Agenda item

The Committee will receive an update from Councillors Devereux and Moriarty and Terry Huggins on Governance Arrangements for the Council.

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed Councillors Devereux and Moriarty and Terry Huggins to the meeting. 

 

Councillor Devereux introduced the item and explained the work which had been carried out so far.  A Task Group had been set up to look at the Governance arrangements which lead to a workshop in November, organised by Terry Huggins, for all Councillors. 

 

The Committee made the following comments:

 

Councillor Kemp stated that she would like to see KLACC with its own budget to enable the Committee to be more proactive.  The Committee was supposed to function as a Parish Council for King’s Lynn but doesn’t have a budget.  The status of the Committee needed to be upgraded.

 

Councillor John Collop responded that it had been a problem that the Committee was just a Consultative Committee.  The Committee always had to request funding from Cabinet as it did not have its own budget.  It was frustrating that the Committee could not spend its own money.

 

Cllr Howman felt that the Committee’s Terms of Reference needed to be revised, and should be given the same power as a Parish Council.  The Committee needed to be reviewed, modernised and restructured.

 

Councillor Kemp suggested that the Committee needed to be forward thinking and agreed that the structure did need improving.  The area would be benefit if the Committee had a capital budget, for example health infrastructure.  She made reference to the Millennium Agreement at NORA.

 

Councillor Jo Rust understood the issues that had been raised relating to KLACC, but understood that this was governance arrangements overall and was wider than just this Committee.  She added that there was no longer an overwhelming majority and now was the opportunity to consider alternative governance arrangements.

 

Terry Huggins asked the Committee to outline the reasons why they considered that things were not working.

 

Councillor Howman added that there was not an adequate representation on Cabinet and considered that a Councillor from King’s Lynn should be on it.  KLACC was supposed to represent people but had no delegated powers or budget.

 

Councillor Bone stated that he wanted to help people in his ward.  With a Committee system he felt that it would be more individual that party driven.  There was now more debate at full Council meetings.

 

Councillor Jones explained that he was a new member in May, and did not know how the two systems would work.  He considered that Cabinet should have a more proportionate representation.

 

Terry Huggins explained that the change to a Committee system would have a big impact.  Some local authorities had reintroduced a Committee system but this was different from a traditional committee system.

 

The Chair added that some frustrations he was aware of related to matters from full Council being referred to Cabinet rather than debated at full Council.

Councillor Mrs Wilkinson reminded the Committee that when Labour was in control and a Committee system was used previously, there were opposition Chairs.  She considered that there should be more workable arrangements.

 

Terry Huggins explained that nothing had been decided, work to date had focused on what needed to be fixed.  He added that there was no single model and it was about designing what worked best for this Council.  

 

The Chair added that the Mayor was normally decided by the ruling group.  Many people felt that it should be decided on the length of service.  Another issue related to outside bodies and the fact that people should be appointed on expertise and not what political party they were from.

 

Councillor Moriarty explained it was in 2002 when Labour brought in the Cabinet system.

 

Councillor Hudson considered that equal representation was needed from different groups.  All decisions should go to full Council.  Minutes from meetings needed to be more detailed and that she did not have enough time to go to all the Panel meetings.

 

Councillor Moriarty explained that in last few years, Council made the decision to change the way of taking minutes.  Recording of meetings was being considered and could come forward.

 

Councillor Howman considered that the Corporate Performance Panel was a toothless entity.  The previous Cabinet Scrutiny Committee was chaired by the opposition and worked well.  There needed to be effective scrutiny.

 

Councillor Kemp explained that she served under a Committee system at County and it was fairer and included a greater mix of people.  She welcomed audio recording and live streaming of meetings.

 

Councillor Tyler asked whether a local political party had to follow a national party.

 

Councillor Bambridge referred to the last set of E&C minutes and added that people did get comments recorded.  The onus was on Councillors to look at agendas and go along to meetings.  Councillors could ask for something to be recorded, if they wished.

 

Terry Huggins thanked the Committee for their comments.  He invited the Committee to send an email with further points and encouraged Members to explain why something was not working and offer a solution.

 

Councillor Moriarty suggested that the Committee looked at minutes from the Task Group published on mod.gov for background and context.

 

Councillor Devereux thanked the Committee for their comments.

 

The Chair thanked Councillors Devereux, Moriarty and Terry Huggins for attending the meeting.