CITY BOARD 8 May 2001

(6pm – 7.40pm)

PRESENT: Councillor Howarth (Chair), Councillors Bagnall, Currie, Durrant, Harrison, Nimmo-Smith, Reed, C.Rosenstiel, Slatter, Stuart, Talbot and Taylor. The Mayor (Ex-officio)

FOR ADOPTION BY THE COUNCIL

01/A/24 APPOINTMENT OF COMMITTEES 2001/2002

The Board considered the size and membership of Committees for the forthcoming municipal year bearing in mind the requirements that the membership must be politically balanced in accordance with the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 and that the Council should appoint ‘parent’ committees, who would then appoint their sub committees. Councillor Bagnall stated that the size of committees should be increased to reflect more fairly the proportion of Labour members on the Council. The Chair stated that the current size of committees had worked well and was in accordance with the three principles which the Council was legally required to take into account when allocating committee places.

Council is recommended (by 7 votes to 4)

That the size and membership of committees in 2001/2002 be as follows:

COMMITTEE	LIB DEM	LABOUR	CONSERVATIVE
CITY BOARD 12	Howarth C Rosenstiel Harrison Knowles Nimmo-Smith Slatter Smart (A – J Rosenstiel)	Bagnall Bradnack Durrant Reed	Stuart (A- Douglas)
ENVIRONMENT 10	Harrison Dixon Howarth Slatter White Ward (A- Woodford)	Bradnack Durrant Johnston	Douglas (A – Howell)
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND LEISURE 10	J Rosenstiel Knowles Ellis-Miller Levison M Schofield Taylor (A – Hipkin)	Benstead Callaghan Reed Talbot	-
HOUSING AND HEALTH 10	Nimmo-Smith Griffiths James Liddle Smart Stebbings (A- Currie)	Bagnall Gilchrist Overhill	Howell (A- Stuart)

(A = Alternate member)

01/A/25 APPOINTMENT TO OTHER BODIES

Council is recommended (with no votes against)

That the following appointments be made at the meeting of Council on 17 May 2001:

1) Cambridge Environment and Transport Area Joint Committee (5 City Council members): Councillors Blencowe, Harrison, Howarth, Johnston and C. Rosenstiel.

2) Council Tax/Housing Benefits Review Board (10 members): Councillors Bradnack, Callaghan, Dixon, Dryden, Griffiths, James, Johnston, Nimmo-Smith, Smart, Stebbings.

3) (By 7 votes to 0) That Councillor Smart be appointed as Chair of the Council Tax/Housing Benefits Review Board.

01/A/26 APPOINTMENT OF CHAIRS & VICE-CHAIRS

The Chair proposed the Chairs/Vice-Chairs listed in the table below.

Councillor Bagnall nominated Councillors Blencowe and T. Schofield for Chairs of Planning and Licensing Sub-Committees respectively. Councillor Bagnall stated that these nominations had been made because both Sub-Committees’ functions and decision-making powers were non-political. Councillors Slatter and Nimmo-Smith stated that the Chair of Planning Sub-Committee would be required to oversee the Best Value Action Plan for Development Control, which may require policy and resourcing decisions to be taken, and therefore the Chair should be a Liberal Democrat councillor. The Chair agreed with this view, but suggested that the Liberal Democrat Group would re-consider whether the Vice-Chair of Licensing Sub-Committee needed to be a Liberal Democrat councillor.

On a vote of 4 in favour and 7 against, the nominations from Councillor Bagnall were not agreed.

	CHAIR	VICE-CHAIR
City Board	Howarth	C Rosenstiel
Community Dev. & Leisure	J. Rosenstiel	Knowles
Environment	Harrison	Dixon
Housing & Health	Nimmo-Smith	Griffiths
Property & Admin S/Cttee	Taylor	Lakin
City Centre Development S/Cttee	C Rosenstiel	Dixon
Periodic Electoral Review & Local Govt. Act S/Cttee	Howarth	C Rosenstiel
Planning S/Cttee	Slatter	Smart
Licensing S/Cttee	Knowles	J. Rosenstiel
Environment & Planning Policy S/Cttee	Howarth	Harrison

Council is recommended (by 7 votes to 0)

To agree the appointment of Chairs and Vice Chairs for 2001/2002 as listed in the above table.

