Agenda and draft minutes

No interests were declared.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on September 19 2021 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

The Director of Law, Governance and Elections presented this item. He

outlined some fundamental points of the report as follows:

He stated that there were statutory provisions relating to the awards of

Aldermanic titles- the Council needs to have a protocol and scheme adopted.

The key consideration is if the scheme is agreed, the Party would be

forwarding the recommendation to full Council for formal adoption.

He also pointed out that in the protocol, outlined in the appendix of the report,

the award will not be conferred automatically upon retirement which means

there will need to be specific decisions made in relation to specific

Councillors. He continued that the law requires a resolution of two-thirds of

those present and entitled to vote at a special meeting of the Council, for the

award to take effect and that the nomination would initially be considered by

the Standards Committee. It was highlighted that the award of Aldermanic

recognition cannot be done at a normal meeting of the Council- but it must be

done at a special meeting to consider any such award. The rules that apply to

the award of the title, also apply to the removal of the title.

Members commended the award of Alder as being inclusive and progressive

in giving former Councillors the choice of Alderman, Alderwoman or Alder.

Councillor Bonavia also highlighted the importance of ensuring the title is

awarded to those who have not only met the standard of being a Councillor

but also those who may have gone above their role. He commended the role

of the Standards Committee in this decision making.

In the course of discussion, the meeting was interrupted by a fire alarm and

members reassembled at the designated fire assembly point for the Council

Chamber outside the Civic Suite.

Members further considered the proposal in the Protocol that Honorary

Aldermen, Alderwomen or Alders must have served 8 years in total on the

Council and concluded that a further clause in the Protocol allowing awards

for lesser service in exceptional circumstances gave the Council sufficient

flexibility to grant awards if required.

The Working Party then unanimously agreed the following recommendations:

RESOLVED that

(1) the Protocol shown at Appendix 1 be recommended to Council for

approval; and

(2) The Council be asked to amend the Constitution to include the proposed

revision at Appendix 2.

The constitutional update item was presented by the Director of Law,

Governance & Elections who confirmed that an addition agreed by the

Overview & Scrutiny Business Panel appeared in the final Protocol to

be considered by the Working Party.

Statutory guidance on overview and scrutiny had been published in May

2019, which local authorities must have regard to when exercising their

functions, and this recommended developing a scrutiny-executive protocol.

Members reviewed the Protocol and unanimously agreed that it be

recommended to the Council.

The Working Party was further informed the Monitoring Officer had exercised

his duty to keep the Constitution in lawful effect by removing reference in

Council Procedure Rules to the time limited Regulations that had made

provision for remote meetings until May 2021.

The Working Party then unanimously resolved to adopt the following

recommendations:

RESOLVED that:

(1) Council be asked to append the Scrutiny-Executive Protocol to the

Constitution; and

(2) the actions taken by the Council’s Monitoring Officer to give the

Constitution legal effect be noted.

The Working Party received a verbal update from the Monitoring Officer who

indicated his intention to undertake a review of the Constitution some time

after the Borough Council elections in May. He expressed a view that the

current constitution was lawful but was unwieldy and required modernisation.

RESOLVED that the update given by the Monitoring Officer be noted.

The meeting closed at 7.41pm