Agenda item

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

Councillor Stallan the Chairman of the Constitution and Member Services Scrutiny Standing Panel introduced their report on whether a Portfolio Holder Assistant could be a member of the Audit and Governance Committee. It was noted that although there was currently no legal rule which excluded portfolio holder assistants there was a preference to avoid conflicts of interest which might arise unless those conflicts were very carefully managed. It was also thought that there was a need for clear advice on conflicts of interest so that portfolio holder assistants knew exactly how to respond to matters they had been involved in. It was accepted that the talents of individual members should be used and reducing the pool of Councillors available by excluding portfolio holder assistants, could prove counter-productive.

The Committee accepted that, on a trial basis of one year, its membership could include Portfolio Holder Assistants with the exception of any Assistants associated with a portfolio dealing with the Council’s finances. This was taken to expressly mean  the assistants to the Finance Portfolio Holder. Other portfolio assistants, although their duties may impinge on some financial matters they were not considered to be exclusively involved in the financial side of things.

An amendment was also made under recommendation 1d, under paragraph 11.6(a) that the word ‘primarily’ be inserted after the word ‘dealing’ so that it read “…any portfolio dealing primarily with the Council’s finances…”.

            RESOLVED:

(1)       That a report be submitted to the Council recommending as follows:

(a)        that Portfolio Assistants, except those involved with a Portfolio dealing primarily with the Council’s finances, be eligible for appointment to the Audit and Governance Committee, subject to careful consideration by the Councillor concerned of the need to declare a prejudicial interest in any matter relating to the relevant Portfolio which comes before that Committee;

(b)        that the proposal set out in (a) above be reviewed after one year or if there is a change either in the roles of Portfolio Holder Assistants of the Audit and Governance Committee;

(c)        that the designation “Deputy Portfolio Holder” be changed to “Portfolio Holder Assistant”;  and

(d)        that paragraph 11.6(a) (Councillor Members) of Article 11 of the Constitution (Audit and Governance Committee) be amended to read as follows (changes in bold text underlined):

“11.6(a)            (Councillor Members)

Councillors appointed to the Audit and Governance Committee may not also be members of the Cabinet, any Cabinet Committee or any Panel appointed by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee with responsibility for reviewing the Council’s finances or financial procedures.

A Portfolio Holder Assistant (other than any assistant involved in any portfolio dealing primarily with the Council’s finances) appointed by the Leader of the Council shall be eligible for appointment to the Committee”

(e)        that the Standards Committee be asked to issue advice to Portfolio Holder Assistants on how such conflicts of interest should be dealt with and to consult with the Audit and Governance Committee before it is issued;

(2)       That the proposed review by the Audit and Governance Committee of its own constitution including the following specific matters be noted:

(a)       terms of appointment for independent members;

(b)        method of appointing Councillor members of the Committee (including pro rata rules and appointment by Council rather than political groups);

(c)       whether the Committee should be increased in size;

(d)       whether there should be a majority of independent members; and

(e)       whether there should be separate Audit and Governance Committees; and

(3)       That any review of the Constitution which results from (2) above be added to the work programme for this Panel; and

(4)       That the Audit and Governance Committee be advised of this Panel’s view that the number of its members should be increased.