Agenda and minutes

To agree the notes of the last meeting of the Panel, held on 27 February 2013 (attached).

RESOLVED:

That the notes of the last meeting of the Panel held on 27 February 2013 be agreed.

(Assistant to the Chief Executive)  To report the appointment of any substitute members for the meeting.

It was noted that Councillors Mrs A Mitchell MBE and A Boyce were substituting for Councillors B Rolfe and G Waller respectively.

(Assistant to the Chief Executive). To declare interests in any items on the agenda.

In considering whether to declare a personal or a prejudicial interest under the Code of Conduct, Overview & Scrutiny members are asked pay particular attention to paragraph 11 of the Code in addition to the more familiar requirements.

This requires the declaration of a personal and prejudicial interest in any matter before an OS Committee which relates to a decision of or action by another Committee or Sub Committee of the Council, a Joint Committee or Joint Sub Committee in which the Council is involved and of which the Councillor is also a member.

Paragraph 11 does not refer to Cabinet decisions or attendance at an OS meeting purely for the purpose of answering questions or providing information on such a matter.

Pursuant to the Council’s Code of Member Conduct, Councillor D Stallan declared a non pecuniary interest in the following item of the agenda, by virtue of being the Housing Portfolio Holder. He advised that this report had originated from the Cabinet and although the Localism Act gave him the right to sit and vote he felt that on this occasion he could not vote, however he would assist the debate:

• Item 7 Housing Appeals and Review Panel – Terms of Reference – Exclusion of Housing Applicants from the Housing Register.

(Chairman/Lead Officer) The Overview and Scrutiny Committee has agreed the Terms of Reference of this Panel and associated Work Programme. This is attached. The Panel are asked at each meeting to review both documents.

The OSC is about to formulate next years OS work plan incorporating a programme for this Panel. In view of this, the Panel may wish to bring forward suggestions/ideas on topics for inclusion in its work programme for next year.

(a)        Terms of Reference

The Panel’s Terms of Reference were noted.

(b)        Work Programme

(i)         Item 21 Employment Procedure Rules - Revision

Officers were awaiting legal advice from Counsel, therefore this item would be held over to the next municipal year.

(Assistant to the Chief Executive) To consider the attached report.

The Panel received a report from the Assistant Director of Democratic Services regarding the Terms of Reference for the Housing Appeals and Review Panel – Order of Presentation of Cases.

At the request of the Housing Appeals and Review Panel (HARP), consideration was given in February 2012, by this Panel, to altering the order of presentation of cases at the HARP meetings.

Members were advised at that time that a change in the order of presentation, with the Housing Officer presenting the case first.

Members and substitutes of the HARP were consulted at the time and although there was not a consensus view, the majority expressed support for the proposals.

The Scrutiny Panel decided that the existing order of proceedings with the applicant/appellant presenting their case first should be retained but that provision should be made to reverse the order if requested. This decision was subsequently adopted by the Council. The Panel decided to review the matter during the year.

Since the Scrutiny Panel’s consideration of the matter last year, the HARP had considered seven cases. In four of these the applicant/appellant had presented their case first, in the other three cases the order of presentation was reversed at the request of the applicant/appellant.

RECOMMENDED:

That the following changes be made to the Terms of Reference of the Housing Appeals and Review Panel Order of Presentation of Cases

(a)               that the normal order of presentation of cases at meetings of the Housing Appeals and Review Panel be changed to provide for the case officer presenting their case before the applicant/appellant; and

(b)        that paragraphs (6) and (7) of the Terms of Reference of the Panel be amended as follows:

“(6)      In relation to appeals or reviews at which the applicant's case is presented in person or by a representative, the hearing shall be conducted in the following order:

(a)        Chairman's introductory remarks;

(b)        Presentation of the Officer’s case;

(c)        Questioning by the applicant (or representative);

(d)        Questioning by members of the Panel;

(e)        Presentation of the applicant’s case;

(f)         Questioning by the Officer;

(g)        Questioning by members of the Panel;

(h)        Summing up by the applicant;

(i)         Summing up by the Officer;

(j)         Panel considers its findings in the absence of the applicant and the Officer;

(k)        The decision of the Panel will be conveyed to the applicant and Officer in writing.

