Agenda item

To submit a joint report by the Head of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer and the Head of Regulation and Economic Development.

The report of the Head of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer seeking the Executive’s endorsement of proposed changes to the Council’s Constitution prior to their submission for final approval by the Full Council was presented for consideration. The changes consisted of at Enclosure 1 Section A additional legislation to be added to the Scheme of Delegation to the Head of Service (Regulation and Economic Development) and at Section B legislation to be removed from the Scheme of Delegation to the Head of Service (Regulation and Economic Development). Additionally, the report contained a recommendation that some constitutional changes arising from new, amended or revoked legislation be delegated to the Head of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer without recourse to the Executive and Full Council.

The Portfolio Member for Planning and Public Protection reported that adopting and delegating the powers at Section A of Enclosure 1 will enable the Council to operate a wider range of solutions whilst removing the legislation in Section B of Enclosure 1 is a good housekeeping exercise. At present, any changes to the Constitution require Executive and Full Council approval. It is requested that some constitutional changes such as that set out in the report be delegated to the Head of Function (Council Business)/ Monitoring Officer. The Portfolio Member said that it will remain that politically significant and local choice changes to the Constitution will be a matter for the Full Council, but that constitutional changes due to new, amended or revoked legislation will be delegated to the Head of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer and this will include adding or removing reference to that legislation to or from the relevant Head of Service’s list of delegated matters. This would assist workloads for both Officers and the Executive/Full Council. Such reference is known to be included in the constitutions of other councils for the purpose of streamlining processes and ensuring that technical changes are implemented as smoothly and as quickly as possible.

It was resolved to recommend to the Full Council that –

•  The powers listed in Section A of Enclosure 1 to the report be adopted.

•  The Scheme of Delegation in the Constitution be amended to delegate the exercise of the powers noted in Section A of Enclosure 1 to the report to the Head of Service (Regulation and Economic Development).

•  The powers listed in Section B of Enclosure 1 to the report be removed from the Scheme of Delegation in the Constitution which delegates these powers to the Head of Service (Regulation and Economic Development).

•  The Council’s Head of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer be authorised to make the necessary changes to the Scheme of Delegation, and any consequential amendments, to reflect the adoption, delegation and removal of the said powers.

•  The Council’s Head of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer be authorised to make any future changes to the Constitution without requiring Executive or Full Council approval where those changes are as a result of legislative changes where additional/revised delegation to Officers is required in order to execute additional powers or rights granted to the Council by amended or new legislation.

•  The Scheme of Delegation in the Constitution be amended to delegate to the Head of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer the authority – “To review and update the Council’s Constitution from time to time, to include any changes arising from amended, substituted or new legislation; any restructure of the organisation already authorised as required and to include new delegations to Officers, namely the Head of Service with responsibility for the relevant service, to have full delegated authority to discharge the function on the Council’s behalf unless it is a matter reserved to the Council, Executive or a Committee.”