Issue - meetings

Vote Recording / Recorded Voting System

Meeting: 25/01/2007 - Council (Item 19)

Standing in the names of Councillor Dr SEK van de Ven and Councillor RB Martlew

“In the interest of accountability to the electorate, all decisions made by Full Council should have the votes recorded and retained to be accessed on request, accessibility to be in accordance with the Access to Information Procedure Rules.”

Decision:

“In the interest of accountability to the electorate, all decisions made by full Council should have the votes recorded and retained to be accessed on request, accessibility to be in accordance with the Access to Information Procedure Rules.”

 

The Motion, on being put, was declared lost, the voting being recorded as follows:

 

FOR: (20):

JD Batchelor

Mrs PM Bear

AN Berent

RF Bryant

NN Cathcart

JP Chatfield

Mrs A Elsby

Dr SA Harangozo

Mrs EM Heazell

MP Howell

PT Johnson

Mrs HF Kember

SGM Kindersley

Mrs JE Lockwood

RB Martlew

Mrs HM Smith

JH Stewart

RT Summerfield

Dr SEK van de Ven

JF Williams

 

 

AGAINST (29):

 

Dr DR Bard

RE Barrett

NCF Bolitho

EW Bullman

BR Burling

TD Bygott

Mrs PS Corney

Mrs SJO Doggett

SM Edwards

Mrs SM Ellington

Mrs VG Ford

Mrs JM Guest

R Hall

Mrs SA Hatton

Mrs CA Hunt

RMA Manning

MJ Mason

RM Matthews

DC McCraith

DH Morgan

CR Nightingale

AG Orgee

Mrs DP Roberts

NJ Scarr

Mrs DSK Spink MBE

RJ Turner

Mrs BE Waters

TJ Wotherspoon

NIC Wright

 

 

ABSTAINED (1): JA Hockney

Minutes:

Councillor Dr SEK van de Ven moved and Councillor RB Martlew seconded a Motion in the following terms:

 

“In the interest of accountability to the electorate, all decisions made by full Council should have the votes recorded and retained to be accessed on request, accessibility to be in accordance with the Access to Information Procedure Rules.”

 

The Motion, on being put, was declared lost, the voting being recorded as follows:

 

FOR: (20):

JD Batchelor

Mrs PM Bear

AN Berent

RF Bryant

NN Cathcart

JP Chatfield

Mrs A Elsby

Dr SA Harangozo

Mrs EM Heazell

MP Howell

PT Johnson

Mrs HF Kember

SGM Kindersley

Mrs JE Lockwood

RB Martlew

Mrs HM Smith

JH Stewart

RT Summerfield

Dr SEK van de Ven

JF Williams

 

 

AGAINST (29):

 

Dr DR Bard

RE Barrett

NCF Bolitho

EW Bullman

BR Burling

TD Bygott

Mrs PS Corney

Mrs SJO Doggett

SM Edwards

Mrs SM Ellington

Mrs VG Ford

Mrs JM Guest

R Hall

Mrs SA Hatton

Mrs CA Hunt

RMA Manning

MJ Mason

RM Matthews

DC McCraith

DH Morgan

CR Nightingale

AG Orgee

Mrs DP Roberts

NJ Scarr

Mrs DSK Spink MBE

RJ Turner

Mrs BE Waters

TJ Wotherspoon

NIC Wright

 

 

ABSTAINED (1): JA Hockney


Meeting: 23/09/2004 - Council (Item 7)

VOTE RECORDING

As there appears to be some uncertainty about the way votes individually recorded electronically will be used, and votes are automatically recorded when the system is turned on, Council is asked to determine:

1.

The principles by which meetings will have individual votes recorded electronically

e.g.  all public meetings

        by request before the meeting

        all meetings unless there is agreement to the contrary

        each “committee” to decide on its own procedure

 

Cabinet currently records numbers voting but not names, in the interests of collective responsibility

 

2.

On what occasions votes should not be recorded

e.g.  for exempt (confidential) items

        where Members might be subject to illegal acts as a result

        on appointments

recording in the minutes of votes on appointments is already precluded by the constitution

 

3.

Who should have access to the information

e.g.  Members only

        any member of the public on request (on payment?)

        made available through the Web site

 

The Freedom of Information Act will require that if the record exists it must be made available on request (other than where exempted for confidentiality)

 

4.

How long the information should be kept, i.e. is it regarded as temporary only or part of the public record?

 

Minutes, agenda and reports must be kept accessible for 6 years after the meeting; background papers for 4 years

 

When the Council agreed on 13th January 2004 that the system should be purchased, it had the views of the Constitution Review Working Party, which expected that constituents would be able to see how their local member voted and that the names would be available on request.  It was not, however, the intention that names should be recorded in the minutes unless a request for a recorded vote was made and agreed.

 

Council is invited to confirm that names are recorded in the minutes only when a specific request has been made; and to clarify the issues set out above.

Decision:

RESOLVED

that a recorded vote should only occur if six members or one quarter of those present at the meeting, whichever is the fewer, demand it, as per the Constitution.

