Council’s petition scheme.

a)        Report of the Independent Remuneration Panel

Cllr Mark Hawthorne, Chair of the Constitution Committee, invited Richard Blamey, Chair of the IRP, to present the panel’s recommendations.

Mr Blamey paid tribute to panel member Gwyn Morgan who had sadly passed away in November 2015.  He said that Gwyn was well liked and respected by fellow panel members and county councillors.

He said that the panel had welcomed the opportunity to meet members and they had developed a good understanding of their role.  The panel were aware of issues around members’ ICT, difficulties for some members in attending training courses and the need for a mentoring programme for new councillors.  He said that a comparison had been undertaken of the basic allowance paid by county councils across the country and it was evident that members in Gloucestershire were undervalued compared with elsewhere.  The average basic allowance for county councils was £10,300.

The IRP recommendations would increase the basic allowance from £9,100 to £10,000 with special responsibility allowances maintained at their current value for 2016-17 and 2017-18.  He recognised that this would break the ‘building blocks’ approach with special responsibility allowances no longer being a multiple of the basic allowance.  He said that this would need to be reviewed in future.

Cllr Hawthorne thanked Mr Blamey and the IRP for their diligent work in reviewing the allowances. He recognised that the review had been more thorough than many of those undertaken elsewhere.  He believed, however, that it would be inappropriate to increase the basic allowance by such a significant amount when the Council was facing severe financial pressure.  He urged members to consider the wider context in light of the difficult financial decisions that would need to be taken in the next two years.

Cllr Hawthorne proposed and Cllr Will Windsor-Clive seconded an amendment that the allowances be maintained at their present level for 2016-17 and 2017-18 with the IRP being requested to undertake a review of the structure of the current allowances scheme following the May 2017 election.

A number of other members spoke in support of the IRP recommendations.  They questioned the value in having an IRP if the Council ignored its recommendations.  They believed that it was important that a wider range of people were encouraged to stand as councillors and this was unlikely to happen if the allowances were much lower than those paid elsewhere.

On being to the vote, the amendment was lost.

On being put to a recorded vote, it was

RESOLVED

i)             To increase the Basic Allowance from £9,100 to £10,000 for a two year period from 1 April 2016.

ii)            To maintain all Special Responsibility Allowances as a fixed sum at their 2015-16 level for a two year period from 1 April 2016.

The voting was as follows:

For (25): Cllrs David Brown, Dr John Cordwell, Iain Dobie, Bernard Fisher, Jasminder Gill, Joe Harris, Colin Hay, Jeremy Hilton, Paul Hodgkinson, Barry Kirby, Richard Leppington, Sarah Lunnon, Steve Lydon, Steve McHale,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7

For debate and decision on the day unless the Chairman decides otherwise.

Cllr Mark Hawthorne, the Chairman of the Constitution Committee, presented the recommendations from the meetings held on 10 December 2014 and 4 February 2015.

a)        Order of Council agenda – member questions

RESOLVED that the current order of business at full Council meetings should continue, so that member questions are considered immediately following motions.

b)        Employee Code of Conduct

Referring to the section of the code on ‘disclosure and use of information’, a member requested that this be looked at more closely in light of the debate at the Extraordinary Meeting on the incinerator contract at Javelin Park. 

Cllr Hawthorne stated that this matter could be considered at a future meeting of the Constitution Committee but it was important that members recognised the legal constraints on officers.

RESOLVED that the revised Employee Code of Conduct, included at Annex A to the report, is approved and adopted.

c)        Gloucestershire Economic Growth Joint Committee

RESOLVED to ratify the changes to the Constitution (as indicated at Annex B to the report), made by the Monitoring Officer under delegated powers, regarding the Gloucestershire Economic Growth Joint Committee.

d)        Commons and Rights of Way Committee

RESOLVED to ratify the changes to the Constitution (as indicated at Annex C to the report), made by the Monitoring Officer under delegated powers, regarding the Commons and Rights of Way Committee.

e)        Members’ allowances

Cllr Hawthorne stated that the Constitution Committee recommended that the Basic Allowance should be increased by £100 and not £150 as recommended by the IRP.  This was in line with the staff pay rise and would result in a Basic Allowance of £9,100 for 2015-16.  The Basic Allowance would continue to be used as the ‘building block’ for the Special Responsibility Allowances with the exception of the payments to the Political Group Leaders and Shadows which would be maintained as set figures.

RESOLVED

i)     To increase the Basic Allowance from £9,000 to £9,100 from 1 April 2015.

ii)    To adopt the Special Responsibility Allowances shown at Annex D (Appendix 1) to the report.

f)          Pensions Board

RESOLVED that

i)          The revised Pension Board terms of reference (as indicated at Annex E to the report) be approved.

ii)         The following consequential amendments are made to the duties of the Pension Committee in Table 3.6 of Part 3 of the Constitution:

11. To consider advice and recommendations from the Pension Board on areas that may improve the governance of the Pension Fund (the remit of the Pension Board is detailed in its Terms of Reference).

12. To consider the Pension Board’s proposed business plan for the forthcoming financial year and annual budget request.

g)        Contract Standing Orders

RESOLVED that the new Contract Standing Orders, included at Annex F to the report, be approved and adopted.

h)        Chairman’s casting vote

A member suggested that a vice-chairman be appointed for each of the regulatory and quasi-judicial committees to help prevent any difficulties arising when a chairman was not present.  These would include the Planning Committee, Commons and Rights of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11