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Annual Council Meeting |
22 May 2025 |
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Report of the Director of Governance |
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Committee Arrangements, Allocation of Seats and Appointments to the Council Structure and Other Bodies for 2025/26, 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 Procedure Rules.
2. The Council is required to review committee membership and political proportionality on committees annually in order to run its business during the 2025/26 Municipal Year. The distribution of seats on committees is allocated in accordance with the proportionality principles set out in the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 and the Local Government (Committees and Political Groups) Regulations 1990.
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, that Leader is then responsible for appointing between two and nine Executive Members.
4. Constitutionally, the Annual Meeting must also approve a schedule of motions allocated to Groups for consideration at ordinary Council meetings.
Amendments to Committees and to the Scheduling of Executive Member Decision Sessions
5. Following the review of Scrutiny procedures that took place during 2024-2025, Council resolved to reduce the number of scrutiny committees from four to three, and to reschedule the formal business meetings of those committees to meet bi-monthly. The revised remits for the three new committees are shown at Annex D, and the revised schedule of meetings is included within Annex E.
6. The Executive Leader will be introducing a revised Executive Member Decision Session schedule following the Annual Meeting. Currently, one meeting per month is scheduled for each of the eight portfolio holders. This will be replaced by two meetings per month, with one monthly session dedicated to decisions that fall within the Transport portfolio; the other will include decisions for consideration by the Executive Leader, Deputy Leader and the remaining five portfolio holders in a “Combined Executive Member Decision Session”. The revised schedule is presented to members for information at Annex E.
7. It is proposed that the existing three Appeals Committees (Corporate Appeals; Housing Appeals; Education Appeals) be combined into one single Corporate Appeals Committee. The revised terms of reference are shown at Annex F. In addition, the membership of the Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee is proposed to be reduced from five to three, with the quorum of two members.
Allocation of Seats
8. Full Council is asked to approve appointments to those available seats to which the political balance rules must be applied, under the provisions of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989. Full details are contained in Annex A.
Appointments to the Executive
9. Council will be aware that it is the role of the Leader to appoint Executive Members. Annex B1 sets out, for information, the Executive Members for 20252026, and their respective portfolios, that the Leader will be appointing.
Appointments to Committees, Working Groups & Other Bodies
10. Section 16(1) of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 provides:
“Where any relevant authority or any committee of a relevant authority have determined the allocation to different political groups of the seats on a body to which section 15 above applies, it shall be the duty of that authority or committee so to exercise their power to make appointments to that body as to give effect—
(a) as soon as practicable after the determination; and
(b) if a vacancy subsequently occurs on that body, as soon as practicable after the occurrence of the vacancy,
to such wishes about who is to be appointed to the seats on that body which are allocated to a particular political group as are expressed by that group”.
11. Consequently, where committee places are subject to group allocation and the group expresses its wishes, the Council is under a duty to give effect to those Group wishes.
12. In light of the group allocations of seats referred to above, Full Council is asked to note the group allocations to those Committees and other bodies set out in Annex B2, and to agree any non-Group vacancies which may exist. Regarding future changes in Group nominations, Council is also asked to delegate authority to put such changes into effect, to the Director of Governance and Monitoring Officer.
13. 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.
14. Also included within Annex B2 are the details of statutory appointments which the Council is required to make to its Health & Wellbeing Board. Statutorily, the Council must appoint the Council Leader (or their nominee) to the Board. It is proposed that the Executive Member for Health, Wellbeing & Adult Social Care be appointed as the Leader’s nominee for the 2025/26 Municipal Year. In addition, it is proposed that an additional Executive Member be appointed to the Board.
15. The Council has also previously appointed a further 2 Members to the Board. It is proposed that these Members be appointed from the next largest group on the Council.
16. Finally, Council will note from the proposed appointment to the Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation that there is a request that Council waives the political balance requirements for that organisation. Council is therefore asked to waive political balance in that case.
17. Members will note that there are two additional Outside Bodies for 2025/2025; York Hungry Minds, and Holocaust Memorial Day Steering Group.
Appointment of Substitutes
18. The political proportionality calculations, and the allocation of seats to political Groups, do not take into account, or have any bearing on, the appointment of substitutes. Groups are invited to appoint designated substitutes for committees, to ensure both quoracy and balance on those committees. Any substitute appointed to either Planning Committee, or to the Licensing Committee, must have undertaken the requisite training prior to sitting on the committee in question.
Combined Authorities
19. Details of places available to the Council in relation to the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, as well as the pre-existing West Yorkshire Combined Authority Advisory Panels, together with its nominations to fill those places, are also set out in Annex B4. Members will note that there is a newly established York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority Transport Advisory Board with one seat available for City of York Council.
