Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Brake, Howcroft-Scott, Kemp, McDonald and Potter.

To approve the record of the meeting held on Wednesday 8 September 2021. 

The record of the meeting held on 8 September 2021 was agreed and signed by the Chairman as correct.

There were none.

Members are invited to disclose any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Significant Interests in accordance with the Member Code of Conduct.  Guidance on this is set out in agenda item 4.

Disclosable pecuniary interests

There were none.

Other significant interests (OSIs)

There were none.

Other interests

Councillor Maple disclosed that in respect of agenda item 5 (Requests for Dispensation), he was a Governor at a school within the same Trust as St. Margaret’s Junior School, with regards to Lenny Williams (Church of England Diocesan Board of Education representative) who was the Headteacher at the school. However, he did not know Mr Williams, therefore, he would take part and vote on the matter.

This report requests the Committee to consider three dispensation requests for two non-voting co-optees and one voting co-optee of the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Discussion:

Members considered a report regarding three requests that a dispensation be granted to two non-voting co-optees and one voting co-optee of the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The report also requested the Committee to consider a suggestion that the current delegation, which enabled the Monitoring Officer to “consider and determine any requests for dispensations from Medway Members and voting and non-voting co-opted Members in cases where the timing of a request would make it impractical to convene a meeting of the Committee”, to be expanded to enable the Monitoring Officer to grant dispensations more generally and to only refer requests for dispensation to the Councillor Conduct Committee in circumstances where the Monitoring Officer was not minded to grant such a request.

Decision:

a)    The Committee agreed to:

i)     grant a dispensation to Vicky Aspin for two years (expiring on 20 January 2024 when her term of office ends) for the reasons set out in section 4 of the report to allow participation in debate on the annual schools performance report and reports relating to Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (which may relate to Abbey Court School) at Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee meetings in which she had a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in relation to her employment at Abbey Court School.

ii)    grant a dispensation to Hannah Roberts for two years (expiring on 20 January 2024 when her term of office ends) for the reasons set out in section 4 of the report to allow participation in debate on the annual schools performance report at Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee meetings in which she had a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in relation to her employment at Warren Wood Primary Academy.

iii)   grant a dispensation to Lenny Williams for four years (expiring 16 February 2026) for the reasons set out in section 4 of the report to allow participation in debate and/or to vote on the annual schools performance report at Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee meetings in which he had a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in relation to his employment at St Margaret’s Junior School.

b)    The Committee recommended full Council to agree that the delegation set out at paragraph 6.20 of the Employee Delegation Scheme, within the Council’s constitution, be reworded as follows: “To consider and determine any requests for dispensations from Medway Members and voting and non-voting co-opted Members in cases where the timing of a request would make it impractical to convene a meeting of the Committee and to only refer requests for dispensations to the Councillor Conduct Committee for determination where the Monitoring Officer is minded to not grant a dispensation”.