Agenda item

To consider a report in response to a Notice of Motion in relation to council decision-making and governance.

The committee considered the report, prepared in response to a Notice of Motion submitted to Full Council on 16 October 2024 relating to the governance and decision-making of the council. The report also provided background information upon the recommendations of the LGA Peer Challenge report which proposed that the council ‘urgently review its decision-making framework’.

Councillor Mannion addressed the committee as the Proposer of the Motion and stated that this was an area raised by LGA Corporate Peer Challenge and something that the LGA would continue to closely monitor. Councillor Mannion proposed the recommendations in the report, subject to an amendment to Recommendation 1, which was supported by the committee, as set out below.

‘that a politically proportionate Task and Finish Group be established to drive forward the council’s review of its decision-making and governance arrangements, comprising nine members (4 Conservative: 3 Labour: 2 Independent with a standing invitation to a representative of the Liberal Democratic Group to attend on a non-voting basis)’.

Cllr Mannion stated that the key challenges for the Task and Finish Group would be to ensure that the council was making good decisions, timely decisions and undertaking effective scrutiny.

It was agreed that appointing members to the Task and Finish Group would be a matter for each political group to consider however the committee agreed that it would be advantageous for the Task and Finish Group to comprise of some members of the Constitution Working Group who would be able to offer guidance and experience on any constitutional changes that may arise.

Councillor Gorman addressed the committee as the Seconder of the Motion and spoke in relation to the recommendations of the LGA Corporate Peer Review Report and the importance of progressing this work as soon as possible to improve the current governance framework model.

The committee agreed that the work of the Task and Finish Group needed to progress quickly to identify improvements that could be made to the current system to address the issues raised by the LGA Peer Review, with updates scheduled as a standing item on future Corporate Policy Committee agendas. Members raised concerns around the length of time it would take to approve and implement any constitutional change. It was suggested that the first set of improvements identified be considered formally by the Corporate Policy Committee in June 2025, to enable a decision to be made at Full Council in July.

RESOLVED (unanimously):

That the Corporate Policy Committee

1. That a politically proportionate Task and Finish Group be established to drive forward the council’s review of its decision-making and governance arrangements, comprising nine members (4 Conservative: 3 Labour: 2 Independent with a standing invitation to a representative of the Liberal Democratic Group to attend on a non-voting basis.

2. Approve the terms of reference the Task and Finish Group as set out in Appendix 9 to this report.

3. Agree the Scope of the review, as set out in Appendix 8 to this report.

4. Agree adapted Design Principles as set out in part 2 of Appendix 3 to this report.

5. Note the progress made so far to improve existing arrangements, including changes to scrutiny work programming, scrutiny training and officer reporting, and call for officers to identify and report to the Working Group upon further immediate improvements which might be made, where these can be identified (paragraphs 3.17 onwards refer).

6. Note the indicative review process, as set out in Appendix 5 to this report.

7. Agree that reports will be brought back to the Committee upon such improvements as are referred-to in Recommendation 5, as well as upon the progress of the review.