Venue: Council Chamber, Town Hall, Saturday Market Place, King's Lynn PE30 5DQ
Link: View Live Stream
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Apologies Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Beales and Ryves. |
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To approve the minutes from the previous meeting. Minutes: RESOLVED: The minutes from the previous meeting were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chair, subject to Councillor Sayers being added to the list of apologies. |
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Declarations of Interest 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. Minutes: There were no declarations of Interest. |
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Urgent Business Under Standing Order 7 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. Minutes: There was none. |
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Members Present Pursuant to Standing Order 34 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 the meeting commences. Any Member attending the meeting under Standing Order 34 will only be permitted to speak on those items which have been previously notified to the Chairman. Minutes: Councillor Kunes. |
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Chair's Correspondence Minutes: Click here to view the recording of this item on You Tube.
The Chair read out an email relating to the Independent Remuneration Panel Report from Councillor Joyce as follows:
“As your panel has first view of the new scheme of proposed members allowances scheme and I am required elsewhere this is coming to you.
The recommendation of the Independent Remuneration Panel to abolish the ICT allowance has not been fully thought through. The present situation is the Council provides a mobile phone explicitly for council business use. Some councillors use it for that while others use their own personal mobile phone for council business.
With no ICT allowance (which includes a telephone allowance) why would a councillor use their own mobile? As for those who use the council’s phone what happens when the council’s mobile battery runs out? Does a councillor have to bring it into the council office for it to be charged? Or will an officer come out and collect it to be charged? At a weekend?
The council provides laptops or ipads and in a number of cases both. Several years age, the Council removed the broadband/phone list from councillors’ homes, introducing the ICT allowance. It was a cost cutting measure which was accepted. However, with no phone/broadband line what’s the benefit of a laptop provided by the Council? It was suggested by a member of the Independent Panel that most people now have broadband in their homes for which they as individuals pay. That may very well be true. It does not alter the fact the Council is a public authority not a charity and should not be reliant on the goodwill of any councillors.
An alternative to the ICT allowance is that any communication between the Council and a councillor will have to be at all times in hard copy, and other than personal interaction any communication between constituents and groups of interested parties will have to be in hard copy with written communication sent initially via Royal Mail or to the Council for sending on via Royal Mail.”
The Chair explained that the Cabinet Report had made recommendations on the Independent Remuneration Panel’s Report and one of the recommendations was for the ICT allowance to be retained.
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Call Ins Minutes: There were no call-ins to consider. |
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Cabinet Report - Independent Review of the Members Allowances Additional documents:
Minutes: Click here to view the recording of this item on You Tube.
The Assistant Director presented the recommendations of the Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) and the covering Cabinet report which included recommendations to be considered by the Panel.
The Deputy Leader, Councillor Ring highlighted section 2.1 to 2.6 Cabinet Report which set out recommendations on amendments to the IRP Report. He explained that the IRP had recommended a 20% public service discount and commented that many Councillors were unaware of this and the Cabinet recommendation was to reduce this discount to 5%. It was also recommended that the ICT allowance and the larger opposition leader and deputy allowances be retailed.
The Chair thanked the Assistant Director and Portfolio Holder for the report and invited questions and comments from the Panel, as summarised below.
Councillor Kunes addressed the Panel under Standing Order 34 stating that prior to becoming a Councillor he was a Member of the IRP and provided information on the public service discount.
The Chair requested that the Panel consider the recommendations as included in the Cabinet Report. Following comments from Members of the Panel, the Chair, expressed concern that the papers had been published late.
Councillor Spikings commented that being a Councillor shouldn’t be about the money and stated that she had held many positions concurrently, but only received on Special Responsibility Allowances, and she accepted that. Councillor Spikings commented that the public service discount of 20% was too high, especially when Councillors worked so many hours voluntarily and did not receive benefits such as a pension.
Councillor Sandell commented that she was unaware that a public service discount was applied to allowances and did not agree with this due to the amount of work she carried out.
The Deputy Leader clarified that it was advisory guidance that recommended deduction of a public service discount and some Councils had chosen not to have a discount at all. The Portfolio Holder requested the Panel consider making a recommendation to Cabinet on the level of public service discount they felt was appropriate, noting that the IRP had estimated that Councillors duties equated to approximately twelve hours per week.
The Monitoring Officer read out the guidance on public service discount which included ensuring that Councillors were not at a financial loss and the allowances encouraged people to stand for election.
Councillor Osborne commented that he agreed with the IRP recommendation of 20% public service discount and proposed that this be recommended to Cabinet. Councillor Jones seconded the proposal and after being put to the vote the proposal was lost.
The Panel then debated the Cabinet recommendation that a 5% public service discount be applied.
Councillor Sayers asked if some allowances could have a 5% deduction and the basic allowance have a 10% deduction, with additional funds being added to the Councillors Community Grant Scheme. Councillor Sandell commented that the Councillor Community Grants fund was often underspent. Councillor Spikings suggested that each Councillor could be asked what level of public service discount ... view the full minutes text for item CP105 |
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Panel Work Programme Minutes: Click here to view the recording of this item on You Tube.
Councillor Spikings requested an update on Cemeteries and the Chair agreed to discuss this with the Chair of the Environment and Community Panel.
RESOLVED: The Panel Work Programme was noted. |
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Cabinet Forward Decisions List Minutes: RESOLVED: The Cabinet Forward Decisions List was noted. |
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Shareholder Committee Work Programme Minutes: RESOLVED: The Shareholder Committee Work Programme was noted. |
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Date of Next Meeting To note that the next meeting of the Corporate Performance Panel is scheduled to take place on 26th February 2025 at 4.30pm in the Town Hall, Saturday Market Place, King’s Lynn. Minutes: The next meeting of the Corporate Performance Panel was scheduled to take place on 26th February 2025 at 4.30pm in the Town Hall, Saturday Market Place, King’s Lynn. |