Agenda item

            The Committee approved the minutes of the meetings of the Governance Woking Group of 21st March and 18th April and adopted the recommendation of the Group in respect of the following:

            Protocol on Issues Appearing On Committee Agendas

            An extract of the minute in this regard is set out hereunder:

      “The Democratic Services Manager reminded the Group that a draft protocol on how issues appeared on Committee Agendas had been considered by the Working Group at its meeting on 30th January.  At that meeting, it had been agreed that Members of the Group forward to the Democratic Services Manager any comments on the protocol and that a revised report be submitted to its next meeting.

      The Democratic Services Manager reported that no comments had been received by any individual members of the Working Group.  However, at the previous meeting the Members had felt that a Councillor should be able to request that an item be placed on a Committee agenda without the need to reduce that request to writing or an e-mail.  Accordingly, the protocol had been revised to incorporate that change and a copy is set out hereunder:

‘Appendix 1

Protocol setting out the means by which items appear on Committee agendas

There has been some confusion recently concerning the means by which items appear on the agendas of the several Committees of the Council.  The Strategic Policy and Resources Committee has agreed that a protocol on this matter should be developed so that Members and officers alike can understand the agreed rules.

Before setting out the protocol, it is worth restating one of the key principles of the operation of a public body.  That is, it is for the elected Members, acting through the established decision-making structures of the Council, to decide on policy and to make the decisions which allocate resources.  Officers will only act on these issues when there is a political decision to do so which is approved by the Council

There are a number of ways in which matters can appear on agendas and these are summarised below:

1.   Corporate Plan/Departmental Plans

      The Council invests a considerable amount of Member and officer time into the development of the Corporate Plan and the several departmental Plans.  Officers will present reports to Committees making suggestions as to how the priorities in these plans can be given effect.

2.   New Legislation or Guidelines

      From time to time new legislation or guidelines are introduced which impact upon the delivery of Council services.  Officers will prepare reports for consideration by the appropriate Committee on such matters.

3.   Requests by Outside Organisations

      The Council receives numerous requests from organisations and individuals for assistance or requests for the Council to take action on a certain matter.  Where appropriate, officers deal with these requests where the Council has an established policy on the matter.  However, on occasions it is considered to be necessary to bring such requests to the attention of the appropriate Committee for a decision.

4.   Requests from the Committee

      It is quite normal for a Committee to request officers to prepare a report on a certain matter and to bring it back to the Committee for consideration.

5.   Suggestions from Professional Officers

      The Council employs its professional Chief Officers not only to carry out the specific instructions of the Council but also to make suggestions which they consider would be of benefit to the city.  Each Chief Officer has an established management team at which suggestions for new programmes or initiatives are discussed.  The Chief Officer, if he/she considers the issue to be of benefit to the city might raise the matter at the appropriate Committee meeting for political direction.

6.   At the Request of an Individual Member

      It has been accepted practice for a number of years that an individual Member can ask for an issue to be raised at a Committee meeting and this has normally been highlighted on the agenda for the meeting against the Member’s name for him or her to raise.  Such requests are normally made to the appropriate Chief Officer and the appropriate Chairman is informed of the issue when being briefed on the agenda for the meeting.

      It should be pointed out that, although the Chairman is responsible for the conduct of the Committee meeting, he or she does not have any authority acting outside the Committee and it is not appropriate for a Chairman to decide which items can or cannot  be included on an agenda.

The following protocol is suggested for both Members and officers in dealing with requests from individual Members wishing to have an item placed on a Committee agenda:

·         Any Member is free to discuss matters with Chief or Senior officers of the Council and to seek their opinion on any suggestions which they might have for new policies or for a specific action to be taken.

·         If, after these discussions, the Member wishes the issue to be raised on a Committee agenda then a specific request should be made to the appropriate Chief Officer.

·         If the issue falls within the remit of the Committee and if it is considered that the action proposed to be taken is lawful, then the Chief Officer, after informing the appropriate Chairman, will arrange for the item to be included on the agenda for the next meeting indicating the name of the Member who will be speaking to the issue at the Committee.

·         The issue will either simply appear on the agenda against the individual Member’s name or, if the Chief Officer considers that it would be helpful to the Committee in considering the matter, a short covering report may be prepared which highlights that a named Member has asked that the issue is raised and give some important factual information.  No significant resources, including officer time, will be committed to such preparatory work.  Resources can only be committed once the Council has decided to take action.’

      The Working Group approved the revised Protocol on issues appearing on Committee Agendas and commended it to the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee for approval.”