Annual Council Meeting	22 May 2019
Report of the Assistant Director - Legal and Governance

Allocation to Seats and Appointments to the Council Structure and Other Bodies for 2019/20 and Allocation of Motions

Summary

1. At its Annual General Meeting, Full Council considers the allocation of seats on Committees and other bodies every year and makes appropriate appointments for the coming Municipal Year. This report sets out details of those arrangements, together with a proposed schedule of motions from Groups for consideration at ordinary meetings of Council, as required by the Council Procedural Rules.

Background

2. Council is required to make those appointments and to allocate those places on the committees and other bodies that it wishes to set up in order to run its business during the 2019/20 Municipal Year. These appointments are made in accordance with the political balance requirements set out in the 1989 Local Government & Housing Act, as may be required.

3.     In accordance with the Local Government Act 2000 covering Executive arrangements, the Council is required to also appoint its Council Leader at its Annual Meeting. . Under the same statutory provisions, once the Council Leader is appointed by Annual Council, they are then responsible for appointing between two and nine Executive Members.  .

4.     Constitutionally, the Annual Meeting must approve a schedule of motions allocated to Groups for consideration at ordinary Council meetings.

Allocation of Seats

5.      Under agenda item 5(i), Full Council is asked to approve appointments to those available seats to which the political balance rules must be applied under the terms of the Local Government & Housing Act 1989.  Council is also asked to consider applying the rules to the remaining bodies it chooses to set up, in accordance with previous practice.  Full details are contained in Annex A to this report. 

Appointments to Committees, Working Groups & Other Bodies

6.     Further to the allocation of seats referred to above, under agenda item 5, Full Council is asked to make appointments to those Committees and other bodies set out in Annex B.  These include various external bodies, together with Chairs and Vice Chairs of Committees and membership of Ward Committees.  These appointments will be made in accordance with nominations to be made by political groups, together with nominations to places allocated to Independent Members. As political groups are still considering their nominations following the results of the local elections on 2 May 2019, details of these will be circulated and published prior to the Annual Meeting.

7.     Also included within Annex B are the details of statutory appointments which the Council is required to make to its Health & Wellbeing Board.  This is a Committee of the Council but one to which proportionality rules do not have to be applied. Statutorily, the Council must appoint the Council Leader (or his or her nominee) to the Board.  It is proposed that the Executive Member for Health & Adult Social Care be appointed as the Leader’s nominee for the 2019/20 Municipal Year. In addition it is proposed that the Executive Member for Children, Young People and Education be appointed to the Board.

8.     Traditionally, the Council has also appointed a further 2 Members to the Board. It is proposed that these Members be appointed from next 2 largest groups on the Council.  :

· 1 Labour;

· 1 Green.

Appropriate nominees will be circulated prior to the meeting..

West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA)

10.   Details of places available to the Council in relation to WYCA Advisory Panels (formerly Leeds Enterprise Panels), together with its nominations to fill those places, are also set out in Annex B.

Schedule of Motions

11.  A proposed schedule of allocation of motions to ordinary Council meetings is attached at Annex C to this report, in accordance with the requirements of the Council’s Constitution.  For completeness, it shows the proposed allocation for the coming Municipal Year, together with projections for allocations for the remainder of the existing Council 4 year term, up to the local elections in 2023.

Consultation

12.    In accordance with the usual process for gathering nominations to available places at the Annual Council Meeting, all party Groups have been consulted on and provided with the necessary information on available places.

Options

13.    Options open to the Council are:

(i) to approve or not approve the allocation of seatsin accordance with the arrangements set out in Annex A;

(ii) to make the appointments proposed at the meeting (in accordance with nominations to be circulated) to Committees and other bodies set out in Annex B, including the appointment of Chairs and Vice Chairs to Committees, or propose alternatives.

Council Plan

14.    Establishing an appropriate decision making and scrutiny structure, is essential in providing a framework through which the Council can make decisions relating to the delivery of its core priorities, effectively.

Implications

15.      There are no known implications in relation to the following in terms of dealing with the specific matter before Members, namely to consider the allocation of seats and places to Committees and other bodies, including Chairs and Vice Chairs, together with the appointment of a Council Leader.

· Financial

· Human Resources (HR)

· Equalities

· Crime and Disorder

· Property

· Other

Legal Implications

16.    The Council is statutorily obliged to make appointments to committees, advisory committees, sub Committees and certain other prescribed bodies in accordance with the political balance rules.  These rules may only be waived where no Member votes against the proposal. As with previous years, it is suggested that the rules be waived in relation to appointments to the Joint Standards Committee, in the interests of fairness, independence and equality on this Committee.

Risk Management

17.    In compliance with the Council’s risk management strategy, there are no known risks associated with the recommendations in this report, other than the failure to meet the above legal requirements and the risk of a Council operating with no agreed political management arrangements (in the form of a decision making and scrutiny structure) should Annual Council fail to make any such arrangements.

Recommendations

18.    Members are asked to consider the recommendations and annexes attached to this report and

(i) Agree the allocation of seats in accordance with Annex A; and

(ii) Approve appropriate nominations to Committees and other bodies, as well as appointments to Chairs and Vice-Chairs, as set out in this report and its annexes, together with details of any nominations and appointments which may be circulated prior to the meeting; and

(iii) Approve the proposed allocation of motions for consideration at Ordinary Full Council meetings for the period 2019-2023.
Reason: To fulfil the Council’s statutory and constitutional requirements.

Contact details:

Author:	Chief Officer Responsible for the report:
Dawn Steel Head of Civic & Democratic Services Tel: 01904 551030	Suzan Harrington Interim Assistant Director – Legal & Governance
	Report Approved	Ö	Date	14 May 2019
Specialist Implications Officer(s)  None
Wards Affected:					All	√
For further information please contact the author of the report

Annexes

Annex A - Allocation of seats 2019/20

Annex B - Appointments to Committees and other bodies 2019/20, including outside bodies, and Ward Committees

Annex C – Allocation of Motions

Background Papers

None