Issue - meetings

To consider the report of the Director Corporate Services.

Agreed:

RESOLVED that:-

(1) the content of the report be noted;

(2) the actions from the last meeting of the Governance Review Board, as detailed in 8.4 of the report be noted as being taken forward; and

(3) the Members of the Governance Review Working Group be thanked for their contributions.

Reason for Decision: As set out in the report.

The Executive received the report which provided Members with an overview of the work of the Governance Review Working Group, providing clarity to the original purpose of the Governance Review Working Group and the reason meetings were no longer proceeding.

Members were referred to the groups Terms of Reference outlined in the report which had been achieved in 2019.  A 2020 review had been delayed until 2021 due to the Covid Pandemic and then three subsequent meetings were held in 2022, which involved a level of mission creep which were outlined in the report. Members noted that some of the recommendations had been completed and officers were working to ensure that all the issues were being addressed and be reported back to members at the proper time.

Councillor M. Mitchell, as an opposition group leader, considered that there needed to be an all-party mechanism to review the constitution on a regular basis, and that the Audit and Governance Committee needed to have more focus on governance matters.

Councillor Moore, as an opposition group leader, enquired on whether board members were aware of the mission creep and sought assurance that the outstanding governance issues would be addressed. She also commented on the recommendation related to the climate subcommittee.

Councillor Jobson, as an opposition group leader, noted that constitutional issues were addressed through liaison between the Monitoring Officer and Audit and Governance Committee.

Executive Members debated the report and made the following points:-

·         thanks were given to Members and Officers involved with the Governance Review Group and for providing the update on the progress of work; and

·         there had been mission creep at the meetings which was outside the groups remit. However, the Audit and Governance committee would continue to monitor the council's constitution.

The Director Corporate Services advised that the Monitoring Officer had a statutory responsibility in ensuring that the constitution was up to date and that updates to the constitution would continue to be reported to full Council.

RESOLVED that:-

(1) the content of the report be noted;

(2) the actions from the last meeting of the Governance Review Board, as detailed in 8.4 of the report be noted as being taken forward; and

(3) the Members of the Governance Review Working Group be thanked for their contributions.