(l)         The Panel shall have discretion to reverse the order in which the cases of the applicant and the Council are presented, provided that both parties agree.

   (7)        If requested by the appellant/applicant or their representative, the Chairman may agree to (6)(b)-(d) above taking place after (e)-(g) and to (h) and (i) being reversed”.

(Assistant to the Chief Executive) To consider the attached report.

The Panel received a report from the Assistant Director of Housing, Operations, regarding the Terms of Reference for the Housing Appeals and Review Panel – Exclusion of Housing Applicants from the Housing register.

The Council on 20 April 2010 amended the Terms of Reference of the Housing Appeals and Review Panel (HARP), concerning making appeals against any decision made by Housing officers on any housing matter. The amendment stipulated that housing clients could only appeal on specific issues from the 2010/11 municipal year. Under the new Government guidance, authorities were given powers to decide locally on how accommodation should be allocated based upon local priorities , in any way they saw fit, provided schemes were both legal and rational.

The new draft scheme was considered by the Housing Scrutiny Standing Panel in December 2012. Under Section 14 of the proposed new scheme, if an applicant did not meet the following Local Eligibility Criteria they would not qualify to either remain on, or join the Housing Register. These were:

(a)        Residency – an applicant who had lived in the Epping Forest District for less than three continuous years immediately prior to their date of registration.

(b)        Exceptions to the Residency Criteria – Armed Forces Regulations – Any member or former member of the Armed Forces applying within five years of discharge, or a bereaved spouse or civil partner of a member of the Armed Forces leaving services’ family accommodation following the death of their spouse or civil partner.

Any spouse or child of existing or former Armed Forces Personnel, if one of their qualifying family members had lived in the district for more than three continuous  years immediately prior to their date of registration.

Any serving or former member of the reserve Forces who needed to move because of serious injury, medical connection or disability sustained as a result of their service where the application was made within 5 years of discharge.

Other Criteria

An applicant must have a housing need as defined by at least one Banding Criterion, must not have sufficient funds enabling them to meet their own housing costs under the limits set out under the scheme, and must not have been guilty of serious unacceptable behaviour as set out in the scheme within the last three years.

It was advised that there were around 6,600 homeseekers on the Council’s Housing Register. If the draft Housing Allocations Scheme was agreed by the Cabinet, it was estimated that around 3,000 homeseekers would no longer qualify for inclusion and therefore would be removed from the Register. In law, every applicant had the statutory right to request a review of certain decisions on allocations and to be informed of the decisions on review and the grounds for it. If the Local Eligibility Criteria was agreed by the Cabinet, it was expected that both a high number of the estimated 3,000 homeseekers who would not qualify to remain on the register, and non-qualifying new applicants in the future were likely to request  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53.

(Assistant to the Chief Executive) Report to follow.

At the last Panel meeting, members requested further information on the views of representatives on the leisure centres, town centre partnerships and also the museums committee.

(a)        Attached is the entire list of Council Appointments with current status indicated as Appendix 1.

(b)        Attached is the feedback from representatives regarding Council Appointments. These cover the leisure centres, town centre partnership and Museums in Essex Committee. This had been requested by the Panel on 27 February as Appendix 2.

(c)        Attached is the list of Council Appointments submitted to the Panel on 27 February, alongside members’ and officers’ feedback as Appendix 3

(d)        Attached is the current Leader Appointment Schedule with comments submitted by Councillor W Breare-Hall regarding the Waste Partnership Inter Authority Member Working Group as Appendix 4

The Panel received a report from the Assistant to the Chief Executive regarding Protocol on Partnerships and External Organisations.

The Protocol on Partnerships and External Organisations gave advice to Councillors and officers who served as the authority’s representatives on outside organisations. The Protocol covered a number of areas including appointment procedures, reports by representatives, agreements with external organisations regarding the proper role of elected and officer representatives, insurance and conflicts of interest.