01/A/27 CONVENTIONS 2001/2002

The Board agreed to some minor amendments to the current Conventions in A4(2), B1, B2 and D3 (these are highlighted and the Coventions are appended to the minutes).

Councillor Bagnall refered to B2 and requested that the circulating of draft papers and briefing spokes should take place before issuing final papers. The Chair noted that wherever practicable this was the case and asked that the Committee Section monitor the situation during the year.

Council is recommended

To agree to adopt the Conventions appended for 2001/02.

01/28/A LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT – SETTING UP A STANDARDS COMMITTEE AND MEMBERS’ REMUNERATION PANEL

The Board considered a report (appended to these minutes) which outlined the requirement under the Local Government Act 2000 for local authorities to establish a Standards Committee and a non-councillor Panel to advise the Council on members’ remuneration allowances. The Board noted that both these new bodies would need to be in place prior to the introduction of the new decision making structures in May 2002.

During discussion on the report it was agreed that the term ‘independent member’ which referred to the fact that the committee required a membership quota of non-councillors should be changed as the Council can on occasion have Independent Members of the Council.

Councillor Knowles requested that the report be amended to reflect the fact that Chloe Cockerill was no longer Manager of the Cambridge Citizens’ Advice Bureau (para 4.7 refers).

Council is recommended

Regarding the Standards Committee:

1) To approve the draft Terms of Reference for the Standards Committee as appended to these minutes.

2) That the membership of the Committee totals 8, initially made up of 3 Liberal Democrats, 2 Labour, 1 Conservative and 2 non-councillors and that the option for an Executive Member to be on the Standards Committee be considered in May 2002.

3) That a Selection Panel of 4 (2 Lib Dem,1 Lab, 1 Con) members determine the selection process for non-councillors and recommend appointments to Council. The Board noted that there will be a requirement for a special Council meeting on 13 September to consider the Selection Panel’s recommendations.

Regarding the Remuneration Panel:

4) That oversight of the panel on members’ remuneration and decisions on how it operates be delegated to the Periodic Electoral Review & Local Government Act Sub-Committee.

5) That the Council advertises openly for candidates to the Panel.

6) That the Panel appoints its own Chair.

7) That the Panel’s Term of Office be 3 years and renewable by agreement between the Council and each Panel member.

8) That the Sub-Committee decide whether the Panel receives an allowance guided by the current principles applied to the rate at which members’ allowances are set and the practices followed in a selection of other local authorites.

01/A/29 AMENDMENTS TO DELEGATIONS

The departmental restructuring last year led to a transfer of responsibilities from the previous structure to the Directors of Central Services, Community Services and Environment and Planning. There has also been a restructuring of responsibilities at second tier level within directorates.

The Council’s formal scheme of delegation identifies officers at first and second tier level who may exercise powers and discharge duties on behalf of the Council. It is implicit within the restructuring that responsibility for exercising the delegations follows the transfer of responsibilities. Accordingly,

Council is recommended

To confirm that the Directors of Central Services, Community Services and Environment & Planning, and second tier officers within those directorates, may exercise all of the powers and discharge all the duties identified in the Council’s scheme of delegation which relate to service areas for which they are responsible.

CITY BOARD 8 May 2001

(6pm – 7.40pm)

PRESENT: Councillor Howarth (Chair), Councillors Bagnall, Currie, Durrant, Harrison, Nimmo-Smith, Reed, C.Rosenstiel, Slatter, Stuart, Talbot and Taylor. The Mayor (Ex-officio)

FOR INFORMATION OF THE COUNCIL

01/a/30 MINUTES

Councillor Taylor stated that under 01/a/26 her interest should be ‘as her partner was a contractor for the Bank of New York.’ Subject to that amendment the minutes were signed by the Chair as a correct record.

01/a/31 APPOINTMENT OF COMMITTEES 2001/2002

(see also 01/A/24)

The Board was advised that as Labour Group totalled 15 members (following Councillor Mbaya’s resignation from the Group) the ratio per political group for those Sub-Committees with 10 members for 2001/02 would be 6 Lib Dem, 3 Lab, 1 Conservative. It was noted the numbers of other sub-committees were not affected.

