Members considered a report on the annual review of the Constitution.  The Committee were also asked to approve the amendments made to the Financial and Contract Procedure Rules, which would subsequently be noted by Council as part of the Annual Review.  Article 14 stipulates how such a review should be conducted and this is set out at Section 1.2 of the report.

Arising from the feedback received a number of additions/ amendments are proposed to come into immediate effect, following Annual Council.  These are as set out in the table in Section 2.  Those highlighted green support the Council’s commercial agenda whilst those highlighted red are deemed to be greater than “house-keeping” in nature.

Building on the successful introduction of a new Code of Conduct in May 2017, particular focus has also been given this year to ensuring the Operation of Conventions included within Section III of the Constitution is reflective of how Members and Officers engage across the Council.

Two workshops, open to Senior Officers and All Members of the Council were held in January 2018, and allowed attendees to take a focussed look at this Section (III) of the Constitution.

It should be noted the most frequently raised point by attendees at the work shop was that the contents of the Protocol were not widely known of and therefore work had been undertaken to raise its profile.

The Governance and Audit Committee were delegated to make any changes to the Financial and Contract Procedure Rules between Annual Councils.  A set of revised rules were attached at Appendices 3a and 3b.  Appendix 3 detailed the table of amendments which had been made to each document along with the rationale for each and Members’ attention was particularly drawn to those amendments which had been made to reflect the Council’s commercial agenda, highlighted in green.

With regard to the Financial Procedure rules, the delegation at 7.2.9 of the Executive Director of Resources in forming a partnership is for a maximum contribution by the Council of £25k, and therefore for clarification purposes it was suggested that Financial Procedure Rule 7.2.9 be further amended to read as follows:

7.2.9    The Executive Director of Resources is authorised to form a partnership arrangement with a maximum value contribution by the Council of £25k for works/services.

Following this introduction, Members commented on the report, and these comments are highlighted below:

·         The Monitoring Officer had the power to appoint Members of Parish Councils in instances where they were inquorate.  In future, this would be reported to Governance and Audit Committee;

·         Some housekeeping amendments were required at pages 91 and 252 of the bookmarked agenda;

·         The British Trust for Volunteers was now known as the Trust for Conservation Volunteers.

RESOLVED:

(a)  That Members note the outcome of the annual review;

(b)  That the amendments detailed at Section 2 of the report be recommended to Council for immediate adoption and implementation;

(c)  The revised Member Officer Protocol (formally known as the Operation of Conventions) (Part III – Codes and Protocols) – attached at Appendix 1a  be recommended to Council for immediate adoption and implementation, and the Monitoring Officer be requested to promote its content at meetings of the Service Leadership Team (SLT);

(d)  The Member Champion Role Description – attached at Appendix 2 be recommended to Council for inclusion within the Appendices of the Constitution;

(e) That Members approve the amendments made to the Financial and Contract Procedure Rules – attached at Appendix 3a and 3b, and these be noted by Council as part of the Annual Review;

(f)   That the amendments detailed at Appendix 4, 4a, and 4b of the report, already approved by Council/Committee, throughout the year be noted;

(g)  That Members note the further planned work detailed at Section 4 of the report.