Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received from Councillor S Lintern.

To approve the minutes from the Corporate Performance Panel held on 24 July 2023.

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The minutes of the Corporate Performance Panel held on 24 July 2023 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Please indicate if there are any interests which should be declared.  A declaration of an interest should indicate the nature of the interest (if not already declared on the Register of Interests) and the agenda item to which it relates.  If a disclosable pecuniary interest is declared, the Member should withdraw from the room whilst the matter is discussed.

These declarations apply to all Members present, whether the Member is part of the meeting, attending to speak as a local Member on any item or simply observing the meeting from the public seating area.

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Councillor Long commented that in his view all Members had an interest on the Councillor’s allowance and requested a dispensation under the Local Government Act  in order to discuss the item where all Councillors had a pecuniary interest.

The Monitoring Officer advised that it had been widely accepted that because it was publicly recorded and Member’s expenses applied to all Councillors as per the scheme and therefore was to need to declare a specific interest.

To consider any business which, by reason of special circumstances, the Chairman proposed to accept as urgent under Section 100(b)(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There was no urgent business.

Members wishing to speak pursuant to Standing Order 34 should inform the Chairman of their intention to do so and on what items they wish to be heard before a decision on that item is taken.

There were no Members present under Standing Order 34.

Chair to update Panel on the Hunstanton Sailing Club representative.

There was none.

There were no call-ins.

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The Chair, Councillor Dark drew the Panel’s attention to the updated report which was available on Mod Gov following the publication of the Agenda.

The Assistant Director, Central Services presented the report which sought to agree the cost of living increase applied to Member’s allowances for the 2023/2024 year.  The Panel was advised that the Members Allowance scheme was reviewed on an annual basis and explained that under the current scheme any increase agreed was in line with the staff pay award.

The Panel was advised that the details of this year’s staff pay award was set out in the report which had been agreed.

Members were advised that the report would be considered by Cabinet on 26 September and then by Full Council in October for approval.  The Panel was invited to submit any recommendations to Cabinet.

The options considered were outlined as set out in section 2 of the report and the financial implications was set out at section 4. 

The Panel was informed that there was a requirement to review arrangements for Members allowance and a separate report would be submitted for consideration during the Municipal year 2023/2024.

The Chair, Councillor Dark invited questions and comments from the Panel, a summary of which is set out below.

Councillor Dickinson commented that she was puzzled as to why the report was on the Corporate Performance Panel Agenda as there were no policy implications and nothing to scrutinise.  Councillor Dickinson added that no mention of such a report was included in Standing Orders. Councillor Dickinson highlighted that the report had not been included on the Panel’s work programme for 2023/2024 as reported to the last Corporate Performance Panel of the previous Administration and appeared from an unknown source.  The Panel did not consider the report the previous year as the approval of the Members Allowances Scheme had been incorporated as part of the budget setting process except when the Independent Review Panel has looked at a different set of circumstances as  in 2021/2022.

In conclusion, Councillor Dickinson stated that there was no reason why the Corporate Performance Panel should debate the report and the matter should be left to Group Leaders to discuss with their Members and agree any increase in the scheme and should therefore be removed from the Agenda.  In 2022 it was left to the Group Leaders to consider and determine the increase in the Members Allowances Scheme.  Councillor Dickinson added that the Staff Pay Award had been debated at the previous meeting in exempt session but the Members Allowances Scheme was in open session and the Panel debated its own pay award appeared to be odd.  It was noted that the amount of expenses Councillors were paid was in the public domain, Councillors expenses were published on the Council’s website on a monthly basis and at the end of the year published under primary legislation was the amount of what each Councillor was  ...  view the full minutes text for item CP51

The Panel are invited to submit questions in advance of the meeting.

No questions were submitted in advance of the meeting.

The Shareholder Committee Forward Work Plan was noted.

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The Panel noted the Cabinet Forward Decisions List.

To note the Committee’s Work Programme.

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Councillor Jones proposed that an informal working group be set up to look at the staff pay award and to look at how the figures were arrived at and how the decision was reached.

Councillor Long suggested that officers be asked to bring a briefing paper to the Panel first, and it could then be determined if an informal working group was required.

The Chair, Councillor Dark added that the briefing paper should provide evidence of benchmarking with other Councils, the process of the pay award, issues experienced regarding recruitment and retention and information/evidence that 10% aids retention.

The Chief Executive asked for clarification on the content of the briefing paper.

In response, the Chair clarified that the request was for a briefing note on the process which took place for the staff pay award and what the Council was doing for retention.

The Panel agreed that a briefing note would be presented to a future meeting.

Councillor Blunt asked if the Monitoring Officer could present a report on the number of complaints which Councillors made about each other.  The Monitoring Officer advised of the potential overlap with the work of the Standards Committee.  A meeting would be scheduled with Councillors Dark, Osborne and Blunt to discuss the specific content of the future report.

To note that the date of the next meeting of the Corporate Performance Panel will take place on 16 October 2023 at 4.30 pm in the Council Chamber, Town Hall, Saturday Market Place, King’s Lynn.

The next meeting of the Corporate Performance Panel will take place on 16 October 2023 at 4.30 pm in the Council Chamber, Town Hall, Saturday Market Place, King’s Lynn.