| Place: | Oaks Room, Civic Centre, West Paddock, Leyland, PR25 1DH |
| Present: | Councillors O'Hare (in the chair), Mrs Moon and Ogilvie |
| In attendance: | Director of Corporate Governance (Maureen Wood), Democratic Services Manager (Martin O'Loughlin) and Democratic Services Officer (Carol Eddleston) |
| Public attendance: | 0 |
| Other Officers: | 0 Other Members:- Councillor Mullineaux |
| Item | Description/Resolution | Status | Action | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OPEN ITEMS | ||||
| 41 |
Apologies for Absence Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Breakell and M Tomlinson. |
Noted | ||
| 42 |
Declarations of Interest There were no declarations of interest. |
Noted | ||
| 43 |
Minutes of the Last Meeting Minutes attached RESOLVED (unanimously): That the minutes of the meeting held on 9 February 2011 be approved as a correct record and signed by the chairman. Further to minute no 36, the chairman was pleased to report that since the last meeting the Internal Audit Customer Charter had been renamed Internal Audit Service Charter. Further to minute no 39, a sixth possible meeting date had not been easily identifiable but the forward plan could assist in highlighting possible bottlenecks and an extra meeting could be arranged if and when considered necessary. The chairman suggested that consideration could be given to whether all the items which were currently brought before the committee needed to be and the Director of Corporate Governance agreed to discuss the committee?s requirements with the chairman and with the senior officer Corporate Governance Steering Group whether the forward plan could be streamlined. |
Agreed | ||
| 44 |
Review of the Constitution - Draft Report Draft Report attached Annotated Constitution attached The chairman presented the draft report which the Constitution Task Group had considered earlier in the evening and outlined the following amendments that the task group wished to recommend to the full committee: Page 2, 3 MAIN CHANGES 1. Amendments to the Summary of the Constitution, Article 4 ? Council Meeting, Article 8 ? Cabinet (Executive), Standing Order nos. 5 and 35 Para 2 That the Cabinet is made up of the Executive Leader, a Deputy Leader plus not less than 3 and not more than 8 other councillors appointed by the Leader for a period to be determined by the Leader. The Executive Leader and Deputy Leader would act as chairman and vice-chairman of the Cabinet. 2. Amendments to Standing Order no 5 To require the Elected Executive Leader to submit the names of his/her Cabinet to the First Business Meeting of the Municipal Year and any subsequent changes to the next appropriate Council meeting. 5. Amendments to Standing Order no 35 ? this is now to be deleted as it is now covered under 1 above. 6(b) To be amended so that the chairman and vice-chairman shall be appointed by the members of the relevant area committee at the first business meeting of the municipal year instead of at the first area committee meeting. The chairman confirmed that, in addition to the changes proposed in the report and above, the task group had proposed the following: - That a set of generic committee procedure rules should be drafted for committees whose procedures were not determined by specific legislation (such as the Standards Committee), and. - the Access to Information Procedure Rules should be expanded to require an explanation to be included on committee agendas of why an item was considered to be confidential or exempt. RESOLVED (unanimously): 1) That the proposed changes to the Constitution identified in Section 3 of the report, including the amendments and additions above, be agreed for recommendation to Cabinet. 2) That Cabinet recommend the Council to adopt the proposed changes to the Constitution with effect from the first Council meeting of the new municipal year in May 2011, and 3) That the Monitoring Officer be authorised to update the Constitution to reflect the outcomes from Recommendation 2 above. |
Agreed | ||
| 45 |
Review of Standing Orders for Contracts Report attached CPR attached The chairman presented the report which proposed a number of changes to the Standing Orders for Contracts as contained in the Constitution. At its earlier meeting the task group had recommended that there should be no change to the threshold at which contract award decisions should be taken by Cabinet (?75,000) and therefore did not agree to the proposal to increase the threshold to the EU threshold (?156,442). Members acknowledged that although the proposed changes to the Constitution relating to the new executive arrangements could not legally be implemented before the start of the new municipal year, the proposed changes to the Standing Orders for Contracts should be implemented immediately due to the implementation of the council?s new financial system. RESOLVED (unanimously): 1) That Cabinet recommend the Council to adopt the proposed revised draft version of Standing Orders for Contracts (Contract Procedure Rules), subject to the amendment proposed above, with immediate effect. 2) That the expenditure threshold which defines a Key Decision be increased from ?50,000 to ?75,000 in line with the existing Standing Order Tender Threshold 3) That the Monitoring Officer be authorised to update the Constitution to reflect the outcome from the above. |
Agreed | ||