Agenda and draft minutes

The Chair welcomed those present, and introductions were made.

Apologies were received from Councillor Dudd, who was substituted by Councillor Rippington.

There were no declarations of interest.

Up to 30 minutes is allowed for this item.

Any member of the public or councillor may participate in Public Forum. Public Forum items must relate to the remit of the Review Group and should be addressed to the Chair of the committee.

Members of the public who plan to attend a public meeting at City Hall are advised that you will be required to sign in when you arrive. Please note that you will be issued with a visitor pass which you will need to display at all times.

Questions

1.                    Written public questions must be received by 5.00 pm, at least 3 clear working days prior to the meeting. For this meeting, this means that questions must be received at the latest by 5.00 pm on Friday 24^th January 25. Please email questions to democratic.services@bristol.gov.uk

2.                    Any individual can submit up to 3 written questions.

3.                    Written replies to questions will be available on the Council’s website at least one hour before the meeting.

4.                    At the meeting, questioners will be permitted to ask up to 2 oral supplementary questions.

Statements

5.                    Written statements must be received at latest by 12.00 noon, at least 2 working days prior to the meeting. For this meeting, this means that statements must be received at the latest by 12.00 noon on Tuesday 28th January 25. Please email statements to democratic.services@bristol.gov.uk

6.                    Statements, provided they are no more than 1,000 words in length, will be circulated to all group members and will be published on the Council’s website at least one hour before the meeting.

Petitions

7.                    Details of the wording of any petitions, and the number of signatories to petitions must be received at latest by 12.00 noon, at least 2 working days prior to the meeting. For this meeting, this means that petition details must be received at the latest by 12.00 noon on Tuesday 28th January 25. Please email petition details to democratic.services@bristol.gov.uk

8.                    At the meeting, individuals presenting petitions may be required to read out the objectives of the petition.

When submitting a question or statement please indicate whether you are planning to attend the meeting to present your statement and/or ask your question.

The following public forum was received and noted for the meeting.

Questions

 
Statements

The minutes of the previous meeting were approved as a correct record.  

RESOLVED:  That the minutes from the meeting on Thursday 19th December 2024 be approved as a correct record.  

At the start of the discussion, the Chair set out next steps for the Committee Model Review Group, confirming that because many of the potential areas for review were interlinked it was difficult to make recommendations about changes in isolation.  In view of this Members were encouraged to bring forward proposals for changes to the March meeting.

Members were reminded that they had agreed to extend the timeline for meetings of Committee Model Review Group with additional public meetings to take place in April, May and June with final recommendations to go to the Audit Committee and Full Council thereafter.

Members went on to receive an introduction to the report from the Director of Legal and Democratic Services and discussed the information provided. The key points made were as follows:

• The Leader of the Council was appointed by Full Council for a four-year term.
• The Deputy Leader provided clarification about her role, setting out that her key duties included supporting the Leader and deputising at meetings and events; providing political direction and oversight; and taking a lead role on communication matters.
• The Group went on to discuss a range of other roles including the Whips and Policy Committee Vice Chairs agreeing that any recommended changes to the roles and responsibilities (that were set out in the Council’s constitution) would need to be brought back in due course.  It was noted that should any changes be required to the Special Responsibility Allowances paid this would require a recommendation from the Independent Remuneration Panel.
• Members noted that a summary of the Leader’s diary would shortly be published each month on the Council’s website.  it was confirmed that there were no plans to publish other Members’ diaries at the current time.  
  
  

RESOLVED:  That the update be noted.

The Director of Legal and Democratic Services introduced the report setting out the suggested areas of focus for Members during their review. 

The Group went on to consider the information provided asking for additional clarification where appropriate.  The discussion was as follows:

• The Group discussed the key decision threshold of £500k noting that it hadn’t changed since 2000. There were differing views about whether the key decision threshold should be reduced, increased or remain the same.
• Minutes of the weekly Policy Committee Chair briefings were shared with the relevant Policy Committee Members for information to ensure the relevant Councillors were kept fully up to date with officer delegated decisions and other matters of interest. It was agreed that officers would review the style of these notes to ensure consistency.
• Members requested that consideration be given to bringing the agenda conference meetings that took place prior to the publication of papers by a week or two to allow more time for any changes requested by Members to be incorporated (e.g. a range of options for debate/decision). 
• Key Decision Reports that were taken to a Policy Committee follow the ‘decision pathway’, an internal process to ensure that reports include all of the information that was necessary to enable Members to make a decision.  It was noted that if a report was being taken to a Policy Committee that didn’t include a key decision, then this could be produced in a shorter timescale, as was already happening in a number of the Policy Committees.
• Members commented on the length of some committee reports, which could make it challenging for both Councillors and the public to read prior to the meeting. It was suggested that the relevant Committee Chair should play a lead role in ensuring agendas and reports were accessible and inclusive.
• The Group debated the amendments process for Policy Committees, agreeing that the informal guidance that was currently available should be included in the Constitution in a future update.

RESOLVED: That the update be noted and recommendations and a further report setting out the key issues be brought to the next meeting.

Members noted the Work Programme.

RESOLVED: That the Work Programme be noted.