Agenda item

To consider a report on a revised procedure in respect of Cheshire East Council’s appointments to outside organisations. 

The Committee considered a report setting out the recommendations of the Outside Organisations Panel on a revised procedure for making appointments to outside organisations.

The Chair of the Outside Organisations Panel, Councillor M Warren, placed on record his thanks to those Democratic Services officers who had supported the work of the Panel.

Members felt that the Manchester Airport Consultative Committee and the University of Manchester, which the Panel had designated as local bodies to be withdrawn from the formal appointments process, were strategically important bodies and should therefore be retained on the list of bodies for formal appointment. Members also felt that all liaison bodies associated with active quarries in the Borough, and the North West Reserve Forces and Cadets Association, should be included on the list for formal appointment.

RESOLVED (unanimously)

That the Committee agrees the recommendations of the Outside Organisations Panel, as amended, as follows:

1.   The organisations set out in the local list appended to the Outside Organisations Panel report, be removed from the formal appointments to outside organisations procedure, and that a communications plan be developed to assist with this transition. 

2.    The organisations set out in the statutory list appended to the Outside Organisations Panel report be retained as requiring a formal appointment.    

3.    Subject to the amendment in resolution 4 below, the organisations set out in the retained list (of corporate importance), appended to the Outside Organisations Panel report, be retained as requiring a formal appointment, subject also to the addition of the following body to the retained list:

§  North West Reserve Forces and Cadets Association

4.    The organisations set out in the ‘organisations to be removed’ list and the ‘alternative representation list’ in the Outside Organisations Panel report, be removed from the procedure for the reasons stated, except that the following organisations be moved to the retained list of bodies of corporate importance requiring formal appointment:

§  Manchester Airport Consultative Committee

§  University of Manchester

§  all liaison bodies associated with active quarries in the Borough

5.    The organisation set out in the ‘organisations to be added’ list in the Outside Organisations Panel report, be included in the statutory list.  

6.    Subject to each organisation’s confidentiality arrangements, a communications plan be developed to enable Member nominees to feedback information to the Council, to enable issues of importance or interest to be discussed.  Democratic Services officers to identify key service department officer contacts for each nominated member; officers to then determine whether this would give rise to a report on a formal decision to a service committee, action by the officer under delegated powers, or issues of wider Council importance to be brought to the attention of Members via the Members’ Bulletin.

7.    Remuneration received by Members appointed to the Peak District National Park Authority, Cheshire Fire and Rescue Authority, Cheshire Police and Crime Panel and the Council’s wholly-owned companies (ASDVs) be recorded as part of the published annual Record of Members’ Allowances. 

8.    The Councillor’s Guide to Outside Organisations be reviewed and refreshed to (i) reflect the new governance and procedural arrangements; and (ii) ensure that the Council can minimise risk and protect the interests of itself and the Members who represent it on outside organisations.      

9.    At the Annual Council meeting held in May each year, Council will formally agree the nominations to the Cheshire Police and Crime Panel, Cheshire Fire Authority, Fostering Panel and Adoption Panel for a four-year period, due to the scheduling of these meetings. 

10. At the Corporate Policy Committee’s July meeting, the Committee will formally agree the nominations to those organisations which have been retained on the Council’s formal list of organisations (2 and 3 above) onto which it nominates Members, taking into account the new membership of the Council. 

11. Nominations made to these organisations will have a duration of 4 years from the July meeting of the Committee.