PURPOSE
1.
To revise the Council’s Constitution to improve
the effectiveness of public accountability and communications from the Council.
BACKGROUND
2.
The Council’s Constitution sets out a range of
obligations on the Council, its members and officers and is a relatively long
(200 pages) and complex document that needs constant reviewing if it is to
assist good governance.
3.
This report proposes a number of amendments that
are aimed at improving the ability of the Council to communicate with, and be
held accountable to the community.
Order
Of Business at Full Council
4.
The order of business as set out in the
Council’s Procedure Rules currently requires motions (as submitted by Members
in advance of the agenda distribution) to be placed on the agenda before “Any
other business specified in the summons to the meeting”. Occasionally
difficulty has been experienced whereby motions submitted by members on topics
have to appear on the agenda before a
relevant supporting paper on a matter from officers – thus serving to confuse
matters. To remedy this, a small change to the Procedural Rules is recommended
so that motions can be considered alongside such items – thus giving a more
coherent approach to the matters to be discussed.
Petitions
5.
Currently the Council has no formal process for
the receipt of petitions that may be collected by residents on the
6.
To further enhance the ability for the general
public to hold the Council to account it is suggested that in future where a
petition (other than for those in relation to any license or application being
considered by the Regulatory Committees) is gathered this can be submitted to
Full Council where the
7.
Inevitably such a process will require a limited
number of rules to ensure that the process is not abused and that the Cabinet
Member has an appropriate amount of time to consider the matter and therefore
it is suggested that all petitions must:
(i)
Be submitted to the Chief Executive
(ii)
Be clear as to the issue petitioners are
concerned about
(iii)
Relate to an issue within the powers or duties of
the Isle of Wight Council (but not to individual licence or applications being
considered by the Regulatory Committees for which alternative arrangements
exist)
(iv)
Include the names, addresses and signature of
the petitioners
(v)
Be signed by at least 500 Isle of Wight Council
Electors
(vi)
Be submitted to the next available full Council
meeting to be held 7 working days after the receipt of the petition.
Protocol
on Publicity and the Media
8.
The
current media protocol within the council’s constitution requires amendment. It
refers to a magazine that no longer exists and structures and teams that have
been changed and needs to more fully reflect the government’s Code of Practice.
9.
There
is no statutory reason for the protocol to be contained within the council’s
constitution. The protocol should be a
dynamic document that can be regularly updated.
It is therefore recommended that a new communications protocol be
drafted and agreed by the council’s
10.
It is
therefore suggested that: the current media protocol should be deleted from the
council’s constitution; that
Role of
the Monitoring Officer and Chief Financial Officer
11.
Both these posts are statutory posts and their
functions are detailed in Article 11 of the Constitution. Within that there is
reference to both officers having the responsibility of “ensuring lawfulness
and financial prudence of decision making”. This does not however make it clear
that these officers are responsible for the quality of all reports being
considered by Members (as ultimately these lead to some form of decision).
Therefore it is recommended that an additional, identical, paragraph be added
to both officers functions to make it clear that it is the responsibility of
these officers to ensure that all reports that are submitted to members for
consideration meet the required quality of accuracy and assessment of the
issues to be considered.
FINANCIAL/BUDGET
IMPLICATIONS
12.
The propose changes will have little direct
impact on budgets as they are about internal procedures.
LEGAL
IMPLICATIONS
13.
Agendas for full Council are properly subject to
procedure rules agreed by the full Council.
14.
There is currently no legal requirement around
Petitions although the recent White Paper makes it clear that there will be
legislative changes around Petitions.
15.
There is legislation controlling publicity
by the Council, this is specifically aimed at ensuring that the Councils formal
publicity is primarily informative and does not appear to be designed to affect
support for a particular political party. The proposed revision to the Protocol
will strengthen our arrangements around this to ensure that we do indeed follow
the legislative requirements.
16.
It is for Council to determine these proposed
changes and under existing delegations the Chief Executive will make the
necessary textual changes to the Constitution.
OPTIONS
17.
The Council can:
(i)
Make no changes to the constitution – but this
will significantly reduce the ability of the Council to conduct its business in
a sensible and timely manner whilst ensuring full accountability
(ii)
Amend the current constitution along the lines
suggested in the report
(iii)
Amend the current constitution to include some
of the suggestions in this report.
EVALUATION/RISK
MANAGEMENT
18.
There is a risk that there will be an increase
in the use of the petitions process – however the proposed controls will limit
this and the whole process could be reviewed at any time.
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RECOMMENDATIONS 19.
It is recommended that the Council’s
constitution be amended (under the existing delegated powers) to give affect
to the following: (i)
Motions can be considered alongside “any other
business specified in the summons to the meeting”; (ii)
That there be the provision for the acceptance
of petitions subject to them meeting the criteria as set out in paragraph 7
above. (iii)
That the current Protocol on Publicity and the Media be deleted from the
council’s constitution. (iv)
That (v)
That
the constitution should contain revised paragraphs as set out in Appendix 1 to replace the existing Protocol on Publicity and the
media as at page 199 of the constitution. (vi)
That Article 11 of the Constitution be amended
by the addition of a paragraph under the functions of the Monitoring Officer
and the functions of the Chief Financial Officer making it clear that they
are responsible for ensuring that all reports that are submitted to Members
for consideration meet the required quality of accuracy and assessment of the
issues to be considered. |
APPENDICIES
ATTACHED
Appendix
1 – Communications Protocol
Contact
Point : John Lawson Director of Policy
Performance and Partners and Deputy Chief Executive –( 823203 [email protected]
JOHN
LAWSON
Director
of Policy, Performance and Partners and Deputy Chief Executive