Agenda item

Referral from Cabinet

Councillor Whitehead presented a Cabinet report providing proposals for the governance of investment decisions for Council to consider for approval. The item had been deferred from the January Council meeting and there were a number of change to the arrangements, which had been made in the interim as well as a revised draft process chart (Appendix B). A note of the changes and revised chart had been circulated at the start of the meeting. The changes were:

Page 16 - To remove paragraph 1.2. References to ‘commercial investment strategy’ or ‘investment strategy’ should be changed to ‘Property Investment Strategy’.

Page 17 – Remove paragraphs 2.5 and 2.6.

Page 18 – Remove paragraphs 4.2 and 4.3.

Page 19 – Legal implications – second sentence to be removed.

Page 23 – new Appendix B.

Regarding the paragraphs to be removed from pages 17 and 18, the sheet of amendments explained that these paragraphs were to be removed based on the latest discussions which were covered in the revised flow chart which showed that under the current constitution, all final decisions on property investments would be made at a Cabinet meeting, which followed on from a joint Cabinet/Scrutiny consideration of any final proposal.

The constitutional limits would be set on the recommendation of the Constitution Working Group which was due to meet for the final time on 28 February 2019 and recommend a new Constitution to Council on 13 March 2019.

Councillor Whitehead responded to questions from Members, before proposing the following recommendations:

“(1)      Council approves the delegation of investment decisions to the leader in accordance with the policy framework set out in the Medium Term Financial Strategy.

(2)       Council notes that there will be further changes to the Constitution to follow.

(3)       Council approves the principles and outline process in Appendix A to include the amendments detailed above, revised Appendix B, Appendix C and Appendix D.

(4)       Council requires Scrutiny Committee to consider and approve the detailed scrutiny process and recommend any changes to the procedure rules.

(5)       Council requires the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to consider a work programme to include i) review the effectiveness and outcomes of any individual decision ii) carry out a review of the investment portfolio. Such review to make any recommendations for improvement to the decision making or governance by January 2020.”

Councillor Hanson seconded the proposal.

There was debate on the proposition before a vote was taken and the proposition was clearly carried. Councillor Mace asked that it be recorded in the minutes that he had abstained from voting.

Resolved:

(1)       Council approves the delegation of investment decisions to the leader in accordance with the policy framework set out in the Medium Term Financial Strategy.

(2)       Council notes that there will be further changes to the Constitution to follow.

(3)       Council approves the principles and outline process in Appendix A to include the amendments detailed above, revised Appendix B, Appendix C and Appendix D.

(4)       Council requires Scrutiny Committee to consider and approve the detailed scrutiny process and recommend any changes to the procedure rules.

(5)       Council requires the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to consider a work programme to include i) review the effectiveness and outcomes of any individual decision ii) carry out a review of the investment portfolio. Such review to make any recommendations for improvement to the decision making or governance by January 2020.