ISLE OF WIGHT COUNCIL
Director of Corporate Services
County Hall
Newport
Isle of Wight
PO30 1UD
To: ALL MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL
You are hereby summoned to attend the ANNUAL MEETING of the COUNCIL to be held on WEDNESDAY 20 JUNE 2001 in the COUNCIL CHAMBER, COUNTY HALL, NEWPORT, ISLE OF WIGHT commencing at 10.00 am for the transaction of the business set out in the Agenda below.
A lunch, hosted by the Chairman of the Council, will be in Committee Room 1 at 1.00 pm.
AGENDA
PRAYERS
1. To elect a Chairman of the Council for the ensuing year.
2. To elect a Vice Chairman of the Council for the ensuing year.
3. To approve as a correct record and to sign the Minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 23 May 2001. (Paper A)
4. To note the result of the elections of Councillors held on 7 June 2001. (Paper B)
5. To receive and take measures respecting official communications and correspondence, if any, submitted by direction of the Chairman.
6. Executive Arrangements
To consider the report of the Director of Corporate Services (Paper C - to be distributed separately) on the introduction of Executive Arrangements and to agree any necessary changes to the Constitution.
7. To elect the Leader of the Council who will also be the Chairman of the Executive.
8. To appoint nine other members of the Executive.
9. To elect Chairmen of the following Select Committees :
(i) Economic Development, Planning, Tourism and Leisure Services;;
(ii) Education, Community Development and Life Long Learning;
(iii) Environment and Transport;
(iv) Fire and Public Safety;
(v) Resources;
(vi) Social Services, Housing and Benefits.
10. To elect Chairmen of the following Regulatory Committees:
(i) Development Control;
(ii) Licensing;
(iii) Regulatory.
11. To receive the allocation of seats on the Committees detailed in items 9 and 10 above, calculated on the basis of political proportionality in accordance with the provisions of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989. These seats will be filled by the Director of Corporate Services in accordance with the wishes of the political groups. (Paper to be tabled).
12. Standards Committee
To appoint 2 members (with 3 named deputies) to the Standards Committee and re-appoint the existing 7 independent members (His Honour J Wroath, Mr B Claxton, Mr R Phillips, Mr W Linnington, Mrs J Harding, Prof D Farnham, Mr D Hansford). The members will be appointed on the basis of political proportionality and will be filled by the Director of Corporate Services in accordance with the wishes of the political groups. Any Councillor appointed should not include any member on the Executive and should have served at least one full term of office as a Councillor immediately preceding their appointment to the Standards Committee.
13. Appointments to Outside Bodies
To appoint Members to the following :-
(i) Hampshire Police Authority Appointments Panel - 1 (On the basis of political proportionality on the Hampshire Police Authority this appointment must be from the Liberal Democratic Party)
(ii) The Local Government Association - 1
(iii) Isle of Wight Community Health Council - 9 (To be appointed on the basis of political proportionality and will be filled by the Director of Corporate Services in accordance with the wishes of the political groups. Must not be a member or employee of the Health Authority or NHS Trust, employed in the provision of contracted services to these or a medical practitioner, dental practitioner, pharmacist, optician, registered nurse, midwife or health visitor.
14. Ad Hoc Appointment Panel for the Post of Director of Environment Services
To consider the report of the Chief Executive and the Personnel Services Manager (Paper D)
15. Call In of Executive Decision
To consider the following resolutions of the Executive, held on 10 May 2001, that has been called in under the former
Standing Order 37:-
(i) Report of The District Auditor
The Director of Finance and Information introduced the District Auditor who presented his report on the Unicentre System. He informed Members that he had been approached by the Chief Executive to investigate and to report back on the circumstances and facts surrounding the purchase of the system, to consider whether the Council's procurement rules had been broken, whether there was any prima facie evidence of corruption and to advise the Council on best practice and improvements in relation to future procurements and control mechanisms.
The District Auditor confirmed that a definite view of the facts was not possible due to the absence of documents and the passage of time that had lapsed. He confirmed that the equipment had not remained in its packaging but had been piloted.
The District Auditor reported that he had found that the Councils procurement rules were sound but had not been followed in this instance. Since then procurement rules and those relating to hospitality had been strengthened. However he had found that standing orders were ambiguous in relation to the words 'general works' and believed this should be reviewed.
After questioning the Auditor on his findings and a detailed discussion it was :
RESOLVED :
(i) THAT the report of the District Auditor be noted and accepted.
(ii) THAT no further action be taken against either Mr Knight or Cemoc.
(iii) THAT Standing Orders as to contracts be reviewed to take into account the comments made by the District Auditor.
(iv) THAT the District Auditor be thanked for his report.
(ii) REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR AND FINANCE AND INFORMATION
Future implementation of the Unicentre System
The Director presented his report on the Business Case relating to the future implementation of the Unicentre System. Members then received a presentation demonstrating how the Unicentre system had been designed to help the IT department manage the organisation's file servers, data networks and desktop PCs. After an initial pilot project, implementation of the software stalled and then came to a halt in mid 1998. The project was reviewed by the new Head of ICT in August 1998 and subsequently his recommendation now was that the project should not be progressed further.
RESOLVED :
(i) THAT the 'do-nothing' option be accepted.
(ii) THAT the obligation to pay the outstanding amounts for the next two years at a cost of �27,000 per annum be accepted.
(iii) THAT the Unicentre project be formally laid to rest.
A copy of the call in notice is attached (Paper E) together with the reports by the District Auditor (Paper F1) and the Director of Finance and Information (Paper F2) submitted to the Executive on this matter.
16. To receive for information the minutes of the meetings of the Executive held on 24 May and 31 May 2001 (Paper G)
17. To receive for information the Minutes of the following Committees, consisting of decisions under delegated powers:
Planning Committee - 15 May 2001, 25 May 2001 and 29 May 2001- (Paper H)
Licensing Committee - 22 May 2001 - (Paper I)
Under the Procedure Rules Members can only ask the Chairmen of the above Committees about general matters affecting the Committees provided that they have given written notice of the question to the Director of Corporate Services before 10.00 am on Monday 18 June 2001.
M J A FISHER
Director of Corporate Services