Agenda item

To receive a report from the Monitoring Officer and to decide on a consultation response.

(ENCLOSURE ‘FF’)

Submitted – report by the Head of Function (Legal & Administration)/ Monitoring Officer in relation to the above.

The Head of Function (Legal & Administration)/Monitoring Officer stated that the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales publish an Annual Report.  This year they have been visiting Local Authorities together with Town/Community Councils to obtain views regarding IRP reports and what allowance is permitted.  In the context of Co-opted Members of Local Authorities the IRP have now issued a Draft Supplementary Report on payments, by way of consultation.  Correspondence was received dated 1st August, 2013 from IRP which listed the 4 matters which require the views  of Local Authorities before they produce a final Supplementary  Report.

•  (1)  Reasonable time for pre-meeting  preparation  is eligible to be included in claims made by co-opted members in the extent of which can be determined by the appropriate  Officer in advance of the meeting;

The Head of Function (Legal & Administration)/Monitoring  Officer stated that Co-opted  Members will now be eligible to claim for pre-meeting  preparation,  such preparation  to be determined  by an appropriate  Officer (Monitoring  Officer) in advance  of the meeting.   A reasonable time estimate will need to be calculated before papers are sent out to Co-opted Members in respect of preparation/reading of the documentation.

Members of the Committee agreed that the Chair and Vice-Chair should meet with the Monitoring Officer to decide the reasonable  time required to prepare  for a meeting as documentation for some meetings can be extensive particularly Hearings  can take longer to prepare for discussion.

RESOLVED  to agree in principle to (1) noted above and that further negotiations take place centrally in respect of agreeing standard preparation time for meetings.

•  (2) Travelling  time to and from the place of the meeting can be included in the claims for payments  made by Co-opted  Members (up to the maximum  of the daily rate);

•  (3) The appropriate Officer within the authority can determine in advance whether a meeting is programmed for a full day and the fee will be paid on the basis of this determination even if the meeting finishes before four hours has elapsed;

•  (4) Meetings  eligible for the payment of fee include other Committees and Work ing Groups (including Task and Finish Groups) or any other formal meeting to which Co-opted Members  are requested to attend. (Pre-meetings  with Officers, Training and attendance at Conferences  are already  eligible for payment).

RESOLVED  to agree to (2), (3) and (4) as noted above.

The Head of Function (Legal & Administration)/Monitoring Officer further referred  to the IRP recommendation  that Local Authorities should consider a maximum number of occasions when payments may be made to co-opted Members every  year.    The Officer recommended that a review takes place in February/March.

Members of the Committee agreed that a review should be undertaken by the Monitoring Officer (based on actuals) and to request her to make recommendations in due course to suit the circumstances of this Authority.

RESOLVED to accept the report.

ACTION :

•  That the recommendations of the Standards Committee at (1) to (4) be forwarded to the Chief Executive to respond to the Independent Remuneration Panel.

•  To request the Monitoring Officer to prepare recommendations for maximum number of days for the attendance at meetings by Co-opted Members in every year.