Members are currently being asked by the Independent Remuneration Panel to complete a questionnaire which includes questions about the appropriateness of portfolio holders' remuneration. It is extremely difficult to make a judgement about this when 2 cabinet members fail to ever hold portfolio holder meetings and the remainder have held between 1 and 8 meetings in the past year. Since all portfolios, apart from Cllr Burkitt’s, are responsible for substantial budgets this begs serious questions about the transparency of decision making as well as the amount of work involved in each area of responsibility. This Council agrees that all budget holding portfolio holders should hold at least 3 public portfolio meetings per calendar year.
Decision:
Council AGREED the following motion:-
This Council agrees that all budget holding portfolio holders should hold public portfolio meetings per municipal year as appropriate.
In the event of no such meetings being held by a portfolio holder, the portfolio holder will make a report to full Council why no such meeting has been held.
Minutes:
Councillor Bridget Smith moved the following motion as set out on the agenda:-
“Members are currently being asked by the Independent Remuneration Panel to complete a questionnaire which includes questions about the appropriateness of portfolio holders’ remuneration. It is extremely difficult to make a judgement about this when 2 cabinet members fail to ever hold portfolio holder meetings and the remainder have held between 1 and 8 meetings in the past year. Since all portfolios, apart from Councillor Burkitt’s, are responsible for substantial budgets this begs serious questions about the transparency of decision making as well as the amount of work involved in each area of responsibility. This Council agrees that all budget holding portfolio holders should hold at least 3 public portfolio meetings per calendar year”.
In moving her motion, Councillor Smith elaborated on the number of meetings held by individual portfolio holders, noting that 2 cabinet members had not held any meetings, and gave an indication of the approximate cost per meeting based on the total cost of special responsibility allowances for portfolio holders. She expressed the view that if there was no business to transact, briefings could be provided in order to promote transparency about the work of the portfolio holder.
The motion was seconded by Councillor Aidan Van de Weyer.
Councillor Tony Orgee proposed an amendment to retain just the final sentence of the motion and to delete the words “at least 3” and to insert “as appropriate” at the end of that sentence.
Upon a challenge on a point of order, the Deputy Monitoring Officer advised that he did not believe the amendment negated the original motion and the Chairman accordingly ruled the amendment to be in order.
The amendment was seconded by Councillor Ray Manning.
Speaking in support of his amendment, Councillor Orgee argued that there was little point in holding meetings for no purpose, hence the amendment provided for such meetings to be held “as appropriate”. He did however advocate that where portfolio holders did not hold meetings, in order to promote transparency, they should report to Council on why it had not been necessary to do so.
A challenge was raised, on a point of order, that Councillor Orgee’s amendment did not include reference to a requirement for portfolio holders to report to Council when no meetings had been held.
Councillor Hazel Smith proposed a further amendment to include the additional words indicated by Councillor Orgee. Councillor Orgee agreed to incorporate the revised wording within his amendment.
At the request of the Chairman, for the purposes of clarity, Councillor Orgee submitted the revised wording in writing, as follows:
“This Council agrees that all budget holding portfolio holders should hold public portfolio meetings per calendar year as appropriate.
In the event of no such meetings being held by a portfolio holder, the portfolio holder makes a report to full Council why no such meeting has been held.”
The wording was displayed at the meeting for the benefit of the Council.
During discussion upon the amendment:-
• Councillor Philippa Hart expressed concern at the inclusion of the words “as appropriate” in the amendment.
• Councillor Tumi Hawkins felt that a minimum number of meetings should be prescribed in order that portfolio holders could be held to account.
• Councillor Nick Wright commented that most reports went straight to Cabinet and that all Councillors had the opportunity to make an input at those meetings. Individual portfolio holder meetings were held but, with the exception of those of the Portfolio Holder for Finance and Staffing, tended to not be well attended by other Members.
• Councillor Tim Wotherspoon reported that he had tended to bring items direct to Cabinet meetings which were better attended by Members and the public. However he welcomed the opportunity to report on an annual basis to Council.
• Councillor Sebastian Kindersley noted that Members had many conflicting demands on their time and it was not always possible to attend every meeting, however he believed that the key point of principle was that decisions should be taken in an open and transparent way and that portfolio holders should hold meetings in order to promote such transparency and awareness of the work of their portfolio.
• Councillor Robert Turner, the Portfolio Holder for Planning, wished to thank those Members who had attended his portfolio holder meetings. He had requested that further dates be added for his portfolio meetings and noted that the next meeting would take place on 11 December 2017.
• Councillor Deborah Roberts spoke against the amendment and suggested that if there was insufficient business to merit calling portfolio holder meetings, consideration should perhaps be given to reducing the number of portfolios.
Councillor Orgee requested that the amendment be further altered by deletion of the word “makes” in the second sentence and its replacement by the words “will make”. Additionally, following a suggestion, Councillor Orgee agreed to alter the motion further to delete the word “calendar” in the first sentence and to replace it by “municipal”. The meeting’s consent to the alterations was indicated without discussion.
The Chairman accordingly invited the Council to vote upon the amendment as follows:-
“This Council agrees that all budget holding portfolio holders should hold public portfolio meetings per municipal year as appropriate.
In the event of no such meetings being held by a portfolio holder, the portfolio holder will make a report to full Council why no such meeting has been held.”
Upon the amendment being put to the vote, votes were cast as follows:
In favour (29)
Councillors David Bard, Val Barrett, Ruth Betson, Francis Burkitt, Brian Burling, Tom Bygott, Grenville Chamberlain, Graham Cone, Christopher Cross, Kevin Cuffley, Simon Edwards, Sue Ellington, Andrew Fraser, Roger Hall, Lynda Harford, Mark Howell, Ray Manning, Mick Martin, Raymond Matthews, David McCraith, Charles Nightingale, Tony Orgee, Tim Scott, Peter Topping, Richard Turner, Robert Turner, Bunty Waters, Tim Wotherspoon and Nick Wright.
Against (13)
Councillors John Batchelor, Anna Bradnam, Doug Cattermole, Philippa Hart, Tumi Hawkins, Sebastian Kindersley, Douglas de Lacey, Janet Lockwood, Deborah Roberts, Bridget Smith, Hazel Smith, Aiden Van de Weyer and John Williams.
Abstain (0)
The amendment was accordingly carried.
Upon being put to the vote, votes were cast as follows on the substantive motion:-
In favour (30)
Councillors David Bard, Val Barrett, Ruth Betson, Francis Burkitt, Brian Burling, Tom Bygott, Grenville Chamberlain, Graham Cone, Christopher Cross, Kevin Cuffley, Simon Edwards, Sue Ellington, Andrew Fraser, Roger Hall, Lynda Harford, Mark Howell, Douglas de Lacey, Ray Manning, Mick Martin, Raymond Matthews, David McCraith, Charles Nightingale, Tony Orgee, Tim Scott, Peter Topping, Richard Turner, Robert Turner, Bunty Waters, Tim Wotherspoon and Nick Wright.
Against (11)
Councillors John Batchelor, Anna Bradnam, Philippa Hart, Tumi Hawkins, Sebastian Kindersley, Janet Lockwood, Deborah Roberts, Bridget Smith, Hazel Smith, Aiden Van de Weyer and John Williams.
Abstain (0)
Therefore the Council:
RESOLVED: This Council agrees that all budget holding portfolio holders should hold public portfolio meetings per municipal year as appropriate.
In the event of no such meetings being held by a portfolio holder, the portfolio holder will make a report to full Council why no such meeting has been held.