Agenda item

Purpose: To consider the IRP's Recommendations following their meeting on 23 June 2021.

(Councillor Claire Rowles declared a personal and prejudicial interest in Agenda Item 14 by virtue of the fact that she was Chairman of the Health Scrutiny Committee. As her interest was personal and prejudicial she left the meeting and took no part in the debate or voting on the matter).

The Council considered a report (Agenda Item 14) concerning Recommendations of the West Berkshire Council Independent Remuneration Panel 2021. The report set out the recommendations of the West Berkshire Independent Remuneration Panel following their meeting on 23 June 2021.

MOTION: Proposed by Councillor Howard Woollaston and seconded by Councillor Tony Linden:

That:

“Council is asked to consider and, if appropriate, agree the recommendations of the Independent Remuneration Panel as set out in paragraph 4.10.

Authority be delegated to the Service Director: Strategy and Governance to amend Part 14 of the Constitution (Members’ Allowances Scheme) and the associated procedures and guidance in line with any changes agreed by full Council.

Once amended, Part 14 of the Constitution (Members’ Allowances Scheme) be publicised as directed in The Local Authorities (Members’ Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003.”

Councillor Howard Woollaston introduced the report and highlighted three minor errors in the report, which did not have any significant impact on the recommendations.

1.    On page 45, reference was made to paragraph 4.10, but the correct reference was paragraph 5.

2.    The same error was repeated on page 49.

3.    In paragraph 6.2, the future review of all Members’ by September 2024 should have been a recommendation.

Councillor Woollaston explained that the Health Scrutiny had been setup to deal, since the issues involved were highly technical and beyond the remit of OSMC, with Councillor Claire Rowles had been appointed as Chairman. It had been agreed, given the significant amount of time required and the associated level of responsibility, that the Chairman should receive a special responsibility allowance. The recommendation was for a Tier 7 allowance, which matched those for Licensing, Governance and Ethics and Personnel Committees.

Councillor Carolyne Culver noted the chart on page 56 suggested that the Minority Group Leader received an allowance in 2019/20, but she confirmed that it was only last year or the start of the current year that the Independent Pay Review decided that the Minority Leader would receive an allowance and the Minority Leader did not exist before 2019. Also, she sought clarification that the Opposition was entitled to an allowance provided they had at least four Members and the Independent Pay Review decided that the Minority Group would be entitled to an allowance if they had at least three Members, but they had voted to postpone that and the introduction of a higher allowance for all Councillors. She asked for this correction to be made. She had been asked if she had refused the allowance in 2019/20, but it had not existed at that time.

Councillor Lee Dillon supported the findings of the report. He considered Health Scrutiny to be an important function and confirmed that OSMC did not have the time or resource to focus on it. He agreed that it would be a lot of work for the Chairman and so the role should be allocated a Special Responsibility Allowance.

Councillor Linden noted that he had been Chairman of the previous Health Scrutiny Sub-Committee and had been paid an allowance. He indicated that there was a lot of work associated with the role and so it merited an allowance.

An indicative vote of all Members present in the Chamber and those attending remotely indicated that Members were supportive of the Motion.

The Motion was put to the meeting and duly RESOLVED.