Issue - meetings

The Council is asked to consider a number of minor changes to the Constitution, in the light of a report by the Governance Committee.

19.1     The Council considered a number of minor changes to the Constitution, in the light of a report by the Governance Committee (pages 21 to 54).

19.2     An amendment was moved by Cllr Lord and seconded by Cllr O’Kelly.

‘Written Questions

Original text as per page 52 of the Council booklet:

2.38 Subject to the giving of the notice required by Standing Order 2.39, a member may ask a question on any matter in relation to which the County Council has powers or duties or which affects West Sussex (including any matter considered by the Executive, a scrutiny committee or non-executive committee) which is. The subject should not already otherwise be on the agenda for the meeting, and which the Chairman does not may rule out any questions considered to be irrelevant or inappropriate. The question will be deferred for a later reply if it involves the expenditure of a disproportionate amount of time or money to prepare the answers.

Proposed amendment:

2.38 Subject to the giving of the notice required by Standing Order 2.39, a member may ask a question on any matter in relation to which the County Council has powers or duties or which affects West Sussex (including any matter considered by the Executive, a scrutiny committee or non-executive committee) which is not otherwise on the agenda for the meeting, and which the Chairman, in collaboration with group leaders, does not rule to be irrelevant or inappropriate. The question will be deferred for a later reply if it or involves the expenditure of a disproportionate amount of time or money to prepare the answers.

Notices of Motion

Original text as per page 53 of the Council booklet:

2.48 The Chairman, in consultation with political group leaders, may decide that a motion shall be:

(a)   moved and debated at the next meeting (usually no more than two per meeting unless the Chairman determines otherwise);

Proposed amendment:

2.48 The Chairman, in consultation with political group leaders, may decide that a motion shall be:

(a)   moved and debated at the next meeting;’

19.3     The amendment was lost.

19.4     An amendment was moved by Cllr Sharp and seconded by Cllr O’Kelly.

‘Changes to the existing recommendations in item 7, Appendix 1 are shown in bold, underlined type.

Page 40 – Part 3, Appendix 8D, Communities, Highways and Environment Scrutiny Committee Terms of Reference:

3.       To undertake the scrutiny of the performance of the council’s services against the outcomes, objectives and measures including scrutiny of how effectively relevant corporate, and service and climate change risks are managed set through a relevant commissioning process.

Page 57 – Part 3 – Appendix 22, ACCESS Joint Committee Terms of Reference

11.4 Performance against the strategic business plan and climate change strategy agreed by the Councils.’

19.5     The amendment was lost.

19.6     Resolved – that the approval of the following recommendation be endorsed:

That the proposed changes to the Constitution, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19

Report by the Director of Law and Assurance.

The Committee is asked to consider a number of minor changes to the Constitution.

5.1        The Committee considered a report by the Director of Law and Assurance on a number of minor changes to the Constitution (copy appended to the signed minutes). The Senior Advisor, Democratic Services introduced the report and sought members’ comments on each section.

5.2        Some members were concerned about the proposals for streamlining Council processes summarised in paragraph 2.2 of the report. In relation to the minor change to emphasise the need for questions to avoid duplicating other parts of the agenda, members were reassured that the change was only to make the paragraph clearer and not to introduce a new restriction. The point was made that questions had become rather long with multiple parts and consideration could be given in due course to limiting them to a single question.

5.3        The other main concern raised by some members was in relation to the proposals for limiting the number of motions to be debated per meeting to two. Whilst there was general consensus that action was needed to rebalance the format of Council meetings as, in recent years, motions had been taking up too much of the agenda, there was disagreement over the best method to do so.

5.4        One suggestion put forward was that the decision on that aspect of the changes should be deferred to allow Group Leaders to discuss the format of Council meetings as a whole, including whether it would be preferable to move question time to the morning with motions being debated later in the day, thus avoiding the need for a limit on numbers of motions. Another option put forward was to add a time limit to motion debates rather than limiting the overall number. It was also suggested that if the full two hours was not available for question time at one meeting, question time could be first on the agenda at the next meeting.

5.5        Other members stressed that the decision as to which motions were debated at a meeting would be in consultation with Group Leaders at their regular meeting in preparation for the Council meeting. In addition, the Chairman had discretion to allow more than two motions. It was therefore felt that appropriate safeguards were in place to make sure the motions debated were those of most relevance to the County Council.

5.6        There was consensus that question time was an important part of the Council meeting and that changes were needed to try to ensure that the full two hours were available by rebalancing the agenda. There was also a need to ensure motions that were of most relevance to the Council were chosen for debate, whilst retaining the Chairman’s discretion.

5.7        It was proposed by Cllr Lord and seconded by Cllr O’Kelly that the proposed changes to written questions and motions in Standing Orders should be deferred pending further discussions on Council meetings more broadly between the Chairman and Group Leaders with a report being brought back to the September meeting of the Committee. The proposition was put  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5