Agenda item
Dispensation Requests
- Meeting of Joint Standards Committee, Friday, 22 January 2010 3.00 pm (Item 39.)
- View the declarations of interest for item 39.
This report requests a number of dispensations for Council Members, allowing them to speak at Ward Committee meetings when they may have a prejudicial interest.
Note: The following annexes to the above report were published with this agenda on 21 January 2010:
- Annex A – list of councillors seeking dispensations
- Annex B – amended recommendation
Minutes:
Members considered a report which presented a number of requests for dispensation for City of York Council Members, to allow them to speak at ward committee meetings when they may have a prejudicial interest.
Each ward in the City of York Council area had a ward committee whose membership comprised the relevant ward councillors. Each ward committee had a budget which could be used to fund organisations in the ward. When a ward councillor was also a member of an organisation receiving such funding, they were likely to have a prejudicial interest which, under the Code of Conduct, would exclude them from decision-making in respect of the budget. This would usually mean that the ward committee was unable to make a decision unless a dispensation was granted by the Standards Committee.
Requests for dispensation must be submitted in writing. It was for the Standards Committee to decide what criteria to apply when considering a request and to decide the nature of the dispensation and how long it should apply (up to a maximum of four years). Applications for dispensation had been received from a total of 22 councillors, as listed in Annex A to the report. All were recommended for approval. Details of each application were made available to members at the meeting. However, it was noted that not all of these included details of the organisations to which the Members in question belonged.
RESOLVED: (i) That dispensations be granted to the following councillors in relation to their ward committees, in order to allow them to participate in budget and funding decisions at the ward committee meetings:
Councillor Keith Aspden |
Heslington and Fulford Ward Committee |
Councillor Denise Bowgett |
Holgate Ward Committee |
Councillor Barbara Boyce |
Heworth Ward Committee |
Councillor Jenny Brooks |
Derwent, Heworth Without & Osbaldwick Ward Committee |
Councillor Sonja Crisp |
Holgate Ward Committee |
Councillor Andy D'Agorne |
Fishergate Ward Committee |
Councillor Helen Douglas |
Clifton Ward Committee |
Councillor Paul Firth |
Haxby & Wigginton Ward Committee |
Councillor Christina Funnell |
Heworth Ward Committee |
Councillor Susan Galloway |
Westfield Ward Committee |
Councillor John Galvin |
Bishopthorpe and Wheldrake Ward Committee |
Councillor Paul Healey |
Rural West York Ward Committee |
Councillor Keith Hyman |
Huntington and New Earswick Ward Committee |
Councillor Richard Moore |
Skelton, Rawcliffe and Clifton Without Ward Committee |
Councillor Keith Orrell |
Huntington and New Earswick Ward Committee |
Councillor Ruth Potter |
Heworth Ward Committee |
Councillor Carol Runciman |
Huntington and New Earswick Ward Committee |
Councillor Dave Taylor |
Fishergate Ward Committee |
Councillor Andrew Waller |
Westfield Ward Committee |
Councillor Joe Watt |
Skelton, Rawcliffe and Clifton Without Ward Committee |
Councillor Irene Waudby |
Skelton, Rawcliffe and Clifton Without Ward Committee |
Councillor Sian Wiseman |
Strensall Ward Committee |
(ii) That the dispensations be granted for a period up to the end of the 2009/10 Municipal Year, on 27 May 2010.
REASON: To enable ward committees to make decisions in respect of their budgets.
(iii) That details of the individual applications for dispensation be made available with the minutes of this meeting.*
REASON: So that the reasons for the dispensations are clear and transparent.
* Note: details of the applications are attached as an annex to these minutes
Supporting documents:
- Dispensation Requests, item 39. PDF 86 KB
- Annex A Dispensation Requests, item 39. PDF 37 KB
- Annex B - amended recommendation re Dispensation Requests, item 39. PDF 25 KB