To consider the verbal report of the Corporate Manager Democratic and Civic Support.
Minutes:
The Corporate Manager Democratic & Civic Support, provided an overview of the procedures for minutes following recently received concerns with the procedure for committee minutes, including the process for challenging their accuracy and presentation to full Council.
He explained that minutes were a draft record of decisions taken at the various committee meetings until they were signed as a correct record at the next meeting of that committee. It was the responsibility of the committee Members to challenge the accuracy of the minutes and the committee as a whole to amend them as required. Amendments would be recorded in the minutes of the meeting which they were amended, which he referred to the amendments made at this meeting.
Exeter City Council presented all committee minutes to full Council for information, allowing Members the opportunity to see what the committees were dealing with and to ask questions to the Chairs or Portfolio Holder on matters raised at the meeting for transparency. He highlighted that full Council did not approve the minutes, only to receive them and this practice was not followed by all other councils, such as Plymouth City Council who only received recommendations for Council approval.
Members debated the procedures for minutes at council and procedures discussing:-
· The status of minutes when they go to Council and should they only go to Council after the next committee meeting, which would mean Council would not see committee minutes for up to four months;
· Accuracy and clarity of minutes at Council needed to be established to ensure full transparency and public understanding;
· The minutes at Council needed to clearly show that they were still in draft form;
· Undertaking a governance review, to highlight recommendations other than reading out minute numbers;
· Committee reports to be more understandable and less jargon;
· Adding additional Member and Scrutiny training to the governance review;
In response to questions from Members, the Corporate Manager Democratic & Civic Support explained that:-
· Full Council noted all minutes of committees with the exception of any recommendations of the Executive which were open for discussions and decision by Council;
· The process had existed in Exeter City Council for a number of years, although this practice was not universally followed;
· The process followed the "pre Scrutiny", with the subsequent presentation of all minutes to full Council. This allowed transparency in the decision making process, allowing readers to easily follow the decision making route.
· Terminology of the minutes could be addressed to add suitable wording to show them as in draft form when shown at Council, except for recommendations to Council;
· A cross party governance review board to address changes could be established and include more scrutiny training resources.
The Audit and Governance Committee agreed to form a governance review board to address the roles and responsibilities of the various committees, ensuring they continue to meet the Council’s priorities and objectives, the standing orders and procedure rules that support the committee and decision making structure to and allow for maximum transparency in decision making. The Corporate Manager Democratic & Civic Support would provide an update at the December meeting.