79/19
The Council considered a
report that proposed the adoption of a set of Remote Meeting
Procedure Rules that modified the application of its existing
procedure rules to ensure that the Council could make decisions by
remote means. The report emphasised
that, unless the Council adopted a set of Remote Meeting Procedure
Rules, then any decisions it might make would not be in accordance
with its Constitution and would therefore be unlawful.
The Leader of Council
introduced the report and highlighted that:
-
the
Local Authorities
and Police and Crime Panels (Coronavirus) (Flexibility of Local
Authority and Police and Crime Panel Meetings) (England and Wales)
Regulations 2020 came into force on 4 April 2020. The Leader proceeded to inform that these
Regulations made amendments to the existing legislation to enable
for local authorities to hold meetings remotely;
-
the primary
purpose of these Regulations was to relieve local authorities from
the burden of unnecessary meetings in order that their officers
were able to deal with assisting in the response to the Covid-19
Crisis;
-
the
Crisis had led to
a fundamental change in focus for the Council. As a consequence of officer resource being
dedicated to the Crisis, then the Council had insufficient officer
capacity to support the monthly Member meeting cycle at this
present time;
-
whilst
it was intended
that fewer formal meetings would be convened, the Leader gave a
commitment that additional informal Member briefings would be set
up. The intention of convening more
informal briefings was to ensure that all Members were not only
kept updated but would also be given an opportunity to express
their views and ask questions;
-
the
recommendation to temporarily prevent the ability for Questions and
Motions on Notice to be submitted to Council meetings was in
recognition of how resource intensive these tended to be;
and
-
with
regard to the
Overview and Scrutiny function, it was unlikely that any overview
matters would be deemed so urgent to necessitate a meeting of the
Overview and Scrutiny Panel at the present time.
In the ensuing discussion,
particular reference was made to:-
(a)
an amendment was
PROPOSED and SECONDED that read as
follows:
1.
That
the Council adopts the Remote Meetings Procedure Rules (as set out
at Appendix A of the presented agenda report), with the exception
of paragraphs 3.1 and 3.3;
2.
That
the Political Structures Working Group meet prior to the next
meeting of the Full Council and put forward its recommendations in
respect of the frequency of meetings and by whom they can be
requested; and
3.
That
the Remote Meetings Procedure Rules be subject to review by Full
Council on or before 31 July 2020.
In presenting his
amendment, the proposer advised that:
o
Adoption of the
Procedure Rules as set out in the agenda papers could damage the
work that had been undertaken by the Council since May 2019 to
become a more consensual and inclusive local authority;
o
The three areas
of the draft Rules that ...
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