Agenda item

To consider a number of amendments to Parts 2, 3, 10, 11 and 13 of the Constitution.

The Council considered a report (Agenda Item 22) which proposed a number of amendments to Parts 2, 3, 10, 11 and 13 of the Constitution.

MOTION: Proposed by Councillor Keith Chopping and seconded by Councillor Graham Bridgman:

That:

“(i)       The amendments to the Articles of the Constitution which are detailed in Appendix D of this Report be approved.

(ii)       The amendments to the Scheme of Delegation which are shown fully in Appendix E of this Report be approved.

(iii)      The amendments to the Financial Rules of Procedure at Part 10 of the Constitution, as detailed in Appendix F of this Report be approved.

(iv)      The amendments to the Contracts Rules of Procedure at Part 11 of the Constitution, as detailed in Appendix G of this Report be approved.

(v)       The amendments to the Social Media Protocol for Councillors at Part 13 of the Constitution, as shown at Appendix H of this Report be approved.”

Councillor Chopping stated that the Governance and Ethics Committee had considered the proposed changes in great depth at its meeting on the 26 November 2018. Key changes included: amending the Financial Rules of procedure to increase the level of bad debt that the Head of Finance and Property was authorised to write off from the current limit of £10k to £25k. This change was based on a benchmarking exercise involving other local authorities and also to reflect the fact that there had been no uplift to this limit in more than ten years.

Part 11 had been amended to reflect that Commercial Board had recently been renamed Procurement Board. Following discussions with Members it has also been agreed to streamline the governance arrangements around contractual procurement.

The Scheme of Delegation and Financial Rules of Procedure had been amended to allow the Head of Finance and Property, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Finance, the Head of Human Resources and the Head of Legal, to make payments up to a maximum of £5k to officers of tier 3 or below to reward them for generating ideas that resulted in significant income for the Council.

Councillor Chopping also explained that in addition it was also proposed that the Scheme of Delegation be amended to delegate power to the Personnel Committee to allocate the statutory posts of Director of Children’s Services and the Director of Adults Services to appropriate officers. He noted that the Personnel Committee already had delegated authority to appoint officers to other statutory posts within the Council.

Councillor Chopping explained that a small Task Group comprising both Members and Officers was set up to review the Social Media Protocol for Councillors. The changes suggested were designed to reflect both technological changes and to more closely align the Members’ protocol with the recently updated Officer Protocol.

Councillor Alan Macro commented that he did not believe that the revised Social Media Protocol addressed the issues identified in the recent standards complaint against Councillor Dominic Boeck.

Councillor Jeff Brooks stated that he wanted more detail around the request to increase the limit to which the Head of Finance and Property could write off bad debt. He was concerned about this decision given the Council’s financial situation. He asked for more information around the number of bad debts that had been written off over the past year and also the reasoning behind the write offs.

Councillor Brooks also stated that while the cash incentive for Officers, who generated ideas that resulted in significant income for the Council, was laudable the proposal as stated lacked clarity, should have parameters and was too subjective.

Councillor Anthony Chadley explained that there would be clear parameters set around the scheme and these would be developed now that Members had agreed the principle.

Councillor Lee Dillon proposed that this decision be delayed until the detail requested could be provided.

Councillor Graham Bridgman explained that the rationale behind the write off decision was set out in the supporting information. He stated that although Councillor Macro had been unable to attend the Governance and Ethics Committee he had submitted written comments and those had been taken into consideration. The Social Media Protocol (SMP) was designed to provide guidance for Members on its usage. Inappropriate comments would be considered as potential breaches of the Code of Conduct and it was therefore not necessary to make reference to them in the SMP.  On the basis that all the concerns raised had been dealt with he suggested that the decision should not be delayed.

Councillor Bridgman urged all Members to carefully read the expanded definition of what a Councillor was.

Councillor Chopping stated that it was important that Members read the report properly. He suggested that if Councillor Macro had any concerns about the policies that he could raise them at a future Governance and Ethics Committee meeting.

The Motion was put to the meeting and duly RESOLVED.