Agenda and minutes

The Minutes of the meeting held on 13^th September, 2007 were signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

Report of Standards Committee

Members considered a report submitted by the Standards Committee which requested Council Business Committee to adopt the revised version of the Protocol on Planning Procedure. It was reported that it had been necessary to make a number of amendments to the Protocol to ensure it was consistent with the revised Code of Conduct that had been adopted in May 2007.

The recommendation set out in the report was unanimously agreed by Members.

Resolved :

That Council adopts the revised version of the ‘Protocol on Planning Procedure’ as set out in Appendix 1 to the Minutes.

The Committee considered a report of the Head of Democratic Services on ways in which the City Council could increase awareness of the UK National Honours system.

Members unanimously agreed to the recommendation as set out in the report.

Resolved:

That the City Council include a link on the Ceremonial pages of the City Council’s website, and issue press releases from time to time to increase awareness of the UK Honours system and provide details of how to apply.

Members considered a report of the Head of Democratic Services which outlined the proposal that had arisen out of the Civic Review undertaken by Overview & Scrutiny, to establish a Citizenship Panel who would be responsible, amongst other things, for running a Citizenship Award Scheme.

The report set out a number of options in this respect.  The Committee discussed the composition of the Citizenship Panel at length and went on to consider the proposed nomination form.

It was proposed by Councillor Knight and seconded by Councillor Burns:

“(1)      That the Council establish the Lancaster City Council Citizenship Panel which       will comprise of the Mayor, the Father/Mother of the Council and 9 Members      of the public over the age of 11, plus the Chairman of Council Business         Committee who would be a non voting appointment.

(2)        That applications be invited for appointment to the Panel through the local press and that the Head of Democratic Services in consultation with the            Chairman agree the press release.

(3)        That applicants provide details of themselves in less than 50 words.

(4)        That Council Business Committee agree the appointments to the Panel,    based on creating a Panel that represents a broad cross section of the        community.

(5)        That the members of the Panel be appointed for one year in the first instance        with a review of membership after the first year.

(6)        That the Committee approve the nomination form with the addition of a 100            word maximum limit for each answer.”

Upon being put to the vote, the Chairman declared the proposition clearly carried.

Resolved:

(1)        That the Council establish the Lancaster City Council Citizenship Panel which       will comprise of the Mayor, the Father/Mother of the Council and 9 Members      of the public over the age of 11, plus the Chairman of Council Business         Committee who would be a non voting appointment.

(2)        That applications be invited for appointment to the Panel through the local press and that the Head of Democratic Services in consultation with the            Chairman agree the press release.

(3)        That applicants provide details of themselves in less than 50 words.

(4)        That Council Business Committee agree the appointments to the Panel,    based on creating a Panel that represents a broad cross section of the        community.

(5)        That the members of the Panel be appointed for one year in the first instance        with a review of membership after the first year.

(6)        That the Committee approve the nomination form with the addition of a 100            word maximum limit for each answer.

Report of Head of Democratic Services.

Following the informal workshop which had been held for all members on 1^st November 2007 the Council Business Committee was reminded of the need to review the Member Development Strategy and agree the training priorities for Councillors for the remainder of 2007/08 through to 2010/2011 which would inform the training programme.

The Committee considered the information that had been gathered from the one to one interviews and the workshop on Member Development.  Further evidence had also been gathered from evaluation of training events, anecdotal comments and Members suggested that this should be used to determine the delivery methods for the key priorities such as timings, training methods and venues.

Members discussed the themes that had emerged and how these fitted within the corporate priorities.

Members considered the training priorities that had emerged and agreed that the following key 6 priorities should be taken forward and developed within the budgetary constraints for Member Development :

• Local Government Finance
• Overview and Scrutiny
• Communications (including media)
• IT training
• Decision Making Process (including County Council functions)
• Ward and Community Leadership

It was also recognised that there were several other topics that had been identified in the one to one interviews and workshop that should be included in the Training Programme but were considered to be lower priority areas. It was agreed that these priority areas should be used to develop the Member Training Programme for the years ahead.

The Committee recognised that the support for newly elected Councillors, Cabinet Members and those with full time commitments were cross cutting themes and should be reflected within the 6 key training priorities that had been identified.

They recognised that Member Development should not focus just on training, but also the support provided to Members in their roles as democratic representatives and as Community Leaders. In particular Members acknowledged that the key priority of Ward and Community Leadership could be addressed by means of a project to develop the access to Ward and Council information and this would complement any formal training in this area.