Schedule of Motions
20. 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 2027. Members will note the revised allocation schedule following the adoption of revised Council Procedure Rules, at the meeting of Council held in November 2024, that saw the number of motions per meeting reduced from four to three.
Consultation
21. 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
22. Options open to the Council are:
a) to approve the allocation of seats and proportionality to Committees and other bodies for 2025/26, waiving political balance rules for the Yorkshire Purchase Organisation place, agreeing the revised terms of reference for the scrutiny committees and the Corporate Appeal Panel; and the delegation of approval of future changes to group allocations to the Director of Governance and Monitoring Officer; or not approve the above and to propose alternatives.
b) to make the appointments proposed at the meeting (in accordance with further nominations to be circulated) to Committees and other bodies set out in Annexes B and C, including the appointment of Chairs and Vice Chairs to Committees; or not make the appointments proposed and to propose alternatives.
Council Plan 2023-27
23. 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
Financial
24. Not applicable to this report.
Human Resources (HR)
25. Not applicable to this report.
Equalities
26. The Equality Act 2010 requires the Council when exercising its functions to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation, and other conduct prohibited under the Act; advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it. The protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 are age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race religion and belief, sex, and sexual orientation.
Legal Implications
27. Section 15 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 imposes a duty on the Council to allocate seats on its ordinary and advisory committees to party groups, giving effect, “so far as is reasonably practicable”, to principles set out in the Act. These principles are:
a) Not all the seats on the body are allocated to the same political group;
b) That the majority of the seats on the body is allocated to a particular political group if the number of persons belonging to that group is a majority of the authority’s membership;
c) Subject to (a) and (b) above, that the number of seats on the ordinary committees of a relevant authority which are allocated to each political group bears the same proportion to the total of all the seats on the ordinary committees as is borne by the number of members of that group to the membership of the authority;
d) Subject to (a) to (c) above, that the number of the seats on the body which are allocated to each political group bears the same proportion to the number of all the seats on that body as is borne by the number of members of that group to the membership of the authority.
28. The Council is statutorily obliged to make appointments to committees, advisory committees, sub-committees, and certain other prescribed bodies in accordance with these 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.
29. A failure to meet the above legal requirements brings with it a risk of the 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.
Crime and Disorder, Information Technology and Property
30. Not applicable to this report.
Recommendations
31. Members are asked to consider the recommendations and annexes attached to this report and:
(i) Agree the allocation of seats in accordance with the arrangements set out in Annex A;
(ii) Agree the delegation of approval of future changes to group allocations to the Director of Governance and Monitoring Officer;
(iii) Agree the appointment of the Council Leader and note the Executive appointments and respective portfolios to be approved by the elected Leader of the Council;
(iv) Note the group 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, in light of the Council’s duty to give effect to group nominations;
(v) Waive political balance requirements in respect of the Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation place, as noted in Annex B4;
(vi) Note the allocation of motions for consideration at Ordinary Full Council meetings for the period 2025-2027 as set out in Annex C;
(vii) Agree the Terms of Reference for Corporate Scrutiny Committee, People Scrutiny Committee and Place Scrutiny Committee as shown at Annex D;
(viii) Agree the Terms of Reference of the Corporate Appeals Committee as shown at Annex F;
(ix) Agree the amendment to the number of seats on the Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee from five seats to three seats;
(x) In the event that the Leader of the Council notifies the Monitoring Officer of any changes to the Executive Portfolios, the Monitoring Officer to update the Council’s Constitution accordingly.
Reason: To fulfil the Council’s statutory and constitutional requirements.
Contact details:
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Authors: |
Chief Officer Responsible for the report: |
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Lindsay Tomlinson Head of Democratic Governance
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Janie Berry Bryn Roberts Director of Governance
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Report Approved |
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Date |
14/05/2024 |
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Specialist Implications Officer(s): None
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Wards Affected:
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All |
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For further information please contact the author of the report |
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Annexes:
· Annex A - Allocation of seats 2025/2026 – to follow
· Annex B1 - Executive Members and Portfolios 2025/2026
· Annex B2 - Appointments to Committees, Sub Committees and Working Groups 2025/26 – to follow
· Annex B3 – Chairs and Vice Chairs 2025/2026 – to follow
· Annex B4 - Appointments to Outside Bodies 2025/2026 – to follow
· Annex B5 - Appointments to Ward Committees 2025/2026
· Annex C - Allocation of Motions 2025-2027
· Annex D - Revised Terms of Reference for Scrutiny Committees
· Annex E - Revised Scrutiny Committee and EMDS schedule of meetings 2025/26
· Annex F - Terms of Reference for Corporate Appeals Committee