Agenda and minutes

(Director of Governance) To elect a Chairman of the Panel for the meeting.

RESOLVED:

That Ms. R. Kelly be elected as Chairman of the Remuneration Panel for the duration of the meeting.

(Director of Governance) To declare interests in any item on the agenda for the meeting, pursuant to the Council’s Code of Member Conduct.

No declarations of interest were made by members of the Panel, pursuant to the Council’s Code of Member Conduct.

(Director of Governance) To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on 28 September 2016.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on 28 September 2016, be taken as read and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

(Director of Governance) To consider the attached report.

The Panel was reminded that, at its meeting in December 2015, the Council had agreed that consideration of the amount of Special Responsibility Allowance (SRA) applied to the positions of the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Council, be added to the responsibilities of the Remuneration Panel from the 2017/18 municipal year. The Director of Governance reported that the Panel had requested an opportunity to gain an understanding of the current application of SRA in terms of the responsibilities of the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Council, in order that the level of SRA could be considered as part of the review of the Members’ Allowances Scheme for 2018/19 and subsequent years.

The current Chairman (Councillor D. Stallan) and Vice-Chairman (Councillor R. Bassett) of the Council attended the meeting to assist the Panel to gain an understanding of their roles and responsibilities, alongside a number of serving past-Chairmen of the Council who were able to contribute first-hand experience with regard to the current level of SRA for the positions. Members advised that Panel that chairmanship of the Council was an honoured position, reserved to councillors thathad earned the respect of their colleagues across the authority.

Members were advised that the Chairman was formally appointed to office at the first meeting of the Council in each municipal year and had a number of specific roles and responsibilities, including:

·                 chairing meetings of the Council so that the business of the authority was carried out efficiently and with regard to the rights of all Councillors and the interests of the community;

·                 ensuring that Council meetings were a forum for the debate of matters of concern to the local community and for promoting public involvement in the Council's activities;

·                 being the First Citizen of the District and attending civic and ceremonial functions to promote the Council and act as a focal point for the community;

·                 hosting functions in order to promote the Council and its interests; and

·                 promoting a charity appeal during their term of office.

The Panel was advised that the Vice-Chairman of the Council played an important part in supporting the Civic Ceremonialrole of the Chairman and that custom and practice had dictated that, in most instances, the Chairman ofCouncil had previously served a year as Vice-Chairman. The past-Chairmen in attendance all considered that the experiencegained during their year as Vice-Chairman had been invaluable preparation for their term of office as Chairman. It was also noted that, at times, the role of the Vice-Chairman could take on additional prominence where, forexample, the Chairman became unavailable due to illness or family commitments.

The Director of Governance reported to the Panel with regard to the background to the current level of SRA for the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Council, which had last been reviewed by the Governance Select Committee in December 2015. The Panel noted that aappropriate benchmarking had been undertaken in respect of the levels of SRA applied by other district local authorities inEssex and the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

(Director of Governance) To consider any additional items of business for the meeting.

The Director of Governance reported that there was no other business for consideration at the meeting.

(Director of Governance) The Remuneration Panel will shortly commence its annual review of the Members’ Allowances Scheme, with a view to any recommendations for the Scheme for 2018/19 being considered by the Council at its meeting on 21 December 2017.

Members are therefore requested to agree arrangements for a meeting of the Panel to be held during September or October 2017.

The panel agreed that its next meeting be arranged on a date to be agreed during October 2017.