To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 2nd April 2009.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 2nd April 2009 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive from Members declarations as to personal and/or prejudicial interests and the nature of those interests in relation to any Agenda item.  Please see notes 1 and 2 below.

No declarations were received.

To consider the deliberations of the Overview and Scrutiny Panels on the review of the Council’s democratic structure.  A report will be circulated following the Scrutiny Panels’ meetings.

The report by the Head of Democratic and Central Services was considered by the Cabinet at its last meeting.  Please bring your copy with you to the meeting.

Pursuant to Minute No. 137, the Cabinet gave further consideration to the report of the Democratic Structure Review Working Group in light of comments made by the Overview and Scrutiny Panels and the Corporate Governance Panel.  It was noted that there was generally support for the majority of the recommendations of the Working Group.

With the regard to the proposal to increase the size of the Cabinet to ten Members, it was felt that whilst the workload justified the creation of an extra Cabinet post, the costs associated with it meant this change should be deferred for a year.  Furthermore, it was agreed that Cabinet meetings should start at 6.30 pm.

Given the Cabinet’s previous reservations over voting rights for persons co-opted to the Overview and Scrutiny Panels and concerns expressed by the Overview and Scrutiny (Service Support) and the Corporate Governance Panels, it was felt that the initiative should be piloted for a 12 month period and consideration of the granting of voting rights should be considered further following evaluation.

Having considered the overwhelming sentiments in the views expressed it was agreed not to recommend the proposal to introduce a Speaker for Council meetings.  It was also felt that consideration of the terms of reference, composition etc of the Employment Panel should be deferred pending consultation with the Employee Liaison Advisory Group.

Being mindful of their previous decisions on proposals having financial implications, Members discussed at length the financial implications of the proposals and following consideration of a variety of options concluded that the additional costs implicit in the proposals now recommended could be met from savings within the budget for Members’ allowances.

Having determined its recommendations on each of the points raised in the report, the Cabinet requested the Working Group to undertake a number of tasks arising from the review.

RESOLVED

               (a)     that the Council be recommended to approve the recommendations of the Democratic Structure Review Working Group, subject to the following -

recommendation (b) – approved in principle but deferred for one year and reviewed again at that time;

recommendation (e) and (f) – approved, with a starting time of 6.30 p.m.;

recommendation (h) – approved for a trial period of one year, but with co-optees not being granted voting rights nor allowances;

recommendation (o) – approved, subject to the deletion of the reference to ‘annual’ in relation to reviews of the Sustainable Community Strategy;

recommendation (p) – that the recommendation be refused;

recommendation (w) – approved, subject to the meeting time remaining at 4.00 p.m. with committee flexibility to change;

recommendation (aa) – deferral recommended for further consideration pending consultation with the Employees Liaison Advisory Group,

recommendation (dd) – approved, subject to negotiation with partners,

recommendation (ee) – approved, subject to negotiation with partners,

recommendation (hh) – approved, with the exclusion of partnerships where other arrangements apply,

recommendation (rr) – special responsibility allowances be approved for the chairman and vice chairman of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 140.