Venue: Members Room, Phoenix House
Contact: Julia Stuckey
Link: audio recording
No. | Item |
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APOLOGIES AND SUBSTITUTE MEMBERS To receive any apologies for absence and notices of appointment of Substitute Members (if any). Minutes: Apologies were received from Councillors R Evans and Mrs N Woollatt. |
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PUBLIC QUESTION TIME To receive any questions relating to items on the Agenda from members of the public and replies thereto.
Note: A maximum of 30 minutes is allowed for this item. Minutes: There were no members of the public in attendance. |
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To approve as a correct record the minutes of the last meeting of this Committee (attached).
Minutes: The Minutes of the last meeting were approved as a true record and were signed by the Chairman. |
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CHAIRMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS To receive any announcements the Chairman of the Committee may wish to make. Minutes: The Chairman wished all the best for the future to those Members not standing for re-election. |
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COMPLAINTS To receive an update from the Monitoring Officer with regard to any on-going complaints being dealt with. During the discussion it may be necessary to consider passing the following resolution to protect the Members of District, Town and Parish Council’s being discussed.
During discussion of this item it may be necessary to pass the following resolution to exclude the press and public having reflected on Article 12 12.02(d) (a presumption in favour of openness) of the Constitution. This decision may be required because consideration of this matter in public may disclose information falling within one of the descriptions of exempt information in Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972. The Committee will need to decide whether, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption, outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.
ACCESS TO INFORMATION ACT – EXCLUSION OF THE PRESS AND PUBLIC
RECOMMENDED that under section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the next item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, namely information relating to an individual
Minutes: There were no complaints to report. |
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UPDATES FROM THE CONSTITUTION WORKING GROUP The Committee to continue working through the Rules of Procedure. Minutes: The Committee continued where they had finished at the last meeting, working through the Rules of Procedure from page 112.
It was AGREED that all references to the Legal Services Manager should be changed to say the Monitoring Officer.
Throughout the document rules were referred to as rule 0. This required amending to read the true rule number.
On page 141 (12) it was AGREED to change the word ‘will’ to ‘can’.
The formatting throughout the document needed to be checked for consistency.
When referring to Members and Officers in the Code of Conduct the use of apostrophes needed to be consistent.
Pages 166, 167 and 168 needed to be combined onto one page and the numbering checked.
It was AGREED that the Monitoring Officer be asked to confirm whether the highlighted comments in the document had been actioned.
Discussion took place regarding point 4.7 on page 173, referring to Officers responding to emails from Members within 5 days. It was AGREED to ask the Monitoring Officer to confirm whether or not this has been agreed by Council.
On page 177 a comment had been made regarding Members arranging public meetings and the need to inform the Chief Executive or Head of Service about this. It was AGREED that the Solicitor look into the legalities of this and provide appropriate wording.
The Members Allowances Scheme would need to be updated when it had been agreed.
The Chairman thanked the Committee and the Constitution Working Group for the effort they had put into updating the Constitution.
It was AGREED that the full Constitution, including the index and glossary be brought to the next meeting of the Committee, which would be held on Wednesday 17th June 2015 at 6.00pm in the Phoenix Chamber. |
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IDENTIFICATION OF ITEMS FOR THE NEXT MEETING Minutes: The Committee to review the full Constitution, including the glossary and index. |