Agenda item

Members gave consideration to the Annual Constitution Review report, presented by the Democratic Services and Elections Team Manager (Interim). She highlighted that the purpose of the report was for the Governance and Audit Committee to recommendto Council the proposed amendments to the Constitution. The report also included an Annual Report from the Monitoring Officer and aimed to provide an holistic view of all governance associated matters. The Governance and Audit Committee were also asked to approvethe amendment(s) made to the Financial and Contract Procedure Rules, which would subsequently be noted by Council as part of the Annual Review. It was explained that, owing to the global pandemic, the report for 2019/20 had not been presented to Council and as such, the current report was an amalgamation of what had previously been presented to this committee but remained outstanding. In addition, there were new items that had arisen during 2020/21 as well as some housekeeping amendments such as the changes to the management structure. The Committee heard that the Monitoring Officer’s report was fundamentally the same as the previous year.

Members thanked the Democratic Services and Elections Team Manager (Interim) for a clear and well-presented report. The Chairman requested that future reports be presented as separate items for the Committee, to then be combined into one report for Council. He also suggested that for future reports there would be a defined process and timescales for proposed changes.

Members welcomed the proposed changes to procedures for Planning Committee meetings to enable Councillors speaking as Ward Members to remain in the meeting room and also enquired as to how it could be ensured that the additional powers to Parish Councils to call-in a planning application would be managed. It was explained that any call-ins were in consultation with Officers and the Chairman of the Planning Committee, with involvement of the Monitoring Officer were necessary. In addition, the implementation of the Parish Charter set out the mutual expectations between the District Council and Town and Parish Councils.

In relation to section 5.4.37 of the Financial and Contract Procedure Rules, which stated “The relevant Budget Manager may write off amounts up to £250 where irrecoverable”, it was confirmed these amounts would still be reported on and would have to be classed as irrecoverable. The proposed amendment was to ensure improved efficiency.

With thanks again for a clear layout it was

            RESOLVED that:

a)    the amendment(s) made to the Contract and Procurement Procedure Rules and Financial Procedure Rules detailed at Section 4 of this report (the full set of Procedure rules are attached at Appendix 1 and 2 for completeness), be approved; and

b)    it be agreed that the governance outlined in the draft report to Council (App A), in respect of managing Commercial and Economic Growth, provides assurance that the council is taking appropriate mitigating measures against the risks identified in its commercial approach and note the updated position provided in Section 7 of the draft report to Council.

The Governance and Audit Committee RECOMMEND to Council the following:

c)    that the outcome of the 19/20 and 20/21 annual reviews, as detailed in the report attached at Appendix A be noted;

d)    that the additional amendments detailed throughout Section 3 of this report, identified during the 20/21 review (and now incorporated into the draft report to Council attached at Appendix A) be adopted and implemented with immediate effect;

e)    the appointments of Mrs Alison Adams, Mr Peter Walton, Mr Richard Harvey and Mr Andrew Middleton (Section 9) be approved;

f)     that

·         the progress made with regards to the areas of work agreed for further development in the previous reviews (Section 5);

·         the further planned work for 2021/22 (Section 6);

·         the statistical data provided within the report in respect of the number, nature and outcome of Code of Conduct Complaints (Section 8); and

·         the support offered to Parish Councils (Section 11);

·         the use of the Council’s RIPA powers during the period (section 13) be noted.

g)    that the interim decision making process(es) that have been in place during the COVID -19 Pandemic be acknowledged.