 

For the amendment

 

RE Barrett

BR Burling

Ms PS Corney

Dr DR Bard

Ms SJO Doggett

R Hall

Mrs SA Hatton

Ms CA Hunt

HC Hurrell

RMA Manning

DC McCraith

Mrs CAED Murfitt

CR Nightingale

EJ Pateman

Mrs DP Roberts

NJ Scarr

J Shepperson

Mrs DSK Spink

RT Summerfield

Mrs BE Waters

NIC Wright

 

 

21

 

Against the amendment

 

JD Batchelor

JP Chatfield

Mrs A Elsby

Dr SA Harangozo

Dr JA Heap

Mrs EM Heazell

SGM Kindersley

Dr JPR Orme

JA Quinlan

Mrs GJ Smith

Mrs HM Smith

JH Stewart

Mrs VM Trueman

Dr SEK van de Ven

Dr JR Williamson

 

 

15

 

Not voted

SJ Agnew

RF Bryant

NN Cathcart

3

 

RESOLVED

that a recorded vote should only occur if six members or one quarter of those present at the meeting, whichever is the fewer, demand it, as per the Constitution.

 

For the resolution

 

RE Barrett

BR Burling

Ms PS Corney

Dr DR Bard

Ms SJO Doggett

Mrs A Elsby

R Hall

Mrs SA Hatton

Ms CA Hunt

HC Hurrell

RMA Manning

DC McCraith

Mrs CAED Murfitt

CR Nightingale

EJ Pateman

Mrs DP Roberts

NJ Scarr

J Shepperson

Mrs DSK Spink

RT Summerfield

Mrs BE Waters

NIC Wright

 

 

 

 

22

 

Against the resolution

 

SJ Agnew

JD Batchelor

NN Cathcart

JP Chatfield

Dr SA Harangozo

Dr JA Heap

Mrs EM Heazell

SGM Kindersley

Dr JPR Orme

JA Quinlan

Mrs GJ Smith

Mrs HM Smith

JH Stewart

Mrs VM Trueman

Dr SEK van de Ven

Dr JR Williamson

 

 

 

 

16

 

Not voted

 

RF Bryant

1

Minutes:

Councillor JD Batchelor, Information and Customer Services Portfolio Holder, presented this item which sought to clarify the way in which Members wanted the automatic vote recording system to be used. He made the following recommendations:

·                      Where practical, votes taken at Council, Cabinet, Scrutiny and Overview Committee and Development and Conservation Control Committee should be recorded.

·                      Members’ names only to be recorded in the minutes when a specific request has been made, as laid out in the constitution.

·                      The voting record should be available to the public through electronic means.

·                      These records to be retained for 6 years.

·                      Votes taken over confidential items would not be recorded.

 

It was understood that the electronic vote recording system could only operate in the Council Chamber, so it would not be practical to record votes taken at meetings in other rooms.

 

Councillor NJ Scarr stated that vote recording should be restricted to important matters so he saw no reason to change the current rules that a recorded vote should only occur if six members demand it. He stated that the electronic vote recording system existed to facilitate the recording of votes but its existence did not warrant a change in the rules.

 

Councillor Scarr expressed particular concern over the recording of votes at Development and Conservation Control Committee Meetings, as a voting record could be misleading without hearing the debate and being aware of planning law. He added that Members would be liable to intimidation from violent pressure groups regarding controversial planning applications if the voting record of members became a public record. Councillor JA Quinlan spoke in favour of Councillor Batchelor’s recommendations which would bring more transparency to the decision making process. He stated that the low possibility of Councillors being intimidated regarding a controversial decision was an insufficient reason to decide against the recording of votes. Councillor Mrs GJ Smith asserted that Members had a duty not to be intimidated by terrorist organisations.

 

Councillor Dr DR Bard agreed with Councillor Scarr and stated that the public could be misled if shown a voting record without a record of the debate or any other background information. Councillor Mrs DP Roberts stated that members of the public could attend Council meetings, where they could observe the debate and the way members voted. She expressed concern that Members’ individual voting records could be used selectively by political opponents during election time.

 

Councillor Mrs DSK Spink expressed her opposition to recording all votes at Cabinet as this would erode collective responsibility and was far less flexible than the existing system. Councillor Mrs EM Heazell stated that collective responsibility occurred after the vote and so Cabinet votes should be recorded as well as other public meetings held in the Council Chamber.

 

Councillor SGM Kindersley stated that in January the Constitution Working Party had recommended that Members’ votes at public meetings should be recorded. He stated that a system should be in place to allow our residents to check the voting record of their local members if they  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7


Meeting: 26/02/2004 - Council (Item 7)

7 Cambourne Office - Recorded Voting System pdf icon PDF 21 KB

To consider the recommendation of the Constitution Review Working Party that a recorded voting system should be purchased for the Cambourne office and the NOW Group given authority to incur the additional expenditure of £15,400 for the smart card readers and £5,154 for the software.

 

An extract from the Working Party minutes of the 13th January 2004 is attached.

Decision:

Council RESOLVED

 

(a)               that a recorded voting system should be purchased in advance for the Cambourne office; and

 

(b)               that the New Offices Working Group be given delegated authority to incur the additional expenditure of £15,400 for the smart card readers and £5,154 for the software.

Minutes:

Council RESOLVED

 

(a)               that a recorded voting system should be purchased in advance for the Cambourne office; and

 

(b)               that the New Offices Working Group be given delegated authority to incur the additional expenditure of £15,400 for the smart card readers and £5,154 for the software.