Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests in any item on the agenda.

With reference to Minute No 53 (Review of Representation on Outside Organisations) Councillor Peter Groves declared a non-pecuniary interest by virtue of being a member of the Nantwich Partnership.  In the course of the discussion Councillor David Marren declared a non-pecuniary interest in the Crewe and Nantwich Twinning Association by virtue of being a member of it and did not vote on the matter.

No members of the public were present.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on  20 September 2012.

The minutes of the meeting held on 20 September 2012 were approved as a correct record.

To consider the final outstanding responses of the review. 

Councillors Peter Groves and David Marren had each declared non-pecuniary interests in this item.

Further to Minute no. 47 of the last meeting the Sub-Committee considered the outstanding information and responses received.  An Appendix to the report provided details of the current position in each case and supporting papers circulated prior to the meeting provided copies of the responses received.

Each case was considered in turn and the further actions detailed below were proposed for the organisations shown:-

1.    Public Transport Consortium and Transport Futures – in the event of no response being obtained from the Councillor representative then information to be sought from Officers involved; in addition further consideration to be given to the classification of the Public Transport Consortium as a Category 2 organisation and to whether or not it has strategic significance and should be classed as a Category 1.

2.    Sir Thomas Delves Foundation – School to be asked if one representative rather than two would be adequate for its needs, in which case the current vacancy would not need to be filled.

3.    University of Keele Court – information on replacement arrangements to be pursued as the Sub-Committee considered it important to maintain contact and representation.

4.    Cheshire Local History Association – Further details to be requested from the current representative.

5.    Cheshire East CAB – Concern was expressed at the lack of response from the organisation and existing representatives were to be asked to assist.  It was noted that commissioning of the service was due to change to competitive bidding and the Sub-Committee considered it important for Councillors to be involved at this time.

6.    South Cheshire College of Further Education – No response received; questions raised as to the position regarding co-opted members and further information to be sought.

RESOLVED

For the reasons set out above, approval be given to the actions proposed and that further consideration be given to the findings at a future meeting of the Sub-Committee.

To consider the Sub-Committee Work Programme and the date of the next meeting.

It was noted that the review was now complete barring the final actions requested in the previous item which would be dealt in due course.

With reference to information regarding Officer support this would now be updated using details requested during the review.  It was stressed that the aim of such a list was to provide a point of contact for Councillors should they require information or advice to assist them in their role/involvement with an outside organisation; it was not an expectation that the officer named should attend such meetings although on some specific occasions they might.

RESOLVED

1.    That the work programme be noted.

2.    That the next meeting of the Committee be held on Wednesday 20 March 2013 at 10.00 am.