Issue - meetings

Members gave consideration to a report which sought agreement to a number of minor amendments to the Constitution, namely to the Council Procedure rules.

These amendments would remove the need for Mini Committee Meetings to elect Chairmen following Annual Council, making this a function of the Annual Council Meeting itself.

A further amendment was proposed to permit the Head of Paid Service to reject questions under Procedure Rule number 9, during the Purdah period, which he considered to be politically motivated and therefore an unjustified use of Council time and resources.

The amended affected pages were detailed in Appendix A, Ai and B attached to the report.

In response to a Member’s concern regarding the additional criteria for the rejection of questions under Procedure Rule No.9, the Monitoring Officer outlined the rationale for the proposed amendment advising that this was in fact to safeguard Members and avoiding there being any accusations that Council resources were being used for electioneering purposes. 

Opposition Members indicated they could not support such an amendment.

Councillor J McNeill noted he had identified an historical drafting error in Section 23.1 of Appendix Ai. Having spoken with the Chairman of the Governance and Audit Committee this would be reviewed and amended as necessary as part of the Annual Review.

RESOLVED that the amendments to the Constitution as detailed in Appendices A, Ai and B be approved.