Agenda item

The Director of Legal and Democratic Services introduced the report which set out a variety of details for the Group to discuss. The Group went onto consider the report, commenting as follows: 

Terms of Reference of Policy Committees (including sub-committees)

-          The Committee agreed with the proposal for shared Terms of Reference and common ways of working, with the caveat that each Policy Committee would have unique elements.

-          The group discussed the future production of the Corporate Plan, noting that the existing Plan would remain in place until a replacement could be agreed at Full Council.

-          The Director of Legal and Democratic Services confirmed that any decision between £100k and £500k (i.e., below the ‘Key Decision’ threshold) would be made by officers in consultation with the Chair or Vice-Chair of each relevant Policy Committee.

-          It was agreed that the agendas for the Policy Committee Chairs/Vice Chairs meetings would be shared with Members of the relevant Committee, including details of any decisions that would be considered in order to provide the opportunity for advance comment.

-          The Group agreed that the Key Decision threshold should continue to include the current requirement for matters that would 'be significant in terms of its effects on communities living or working in two or more wards in the city.’

Policy Committee Procedure Rules

-          The Committee agreed they would need to consider the options for enabling additional public forum contributions, such as amendments to publication dates, amending speaking times and production of increased information for the public about how to engage.

-          It was agreed that Public Forum submissions for the Policy Committees must relate to the Terms of Reference for each body but did not need to be restricted to items on the agenda.

-          The Group discussed the Finance Sub-Committee and the breadth of work it would be responsible for. In view of this it was agreed that the Sub-Committee be a standing body.

-          Members were reminded that Policy Committee Chairs would have a casting vote. If the Chair does not wish to exercise this casting vote, the decision falls.

-          Members requested that relevant briefings from officers were scheduled into the Committees work programmes, to ensure Members had the right expertise to make informed decisions.

-          It was agreed that more detail should be added regarding the Forward Plans including that items be added with as much notice as possible.

Escalation Panel Procedure Rules

-          Members considered the proposals in relation to the Escalation Panel and agreed that in order to escalate a decision 10 or more Councillors would need to request this, from Members of at least two political groups.  They also agreed that the original decision makers could not be involved in reviewing the decision.

RESOLVED

·       There must be 10 Member Signatories, from at least 2 Party Groups for a decision to be escalated. 

·       That Escalation Panel Members must not have been involved in making the original decision.

Forward Plan and Decision Pathway

-          Forward Plans will be developed by regular cross-party workshop meetings.

-          Members were reminded that public consultation happens on a variety of policies.

-          Where Committees want to see a specific report or decision in more detail, they can request it comes to the relevant Policy Committee.

-          Members would like to see multiple proposed options in the reports, with an officer recommendation. This could also include options that have been considered but are not feasible.

-          The group requested a separate diagram showing how Policy Development occurs and where Member involvement sits within this.

Petitions Scheme

The Committee discussed a variety of options for changing the threshold for a petition. The Working Group agreed that 1000 signatures would be required for a Policy Committee debate and 3500 signatures for a Full Council.

It was noted that any petitions that didn’t meet the threshold for debate could still be submitted as public forum in the usual way.

RESOLVED: That petition debates could take place at both Policy Committees and Full Council.  The respective thresholds would be 1000 and 3,500 signatures.