Report of the Head of Democracy & Governance

Council received a report of the Head of Democracy and Governance setting out the recommendations agreed by the Constitution Working Party at its meeting on 29 May 2014.

RESOLVED –

1.      that the Council’s Petition Scheme be amended to make it clear that the 30 signatures required before a petition can be presented to either Cabinet or Council be from residents of the Borough of Watford and that the deadline for receipt of any petition to be considered at a meeting of Cabinet or Council be 7 clear days before the date of the meeting.

2.      that Rule 2 (h) of the Budget and Policy Procedure Rules be amended to read as follows:

          The Council shall, at that meeting, make its final decision on the matter on the basis of a two-thirds majority.  If the Council does not agree its original decision or any amendment thereto by a two-thirds majority the motion originally proposed by the Mayor at the original meeting will be deemed to be carried.  The decision shall be made public in accordance with Article 4 and shall be implemented immediately.

3.      that membership of the Outsourced Services Scrutiny Panel be agreed at Annual Council and that the Chair of the Panel also be appointed at Annual Council.

4.      that the Outsourced Services Scrutiny Panel’s membership be increased from 5 members to 7 and that it meet at least 6 times per year.

5.      that the Chair of the Outsourced Services Scrutiny Panel be remunerated at the same level as the Chair of Budget Panel namely Band 2a.

6.      that it be specified in the Constitution that members of the Cabinet are excluded from membership of Audit Committee.

7.      that it be noted that the Elected Mayor is not counted for the purpose of the political balance calculation and is therefore precluded from appointment to any politically balanced committee.

8.      That a new paragraph be added to the Officer Code of Conduct in the Constitution as follows;

          Conflicts of Interest

          Members of staff, their close family and friends may apply for any of the services offered by the Council in the same way as other members of the public.

          If you work in a service that receives applications from the public and either you personally or you become aware that a member of your family or a friend of yours makes an application for the service that you would normally process you must immediately notify your line manager and you must not have any further involvement in dealing with the application without the express authorisation from your Head of Service. You must also complete the notification of potential conflict of interest form available from the intranet. If you are aware that either you, a member of your family or a friend of yours is on a waiting list to receive a service you must renew your form on an annual basis as long as that person remains on the list.

          If you are the person with the delegated authority to make a decision regarding the matter you must not exercise that delegation and the matter must be dealt with either by your line manager or the relevant council committee or cabinet.

          You must also fill in the conflict of interest form if either you, a member of your family or a friend supply the Council with goods or services either directly or through a company or sit on the management board or are a trustee of a body that receives money from the Council (unless the Council has nominated you or that person to sit on that body as a Council representative).