Resolved (by 7 votes to 4)

1) The City Board Sub-Committees should comprise the following:

	Liberal Democrat seats	Labour seats	Conservative seats
Property & Administration – 10	6	3	1
City Centre Development – 6	4	2	0
Periodical Electoral Review & Local Government Act – 6	4	2	0

2) That parent committees be advised on the size of sub-committees as follows:

	Liberal Democrat seats	Labour seats	Conservative seats
Planning – 10	6	3	1
Licensing – 6	4	2	0
Environment & Planning Policy – 8	5	3	0

3) To disband the IT Procurement and Best Value Fundamental Service Review Sub-Committee.

01/a/32 WORKING PARTIES

Councillor Bagnall requested that the Labour Group representation on Direct Services Management Board and Office Accommodation Working Party be increased by one. The proposal was lost by 5 votes to 7.

The Board agreed that the Service Improvement Panel should not be re-appointed as it had not met for two years (since its inception). However, this decision was taken on the understanding that the Best Value Review of Revenue Services was due to commence which in itself would require member participation.

Resolved (by 7 votes to 0)

1) That the number of seats for City Board working parties are as follows:

Chief Officer Appraisal Working Party (6)

City University Forum (APU) (4)

City University Forum (University of Cambridge) (2)

Direct Services Management Board (6)

E-Government (8)

Fundamental Service Review and Audit Working Party (8)

Joint Staff Employer Forum (6)

Periodic Electoral Review (7)

2) That committees are advised of the size of working parties as follows:

Appointed by Environment Committee	Size
Addenbrookes NHS/City/SCDC Joint Working Party	3
Cambridge City/South Cambs Environment & Transport Area Strategic Forum	4
City Centre Management Consultative Forum	2
Development Plan Steering Group	8
Sustainable City Executive Group	2

Appointed by Housing & Health Committee	Size
Housing Performance Monitoring Panel	5

Appointed by Property & Administration Sub-Committee	Size
Office Accommodation Working Party	6

01/a/33 LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT – SUBMISSION OF CONSTITUTION TO SECRETARY OF STATE

Under the guidance issued by Government, a local authority under normal circumstances should send its proposals for the operation of executive arrangements to the DETR by the end of June. This is irrespective of when the new arrangements are to be implemented (the Council has agreed to implement in May 2002).

The Board noted that the main components of the proposals will include:

· a statement of which form of executive is proposed

· a description of the roles of the executive, Council and scrutiny

· the consultation which took place, the outcome and how it is reflected in the proposal

To comply with the Government’s timetable, the Board decided that the Periodic Electoral Review & Local Government Act Sub-Committee agree the content of the Council’s proposals for submission to the Secretary of State in June. The submission would be on the basis that the proposals were subject to Council approval on 19 July.

Resolved

That the Periodic Electoral Review & Local Government Act Sub-Committee be authorized to agree the Council’s proposals for submission to the Secretary of State because of the reasons stated above.

01/a/34 APPOINTMENTS TO OUTSIDE BODIES

The officers had been requested by the Chair of City Board to write to all outside bodies to which the Council appoints observers with a view to establish whether observer status was the preferred status for the local authority representative. All but one of those contacted which replied indicated that the current practice was satisfactory. The Citizen’s Advice Bureau expressed a preference for a voting member rather than observer.

In July 1997, the Council adopted a policy regarding representation on outside bodies. Where the Council decided to appoint a representative to an outside body, it would generally appoint an observer, rather than nominate to membership. Three exceptions to this approach were identified:

· Organisations on which the Council was a member in its own right – e.g. the National Local Government association and LGIU;

· Public sector consultative or planning bodies such as the Police Consultative Group, and JCC;

· Representatives on school governing bodies (because of the relevant legal framework).

The Chair stated that the current policy was too rigid and suggested that committees should be given the flexibility to consider requests from outside bodies for a voting member. Councillors Bagnall and Reed were concerned that the departure from the current policy of observer-only status would be confusing and could place members in a position of conflict of roles and responsibilities. Members agreed that the Head of Legal & Democratic Services be asked to arrange for a briefing note on ‘The Councillor’s role on outside bodies’.

Resolved – (by 7 votes to 4)

That committees are given the flexibility to consider requests from outside bodies for the Council’s representative to be a voting member rather than an observer.

01/a/35 ATTENDANCE REPORT

The Board noted a tabled report on Councillor attendance at committee, sub-committee and working party meetings in 2000/01. It was requested that the Cambridge Area Joint Committee be included in the figures. The Board was advised that the table would be updated to include meetings up to and including 16 May.

The meeting ended at 7.40pm