Agenda item

Report of the Leader of the Council (Cllr Henderson) and the Chief Executive attached.

The Leader of the Council (Cllr Henderson) and the Service Director Performance and Innovation submitted a report on a number of proposed changes to the Constitution.

Cllr Henderson when introducing the report said that, in Appendix 4, the final paragraph on page 66 of the agenda had been erroneously included in the list of functions of the Planning Committee and should instead have been included as the final paragraph of the list of functions of the Standards Committee on page 72 of the agenda. He proposed the recommendations in the report, with that amendment.

An amendment proposed by Cllr Fail that the proposed changes to the definition of key decisions (paragraph 3.1) to consultation requirements (paragraph 3.3) and to the publication of background papers (paragraph 3.6) be deferred for further consideration by a committee prior to resubmission to the Council, was LOST (by 10 votes to 33).

Agreed (by 33 votes to 10):

1.    That the definition of Key Decisions in Article 16 in Part 2 of the Constitution be amended to increase the financial threshold from £50,000 to £100,000.

2.    That the changes to the Scheme of Delegation to Officers, in Part 7 of the Constitution, set out in Appendix 1, be approved.

3.    That the changes to consultation requirements in the Cabinet Procedure Rules in Part 4.04 of the Constitution, set out in Appendix 2, be approved.

4.    That the following paragraph be added to the Terms of Reference of the Audit Committee in Article 7:

“To receive updates and reports from the Head of Governance (Data Protection Officer) and to approve policies in relation to compliance with the Data Protection Act and Regulations made under the Act.”

5.    That the following additional paragraph be included in the list of executive functions delegated to the Head of Governance in Part 7.02 of the Constitution:

“To submit reports, as the Council’s designated Data Protection Officer, to the Information Commissioner’s Office on breaches of the General Data Protection Regulations.”

6.    That the change to the requirements for the publication of background papers referred to in reports, referred to in paragraph 6.2 of the Access to Information Procedure Rules in Part 4.02 of the Constitution, as set out in Appendix 3, be approved.

7.    That the simplified wording of the Summary and the Articles in Parts 1 and 2 of the Constitution, set out in Appendix 4, be approved, subject to the final paragraph in the list of functions of the Planning Committee (on page 66 of the agenda) being deleted and included instead as the final paragraph in the list of functions of the Standards Committee (on page 72 of the agenda).

8.    That the proposals for the further reviews of the Constitution set out in paragraph 5.8 of the report be noted and supported.