Report To:	Council	28 January 2016
Lead Officer:	Monitoring Officer

Review of Council Standing Orders

Purpose

The Chairman of the Council had requested that the Civic Affairs Committee undertook a review of Council Standing Orders. The Committee initially considered this review at its meeting on 12 November 2015 and discussed the respective Standing Orders relating to Notices of Motion, consideration of the Council’s annual budget, questions by Members, the cancellation of meetings and the quorum for the Scrutiny and Overview Committee and Partnerships Review Committee.

The Civic Affairs Committee subsequently considered changes to the specific wording of Standing Orders at its meeting on 12 January 2016 and this report sets out the Committee’s recommendations.

Recommendations

The Civic Affairs Committee RECOMMENDED to Council:

(a)	The amendments to Council Standing Orders as set out at paragraphs 12.4, 14.6 (g) to (i) and 24 of Appendix A to the report.

(b)	The trial introduction of a new format for questions by Members at meetings of Council to include the usual process for submitting written questions by notice followed by the ability to ask questions without notice, including questions in relation to the Greater Cambridge City Deal, within a total timeframe of 30 minutes. This procedure would be reviewed again by the Committee in six months.

(c)	The amendment of the Scrutiny and Overview Procedure Rules to reflect the reduction of the quorum for both the Scrutiny and Overview Committee and Partnerships Review Committee to one quarter.

Reasons for Recommendations

It is within the Civic Affairs Committee’s remit to review the Council’s Constitution, including Standing Orders, and make any relevant recommendations to Council.

Background

The Standing Orders for Council have not been reviewed in their entirety for a number of years. It is within the remit of the Civic Affairs Committee to review the Constitution and Standing Orders periodically and the Committee undertook such a review at its previous meetings on 12 November 2015 and 12 January 2016.

In reviewing Standing Orders, the Committee identified and supported amendments to specific Standing Orders in order improve the smooth and efficient running of meetings, promote effective decision-making and governance and provide procedural clarification.

Considerations

The following aspects of Standing Orders considered by the Committee on 12 November 2015 and 12 January 2016 that were recommended for amendment include:

Notice of Motions

In terms of amendments, the Committee recommended the inclusion of a Standing Order to request that all amendments be written down and handed to the Chairman before they are debated, in order that it is clear what Members are debating and voting on.

The Committee recommended that the Chairman be given discretion to refuse to accept amendments to Motions or recommendations if they are based on typographical or grammatical points. The Committee agreed that these issues should instead be raised with officers at the earliest opportunity in order that they can be properly considered.

Standing Order 12.4 sets out reasons why the Chairman might reject a motion. The Committee recommended adding after the words ‘is substantially the same as a Motion which has been put at a meeting or a meeting of the Council in the past six months” the sentence ‘This does not apply to motions moved in pursuance of a recommendation of Cabinet, a Committee or a Chief Officer’.

Considering the Council’s annual budget

The Committee agreed that preparing the Council’s budget takes considerable time and is an extremely complex process, noting that the Scrutiny and Overview Committee and Cabinet both consider the proposed budget prior to its submission to Full Council.

Currently, there is nothing within Standing Orders to prevent any significant amendments being proposed at Full Council in relation to the annual budget that will not have had the opportunity to have also been considered by officers, the Scrutiny and Overview Committee or Cabinet. The Committee agreed there is a risk that in moving such an amendment without notice, the Section 151 Officer or Monitoring Officer would be unable to accept it having not had time to properly consider the implications and consequences of the amendment amongst the entirety of the very complex budget. If an amendment had been previously considered by the Scrutiny and Overview Committee or Cabinet, officers and Members would have sufficient information to enable them to properly consider the implications and consequences of the significant amendment.

The Committee therefore recommended that any proposed significant amendments to the Council’s annual budget need to have gone to the Scrutiny and Overview Committee or Cabinet before they will be accepted for consideration at Full Council. The Committee agreed that the Council’s 151 Officer should be responsible for determining the definition of ‘significant’ in this respect.

Questions by Members

Members currently have to provide notice of questions, which are published with the agenda for meetings of Full Council. Other authorities set aside a time limit of 30 minutes, for example, where any Member can ask questions without the need to provide notice.

The Committee recommended to a trial introduction of a new format for questions by Members at meetings of Council to include the usual process for submitting written questions by notice followed by the ability to ask questions without notice, including questions in relation to the Greater Cambridge City Deal, within a total timeframe of 30 minutes. Members can put the questions without notice into a box before the meeting and the Chairman will draw them out, within the timeframe allowed. This procedure would be reviewed again by the Committee in six months.

Cancellation of meetings

The current Standing Orders do not make it clear what the process should be for cancelling meetings. The Committee agreed that Standing Orders should be amended to reflect the process that should be followed in the event that a meeting would need to be cancelled due to lack of business, severe weather or other exceptional or disruptive circumstances. It therefore recommended that the process should involve the Chief Executive consulting with the Chairman of Council or the committee/body, then consulting political group leaders before resolving whether to cancel or adjourn the meeting, but that this process would not apply to Portfolio Holder Meetings.

Quorum of Scrutiny and Overview Committee and Partnerships Review Committee

The Scrutiny and Overview Procedure Rules set out that the quorum for both the Scrutiny and Overview Committee and Partnerships Review Committee is a least half of the membership of each body. The Committee recommended reducing the quorum for both bodies to one quarter, in line with other quorum requirements.

Appendix A of the report sets out a revised version of Standing Orders, incorporating the above recommendations that were agreed at the meeting of the Civic Affairs Committee held on 12 January 2016.

Options

Council could opt not to amend Standing Orders at this time.

Council could identify other areas of Standing Orders for review or amendment not included in this report.

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, there are no significant implications.

Background Papers

No additional background papers have been used in the preparation of this report.

Report Author:	Graham Watts – Democratic Services Team Leader

Telephone: (01954) 713030