Agenda item

As previously reported to the Committee, a cross party working group has now been established and had its first meeting on 6^th October 2021.  The cross party working group has continued to meet on a weekly basis (subject to Member availability) in order to assist the Committee on the review of the Constitution.   Once satisfied with the amendments to the Constitution, the Audit & Governance Committee will make a recommendation that the draft Constitution be referred to a future meeting of Full Council for approval and immediate implementation.  As the Committee is aware, the amendments undertaken by Audit & Governance Committee on 11^th March 2020, and subsequently approved by Full Council in October 2020, have been incorporated into this revision.

The Committee continued its review of the constitution by considering the work undertaken, by the cross party working group set up by the Committee, articles 14, 15, 20, 21, 23, 24, and appendices 10, 13, 19, 20, 21, 26 and 28. These articles and appendices can be found in the draft constitution published in the Audit and Governance Committee agenda from 8 September 2021.

Article 14 - The Council’s Licensing Functions, was noted.

Article 15 A - Corporate Appeals Committee, Officers outlined the current issues of single gender panels raised by HR, trade unions, and members of staff around the makeup of the Corporate Appeals Committee. It was therefore discussed how the article could ensure mixed gender panels and it was considered that the article should include the requirement for either one women or one member of a minority gender on each panel.

Article 15 B – Investigating and Disciplinary Committee and Chief Officer Appeals Committee, The Committee discussed whether the article should include a list of chief officers for reference. Officers noted that this would be included in the intro to the constitution which would be completed once the other sections of the constitution were agreed. Therefore, Members requested that reference be included to the intro in this section.

Article 20 - York’s Commitment to Corporate Parenting, Members discussed the role of Corporate Parenting and the role of Children’s and Education Policy and Scrutiny Committee. Discussions took place around whether opposition members should have a place on the Committee, Officers suggested against this suggesting it was not the place for opposition scrutiny from Members and was instead for young people who were in, or had been looked after by the Council to have their say and that scrutiny would provide the role of offering Members the opportunity to scrutinise the Council and relevant Executive Members. It was noted that the constitution would move meetings to a private setting as there had been challenges including children on live streams and some children had not wanted to engage because of this.

Article 21 - Joint Arrangements, was noted.

Article 23 – Officers, was noted.

Article 24 – Finance, Contracts and Legal Matters, was noted.

Appendix 10 - Financial Procedure Rules, Officers confirmed that breaches if occurred would be reported to the relevant Executive Member and the Audit and Governance Committee. Members highlighted and requested a review for any typos and the use of gender pronouns.

Appendix 19 – Protocol for use of ICT by Members/Use of

Resources, The Committee discussed the importance of Members access to ICT resources and it was outlined by Officers the importance of using Council issued devices. Members raised questions about the potential financial implications relating to providing Council ICT to every Member and requested a future update be provided to the Committee.

Appendix 20 - Member Allowances and Member Allowances Scheme, was noted.

Appendix 21 - Urgent Decision Making Protocol, was noted.

Appendix 26 – Information Governance, The Committee requested that the appendix also include a link to the Ombudsman for easy of use for residents.

Appendix 28 - Protocol on the Production and Content of

Minutes of Meetings, was noted.

The work of the cross party working group was discussed, as well as, what could be discussed alongside the scrutiny functions in the constitution at the Committees 1 December 2021. Members also discussed how the Council could promote public comments on the Constitution and it was agreed that the revised constitution would be published online after the 1 December 2021 meeting and a press release would be issued requesting comments before the 2 February 2021 meeting of the Committee.

Resolved:

                          i.        The Committee noted the work of the Cross Party Working Group;

                        ii.        That the Committee agreed the Articles and Appendices listed above subject to the following amendments:

·        That Article 15 A include ‘Membership should be one women or one member of a minority gender’;

·        That Article 15 B include a link to the introduction of the constitution listing chief officers;

·        That Appendix 10 that typos be corrected and gender neutral pronouns be used in the appendix and to be circulated to the Committee;

·        That Appendix 26 include a link to the ombudsman.

                       iii.        That a report be brought to the Committee to outline expenditure associated with providing ICT equipment to all Members;

                      iv.        That a revised draft of the constitution following the Committee meeting on 1 December 2021 be published on the Council website and a press release asking for public comments on the constitution by the 2 February 2021 meeting.

Reason:     To ensure that the Council Constitution is accurate and is fit for purpose to effectively support the service delivery and decision making responsibilities of the Council in a lawful and financially compliant manner. The Council is required to work towards the delivery of the Action Plan in response to the Public Interest Report.