Agenda item

Review of the Council's Constitution

Minutes:

Background:

This report provided details of proposed changes to the Council’s Constitution, following completion of a review commissioned by the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Services. The report set out the scope of the review which, in summary, was to ensure it would be up to date and consistent with current legislation and established practice. Appendix A to the report set out a high level summary of the principal changes proposed to the Constitution. A copy of the Constitution which highlighted all the recommended revisions as set out in Appendix B to the report (Supplementary Agenda No.1).

It was noted that the Chief Executive, Directors and Deputy and Assistant Directors had been consulted on proposed changes to the Constitution and had assisted in identifying updates required, and that Group Leaders had been informally consulted on the proposed changes.

It was also noted that a recommendation from the Audit Committee concerning an annual report on all debt written off had been reflected within Appendix B to the report and the Planning Committee, on 6 April 2016, would be considering minor changes to the Planning Code of Good Practice and the procedures for escalation of planning applications to the Committee for determination.

The Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee would be reviewing the redrafted Overview and Scrutiny Committee rules at its meeting on 14 April 2016 so that the comments of the Committee can be reflected in the final report to Full Council.

Decision number:	Decision:
62/2016	The Cabinet noted the proposed revisions to the Constitution as summarised in Appendix A to the report and set out in full as tracked changes in the copy of the Constitution in Appendix B to the report and agreed to recommend the changes to Full Council on 28 April 2016.
	The Cabinet noted that the Leader will approve changes proposed to any of the executive delegations as set out in full in the Employee Scheme of Delegations.
63/2016	The Cabinet agreed that the Monitoring Officer should have authority to reflect in the report to Council any comments on proposed revisions to Article 6 and the Overview and Scrutiny Rules from the Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 14 April 2016.
	The Cabinet noted that proposed changes to the Terms of Reference of the Joint Kent and Medway Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee will be subject to approval by Kent County Council (KCC) as well and that Full Council will be asked to authorise the Monitoring Officer to finalise the wording in consultation with KCC and the Chairman and Opposition Spokespersons of the Council’s Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
	The Cabinet noted that any recommendations from the Planning Committee on the matters referred to in paragraph 3.7 of the report will be reported for approval by Full Council on 28 April as part of the report on the review of the Constitution.

Reasons:

The revisions to the Constitution proposed in this report demonstrate that the Council is actively keeping the Constitution under review and give effect to changes required to ensure it is compliant with legislation, coherent and consistent with best practice.

Supporting documents: