Report To:	Council	17 November 2016
Lead Officer:	Alex Colyer, Acting Chief Executive

Amendments to the Terms of Reference for the Greater Cambridge City Deal Joint Assembly and Executive Board

Purpose

Council is invited to consider proposed amendments to the Terms of Reference for the Greater Cambridge City Deal Joint Assembly and Executive Board.

Recommendations

Council is recommended to endorse the proposed modified Standing Orders for the Greater Cambridge City Deal Joint Assembly and Executive Board.

Reasons for Recommendations

This proposal to modify Standing Orders aims to improve the way public questions work at the Greater Cambridge City Deal Executive Board and Joint Assembly. The proposals reflect learning for the first year and a half of the Executive Board and Joint Assembly, member feedback and suggestions from several key stakeholders representing those who have exercised their public speaking rights at the Board and Assembly. These are Cambridge Past, Present and Future, Federation of Cambridge Residents’ Associations, Cambridge Cycling Campaign, Smarter Cambridge Transport, Coton Parish Council and Madingley Parish Council. In essence, by allowing more time between notice being given of public questions and the relevant meeting (whilst maintaining the time between publication of papers and the deadline for public questions), and making public questions more focused, transparency in decision-making and public information will be improved, as well as the efficient discharge of City Deal business.

Consequently, officers are recommending the modifications set out below.

Background

For both the Joint Assembly and Executive Board, agendas and reports are currently published five clear working days before the relevant meeting. Each Executive Board meeting also considers a forward plan, which gives advance notice of decisions that are expected to be taken.

The existing Standing Orders for both Committees require notice to be given of public questions by 10am the day before the relevant meeting. Responses are then prepared by officers where appropriate, in order to advise Joint Assembly and Executive Board members on responding to questions in the meeting. Meetings of both Committees have historically taken a larger number of questions than is the case with other Committees of the three partner Councils – the June 2016 Executive Board had 32 public questions.

Responses to public questions are currently published in the minutes of the relevant meeting.

Alongside the Joint Assembly and Executive Board, there are other forums through which members of the public can effectively engage with and ask questions to the City Deal. Where the infrastructure programme is concerned, questions can be asked at Local Liaison Forums, which have been established to allow local Members and the public in areas directly affected by schemes to engage with the detailed proposals and to keep informed of plans. These are useful forums for questions to be directed where they relate to specific schemes, and are able to provide detailed responses. Officers are also available to answer questions across the City Deal programme if contacted, with the City Deal email address being the most obvious channel for queries.

Similar reports are being considered by the relevant Committees at Cambridge City Council and Cambridgeshire County Council, as any changes to the Terms of Reference and Standing Orders for these Committees requires approval from all three Councils. Proposed modifications are shown in the two Appendices with tracked changes. All three Councils will need to agree the changes as proposed in order for them to take effect.

Considerations

Members of the public, officers and members all consider that the current turnaround time of just over one day allowed between receipt of public questions and the relevant meeting means that often detailed and technical questions are not always answered sufficiently. The proposed modifications to the Standing Orders of both committees are intended to give officers more time to advise Joint Assembly and Executive Board members on the issues involved in those public questions, and therefore to improve the quality of responses given at the meetings, while ensuring the public have the same length of time to prepare their questions.

Increasing the time allowed for preparation of responses as proposed would also allow for questions and responses to be more effectively published, including where questions are not fully answered in the relevant meetings, so responses would be more easily accessible. This would also facilitate an aspiration to publish written responses to some questions where possible in advance of the relevant meeting, where those questions are of a technical nature.

By bringing forward both the deadline for receipt of public questions and the publication period for agendas and reports, the proposed modifications would retain the existing time period between publication of agendas and the deadline for submitting questions. It should be noted that this would mean reports needing to be completed 2-3 days earlier than is currently the case, although with effective work planning that should not be problematic.

If the Council chooses not to support the recommendations, the existing Standing Orders would continue to be in force.

Implications

In the writing of this report, taking into account financial, legal, staffing, risk management, equality and diversity, climate change, community safety and any other key issues, the following implications have been considered: -

Staffing

Officers will have more time to prepare more complete answers to public questions ahead of meetings.

Consultation responses (including from the Youth Council)

The proposed changes have arisen from a proactive proposal by key stakeholders to improve the functioning of public questions at City Deal meetings.

The proposed changes have been discussed with members of the City Deal Executive Board and the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the City Deal Joint Assembly.

Background Papers

No background papers have been relied upon in the writing of this report.

Report Author:	Graham Watts – Democratic Services Team Leader

Telephone: (01954) 713030