(a)        Paragraphs 3.1 and 3.3

Changes reflected the fact that some appointments to outside organisations were made by the Council and those relating to executive functions by the Leader.

(b)       Paragraph 3.2

This concerned member appointments regarding allocation of places between the political groups, and allocation of places on outside organisations to Portfolio Holders where Cabinet functions were directly involved. It was proposed to delete this section.

(c)        Paragraph 9.3 (c)

Additional wording had bee added to this paragraph reflecting the Code of Conduct adopted by the Council and currently in operation. Previous reference to personal and prejudicial interests were replaced by references to disclosable pecuniary interests.

(d)       Paragraph 12

This section had been updated taking account of changes in the Code of Conduct.

(e)       Section 7

Section 7 of the Protocol dealt with insurance and indemnities. In summary, a member had liability cover from the authority for actions undertaken lawfully and in accordance with the Council’s statutory duties.

(f)        Section 10

This section of the protocol referred to reporting arrangements.

(g)       Review of Council and Leader Appointed Representatives to Outside Bodies

Panel members received further views of Councillors appointed representatives on leisure centres, town centre partnerships and other bodies following the discussion at the last meeting. The Panel suggested some changes to the representations with a small number being discontinued.

It was agreed that this report should be brought direct to the Council without consideration at the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The Committee Chairman would be asked to approve this under Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule 4 (j) on the grounds of urgency to agree the arrangements for appointing representatives before the Annual Council meeting.

RECOMMENDED:

(1)        That the Review of Outside Organisations be recommended to Annual Council as follows:

(a)        That the changes to the Protocol on Partnerships and External Organisations be recommended to the Council;

(b)        That the revised list of external organisations to which the Council makes appointments be approved;

(c)        That a recommended revised list of external organisations to which the Cabinet makes appointments be referred to the Leader of Council for decision.

(Assistant to the Chief Executive) To consider the attached report.

The Panel received a report from the Assistant to the Chief Executive regarding the Localism Act 2011 – Executive Constitution.

The Localism Act 2011 consolidated a number of previous statutory provisions regarding Local Authority Executives.

The amendments were to Article 7:

(a)        Article 7.02 (Form and Composition of the Executive)

An amendment had been made for closer alignment to the Localism Act.

(b)       Article 7.03 (Leader of Council)

The Localism Act had removed the arrangements by which Councillors could be suspended or disqualified following a complaint investigation. The only remaining disqualification related to bankruptcy and criminal proceedings leading to imprisonment.

The Act had also introduced a new option for the Council, namely specifying the term of office of the Leader. The 2007 required that the member continued to the end of their term as a Councillor unless they resigned, became disqualified or were the subject of a negative vote at a Council meeting.

(c)        Article 7.04 (Deputy Leader)

It was now mandatory for the Leader of Council to appoint a Deputy Leader and the Act went on to deal with the question of removal of a Deputy Leader from office and the power of the Leader to appoint a replacement. These provisions had been added into this article.

(d)       Article 7.05 (Deputy Leader – Powers to Act)

Revisions had been made to reflect what the Act said should happen if the Leader of Council was unable to act or if that office was vacant. In those circumstances, the Deputy Leader would assume responsibility.

(e)       Article 7.06 (Leader and Deputy Leader unable to act)

A new section was added to reflect the Act’s clarification of the situation where the Leader and Deputy Leader were unable to act or the office of Leader or Deputy Leader was vacant. The act stated that the executive itself must then step in and either carry out the Leader’s functions collectively or appoint a member of the Executive to act in the Leader’s place.

(f)        Article 7.05 (Other Executive Members)

The same alterations had been made in this section in relation to disqualification as Councillors, some clarification had been included regarding the appointment of Executive members, making it clear that these were by the Leader of Council and could be for more than one term of office.

(g)       Article 7.08 (Responsibility for Functions)

A new sentence had been added to Article 7.08 to include the Localism Act requirement that any function which was the responsibility of the Executive may not be discharged by the full Council.

The Panel endorsed the report, they were advised that it was possible for the report to be forwarded to Full Council, bypassing the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The Assistant to the Chief Executive agreed to discuss this with the Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to obtain permission.

