Issue - meetings

Purpose: To set out proposed amendments to the Constitution in light of proposed changes to the Council’s overview and scrutiny arrangements.

Council considered a report (Agenda Item 11) concerning amendments to the Constitution in order to support changes to the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny arrangements.

MOTION: Proposed by Councillor Jeff Brooks and seconded by Councillor Denise Gaines:

“That Council:

A) approves the proposed changes to the Scrutiny Model effective from 15 May 2025, replacing the two existing committees (Scrutiny Commission and Health Scrutiny Committee), with three committees as follows:

• Resources and Place Scrutiny Committee
• Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee
• Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee

(b) delegates amendments to the Constitution that are necessary to accommodate the above changes to the Scrutiny Model (outlined in Section 5 of this report) to the Monitoring Officer in consultation with the Constitution Review Task Group

(c) approves the updated programme of public meetings required to accommodate the above changes to the Scrutiny Model (as set out in Appendix C)”

Councillor Brooks introduced the report and highlighted that Council was asked to consider a new structure for how scrutiny would be conducted. This would involve the creation of three Scrutiny Committees, each with their distinct areas of focus, and the replacement of the Planning, Transport, and Environment Advisory Groups with a new Executive body called the Policy Development Group (PDG). The membership of the PDG would be drawn from all Members of the Council and would be used to help develop specific policies which could be taken forward for adoption.

The Governance Committee had discussed these proposals at their meeting on 29 April 2025 and had raised several concerns with the proposals. However, Council noted that there was a desire to give the Scrutiny Committees more influence and for them to work more effectively. For these reasons, the recommendations had remained and were being put before Council. Members noted that the proposals had also been discussed with the Group Leaders who were generally supportive of them as they would make the Council more in line with how scrutiny was conducted in other similar authorities. However, some Members indicated that they would have liked the proposals to have been taken through the existing Scrutiny Commission for their input.

Members emphasised the necessity of sufficient Officer support for these new Scrutiny Committees and highlighted the extensive work that the Principal Democratic Services Officer, Gordon Oliver, and the Principal Policy Officer, Vicky Phoenix, had been providing to the current structure. Having opposition group Members chairing some of the Scrutiny Committees was also agreed to be a positive inclusion but they noted that training, especially for new Members of these Committees, would be essential in order to run the meetings as effectively as they could be. These proposals were also noted as helping to ensure that proper scrutiny was put on key service areas, such as adult and children services.  

In response to questions about the PDG, particularly about its Terms of Reference, membership, and proportionality, Council was informed that the Group’s membership would be open to all Members and would allow them all to contribute  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10

Purpose: To set out proposed amendments to the Constitution in light of proposed changes to the Council’s overview and scrutiny arrangements.

The Committee considered a report (Agenda Item 8) concerning amendments to the Constitution to support changes to the Council’s overview and scrutiny arrangements.

The Deputy Monitoring Officer and Service Lead for Legal and Democratic Services introduced the report and highlighted that that since the publication of the agenda, it had been proposed that each of the three new Scrutiny Committee’s would comprise of nine Members. In addition, it was suggested that the new arrangements would begin operation immediately upon their approval at Annual Council, rather than on 1 September 2025. </AI7>

The Committee was informed that currently, the Council had been operating two Scrutiny Committees – the Scrutiny Commission and the Health Scrutiny Committee – and that the proposal was to move to a three-committee model – a Resources and Place Scrutiny Committee, Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee, and a Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee. In addition, the three current advisory groups – the Transport Advisory Group (TAG), the Planning Advisory Group (PAG), and the Environment Advisory Group (EAG) – were proposed to be replaced by a single Policy Development Group (PDG) which would be a group of the Executive. These Committee changes would more closely align the Council’s Scrutiny structure with other councils of a similar size.

Members welcomed the move to the three-committee structure but raised concerns about the proposed size of the committees. Debating the potential number of Members on each Committee, they agreed that nine Members on each of the three Scrutiny Committees would be too large as it would result in a significant proportion of all Council Members needing to sit on a Scrutiny Committee. The Committee agreed that the number proposed would place an even greater workload on Members who would, in turn, not be able to provide as much attention as was needed to these important areas. It was also indicated that the current Chairman of the Health Scrutiny Committee believed that seven was a sufficient number.

Overall, due to the workload and time needed to properly invest in these new Scrutiny Committees, the Committee agreed to recommend to Council that each of the new Committees would be more appropriate if they were comprised of seven members.

Members also expressed reservations about the lack of detail on the impact these changes would have on Officer resources. Emphasising the need for proper resourcing in order to achieve the maximum potential of these new Committees, Members requested assurances that that the Democratic Services workload would be reviewed. In response, the Deputy Monitoring Officer and Service Lead for Legal and Democratic Services indicated that the Council was conducting an internal review of workloads in order to highlight areas of pressure and to ensure that adequate support could be provided for the new structure. As new scrutiny functions would be taking place, it was noted that additional scrutiny resources, at principal level, would be required.

Questions were also raised about the timeline for implementation of the new scrutiny arrangements. The Committee emphasised the importance  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7