In relation to the key priority of IT training, it was agreed that a further project area be developed to increase the use of IT by Members and the promotion of web pages for Councillors, and that the next meeting of the Business Committee would include a webpage training session and would be a paperless meeting as part of the project to increase the use of IT by Members.

Members agreed that there was a need to develop the facility for other types of learning and development resources such as shadowing, mentoring, online e-learning and the development of the Member library to include a wider range of topics.

It was further agreed that the Strategy should include the successes of the last year in terms of Member Development, budget and resources available to Members and would be reviewed in April 2008.

Resolved:

(1)        That the following key 6 priorities should be taken forward and developed within the budgetary constraints for Member  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

Report of Head of Democratic Services.

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Executive which set out the proposed Council Meetings Timetable for 2008/09 and included the results of a survey of all Councillors on start times and venues of meetings. Members were requested to make any amendments they felt were required.

Members unanimously agreed to submit the timetable to Council for consideration. 

Resolved :

That the Council Business Committee refer the Timetable of Meetings 2008/09 to Council for approval.

Report of Head of Democratic Services.

The Principal Democratic Support Officer presented a report regarding the addition of a new Council Procedure Rule 15.3 which set out the procedure for Officer Briefing Notes to be included in the Council agenda for Motions of Notice.

Members unanimously agreed the recommendations as set out in the report.

Resolved :

That a new Council Procedure Rule 15.3 (with subsequent re-numbering of 15.3 and 15.4) be included in the Constitution with immediate effect as follows:

“15.3    Officer Briefing Note

Where a Motion for which Notice has been given is included on the Agenda, an officer briefing note will be included on the Agenda to accompany that motion setting out in particular any key risks and potential financial and legal implications for the Council should the proposed motion be carried.”

Report of Head of Democratic Services.

The Committee considered a report of the Head of Democratic Services recommending a variation to the process for responses to consultations to enable the Overview and Scrutiny review of secondary education report to be agreed by the Chief Executive as the Council’s response to the County Council’s consultation on secondary education.

Members unanimously agreed the recommendation as set out in the report.

Resolved:

That the Chief Executive be authorised to agree that the Review of Secondary Education Task Group’s report be utilised as the City Council’s response to the County Council’s consultation on secondary education.

It was reported that, further to Minute 58 of Council on 26^th September when Councillor Peter Robinson was appointed as the non-aligned Member on Planning and Highways Regulatory Committee, he and Councillor Paul Woodruff (who had been away on holiday at the time) had now had the opportunity to discuss the allocation of seats to non-aligned members and had agreed to ‘share’ the 2 available seats on the Planning Committee and Licensing Act Committee.  The Committee was therefore asked to approve the necessary change to take effect from 1^st February 2008.

Group Administrators were invited to put forward any other nominations for changes to membership of Committees. It was agreed that further changes by the Labour group with regard to the vacancy on the Local Governance Committee and the substitute on Overview and Scrutiny Committee would be delegated to the Head of Democratic Services to agree in consultation with the Chairman.

Members went on to discuss the role of Councillors on outside bodies. It was reported that a review of the role of Members on outside bodies was outstanding, and it was agreed that Group Administrators would request feedback on the attendance of Councillors on outside bodies and that the full list of appointments to outside bodies would be sent to Members of the Committee.

Resolved :

(1)        That the following nominations to Committees be accepted:

Planning & Highways Regulatory Committee

Delete June Ashworth and add Roger Dennison

Delete Peter Robinson and add Paul Woodruff (with effect from 1^st February 2008)

Licensing Act Committee

Delete Paul Woodruff* and add Peter Robinson (with effect from 1^st February 2008)

*Councillor Woodruff initially declined to take up his seat on the Licensing Act Committee and this has been held as a vacancy temporarily.

            Overview and Scrutiny Committee

            Add Rebekah Gerrard (to fill the Labour Group vacancy)

(2)        That acceptance of further changes by the Labour group with regard to the vacancy on the Local Governance Committee and the substitute on Overview and Scrutiny Committee be delegated to the Head of Democratic Services in consultation with the Chairman.

 (3)       That Group Administrators request feedback on the attendance of Councillors      on outside bodies and that the full list of appointments to outside bodies be        sent to Members of the Committee.