RECOMMENDED:

That following consultation with the Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee a report be submitted to the Council recommending Article 7 (The Executive) of the Constitution be amended to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55.

(Assistant to the Chief Executive) To consider the attached report.

The Panel received a report from the Assistant to the Chief Executive regarding the Convention on the Relationships between Political Groups and Councillors with officers.

The Council’s Constitution contained conventions regarding the management of relationships between political groups, Councillors and officers. This had not been reviewed for many years and the Management Board had asked for these conventions to be reviewed in the light of current experience.

The changes were as follows:

(a)        Paragraph 2.1 (Entitlement to Information)

The wording of this paragraph had been amended to make reference to the Freedom of Information and Data Protection Acts which protected personal or confidential data.

(b)       Paragraph 2.3 (Entitlement to Information)

A new sentence had been added to this paragraph emphasising that in situations where one political group had requested information it may be necessary for the Director concerned to discuss and agree a timescale for releasing it to all groups on an even handed basis.

(c)        Paragraphs 2.4 and 2.5 (New) (Entitlement to Information)

These two new paragraphs were designed to recognise the close working relationships between Cabinet members and Directors which were a necessary part of the executive system. They guided Portfolio Holders and Directors in acknowledging the rights of other Councillors to information.

(d)       Paragraph 4.3 (Briefing of Political Groups)

This was a new paragraph which reflected current practice in relation to group Leader’s meetings which had recently been revived.

(e)       Paragraph 5.2 (Casting Vote)

This paragraph had been extended to provide more advice to Chairmen regarding the issue of the second or casting vote. The current convention stated that Chairmen would always vote for the status quo. This was amended by referring to the need for Chairmen to take advice on whether a status quo applied in the particular decision concerned.

(f)        Paragraph 6.2 (Relations with the Media)

There was a small addition to this paragraph to clarify the circumstances where members could speak directly to the media on any given issue.

(g)       Paragraph 6.5 (Relations with the Media – Election Period)

This was a new paragraph designed to draw attention to the special requirements for Council publicity during election periods.

(h)       Paragraph 8.1 (Facilities for Members)

The wording of this paragraph had been slightly amended to refer to Democratic Services rather than the Secretarial Bureau. Members wishing to secure typing services from the Council were advised to contact Democratic Services in the first instance, where arrangements would be made with the Business Process Team in Corporate Support Services.

Members expressed concern with the proposals, in particular Sections 2.3 dealing with the agreement of a timescale for the release by Service Director of information to all political groups, and Sections 2.4 and 2.5 dealing with the relationships between Cabinet members and service directors being compromised. It was therefore proposed that this report should be distributed to all members following submittal to Group Leaders, and then brought back to this Panel in the new municipal year. Officers agreed to circulate a draft report in may 2013 before issuing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 56.

(Assistant to the Chief Executive) Report to follow.

It was advised that this report would be deferred to the next Panel meeting as officers were awaiting Counsel’s advice.

To consider which reports are ready to be submitted to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its next meeting.

It was advised that the following reports were being referred to the next Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 9 April:

(a)        Housing Appeals and Review Panel – Terms of Reference; and

(b)        Localism Act 2011 – Executive Constitution.

Report on Protocol and external Organisations direct to Council. In addition, three other reports arising from the last Panel meeting would also be considered at the meeting on 9 April 2013.

The next scheduled meeting of the Panel will be on Tuesday 25 June 2013 at 7.00p.m. in Committee Room 1, and thereafter they are programmed as follows:

(a)        Tuesday 24 September at 7.00p.m. in Committee Room 1;

(b)        Tuesday 19 November at 7.00p.m. in Committee Room 1;

(c)        Tuesday 14 January 2014 at 7.00p.m. in Committee Room 1; and

(d)        Tuesday 18 March at 7.00p.m. in Committee Room 1

It was noted that the next meeting of the Panel was on Tuesday 25 June at 7.00p.m. in Committee Room 1.

As this was the last panel meeting of the municipal year, Councillor D Stallan expressed his thanks to the Chairman, Vice Chairman, Panel members and officers for their work and support over the last year.