Issue - meetings
Petitions and E-Petitions
Meeting: 09/11/2010 - Cabinet (Item 127)
127 Petitions and E-Petitions 
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Minutes:
This report provided details of the Council’s proposal for a new petitions scheme in line with the provisions of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. It was noted that the Act required Local Authorities’ petition schemes to meet some minimum standards to ensure minimum entitlements which all citizens could expect including a duty to provide a facility for electronic petitions (e-petitions).
It was noted that the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) had announced in September 2010 that the statutory guidance on petitions scheme had been withdrawn, however, it was necessary to adopt a scheme which fulfilled the minimum requirements of the Act.
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Decision number: |
Decision: |
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182/2010 |
The Cabinet noted the provisions proposed for a Medway Petitions Scheme as set out in paragraph 3 of the report, and recommended the thresholds for petitions to trigger a Full Council debate (5%) or an officer being held to account at an Overview and Scrutiny Committee (2%) and agreed that only the Chief Executive, Directors and Assistant Directors should be the officers specified in the scheme for this purpose. |
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183/2010 |
The Cabinet recommended the petitions scheme attached at Appendix B to the report to Full Council for adoption and inclusion in the Council’s Constitution (as Appendix A to the Council rules in Chapter 4) to incorporate the views on Cabinet on the matters specified in decision 182/2010 above. |
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184/2010 |
The Cabinet recommend to Full Council that authority be delegated to the Monitoring Officer to determine when it would not be appropriate for a petition to be handled under the petitions scheme because it is deemed to be vexatious, abusive, otherwise inappropriate or excluded from the scheme, taking into account relevant law and statutory guidance. |
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185/2010 |
The Cabinet recommended to Full Council that authority be delegated to the Assistant Director Customer First, Leisure, Culture, Democracy and Governance, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, to make minor amendments to the provisions in the scheme relating to e-petitioning if required once the system is in place to ensure the scheme accurately reflects the technical aspects of the IT arrangements. |
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186/2010 |
The Cabinet recommended to Full Council the changes required to the Constitution as a consequence of introduction of a petitions scheme as set out in Appendix C to the report. |
Reasons:
The Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 places a statutory duty on Local Authorities to adopt a scheme for handling petitions and to set in place a facility for e-petitioning. The proposed petitions scheme will be included within the Council’s Constitution.