To elect the Chairman of the Council

Councillor JG Lester proposed and Councillor TM James seconded the nomination of Councillor DB Wilcox.

(Councillor DB Wilcox declared a pecuniary interest and left the meeting for the vote)

RESOLVED: That Councillor DB Wilcox is elected Chairman of the Council for the forthcoming municipal year.

Councillor DB Wilcox made the statutory declaration of acceptance of office.

(Councillor DB Wilcox as the chairman)

To appoint the Vice Chairman of the Council

Councillor A Seldon proposed and Councillor P Rone seconded the nomination of Councillor PJ Edwards.

RESOLVED: That Councillor PJ Edwards is appointed Vice Chairman of the Council for the forthcoming municipal year.

Councillor PJ Edwards made the statutory declaration of acceptance of office.

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors SP Anderson; CR Butler; MD Lloyd Hayes; AR Round; WL Skelton and LC Tawn.

Councillor JG Lester declared a pecuniary interest in agenda item no. 5, election of leader of the council, as a likely candidate for the role.

There was one further declaration made during the course of the meeting, see paragraph 9 below.

To approve and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 9 March 2018.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 9 March 2018 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive announcements from the Chairman and Chief Executive.

Council noted the chairman and chief executive’s announcements as printed in the agenda papers.

The chairman paid tribute to former councillor June French who had passed away recently. The chairman commented on the number of royal visits to Herefordshire during the course of the previous year, the community champions awards and the success of the weeping window at Hereford cathedral. The chairman asked for thanks to be conveyed to those officers involved in arrangements to bring the weeping window exhibition to Hereford.

The chief executive provided an update which included detail of the positive feedback in the LGA peer review regarding the safeguarding service and explained the launch of a campaign to recruit more care workers. A recent award to a member of staff was announced and the arrival of the new assistant director for safeguarding.

In response to questions about the Robert Owen Academy and pupils currently at the school it was explained that a statement would be forthcoming shortly.

To elect the Leader of the Council.

Councillor BA Baker proposed and Councillor AW Johnson seconded the nomination of Councillor JG Lester.

(Councillor JG Lester declared a pecuniary interest and left the meeting for the vote)

RESOLVED: That Councillor JG Lester is elected Leader of the Council for the forthcoming municipal year.

To make appointments to the committees of the Council and outside bodies in line with the rules of political proportionality.

Council considered the report attached to the agenda relating to appointments to committees of the council and outside bodies in line with the rules of political proportionality. Council was informed of the supplement published following the agenda with a corrected version of the report.   

The solicitor to the council explained that any members who had been nominated for positions which attracted a special responsibility allowance under the councillors’ allowances scheme had a pecuniary interest in that item. Following a written request she had granted a dispensation and therefore those members who were affected could participate in the discussion, remain in the room and vote on all of the recommendations in item 8. She advised, however, that members should refrain from voting in respect of recommendation (g) where they were nominated for an individual appointment.

Councillor JG Lester proposed and Councillor NE Shaw seconded recommendations a-e which were carried unanimously. Recommendation f was put to the vote and carried unanimously.

Council moved to recommendation g and the appointment of chairmen and vice chairmen to council committees. 

The consideration of each appointment was as follows:

Chairman of the Adults and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee

Councillor JA Hyde proposed and Councillor MT McEvilly seconded the nomination of Councillor PA Andrews.

There were no other nominations.

Councillor Andrews was appointed.

Vice Chairman of the Adults and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee

Councillor EJ Swinglehurst proposed and Councillor TM James seconded the nomination of Councillor J Stone.

There were no other nominations.

Councillor Stone was appointed.

Chairman of the Audit and Governance Committee

Councillor JF Johnson proposed and Councillor JG Lester seconded the nomination of Councillor PD Newman OBE.

There were no other nominations.

Councillor Newman OBE was appointed.

Vice-Chairman of the Audit and Governance Committee

Councillor RI Matthews proposed and Councillor NE Shaw seconded the nomination of Councillor ACR Chappell.

There were no other nominations.

Councillor Chappell was appointed.

Chairman of the Children and Young People and Scrutiny Committee

Councillor NE Shaw proposed and Councillor JF Johnson seconded the nomination of Councillor CA Gandy.

There were no other nominations.

Councillor Gandy was appointed.

Vice-Chairman of the Children and Young People and Scrutiny Committee

Councillor JA Hyde proposed and Councillor D Summers seconded the nomination of Councillor FM Norman. 

There were no other nominations.

Councillor Norman was appointed.

Chairman of the Employment Panel

Councillor NE Shaw proposed and Councillor JF Johnson seconded the nomination of Councillor AW Johnson.

There were no other nominations.

Councillor AW Johnson was appointed.

Vice-Chairman of the Employment Panel

Councillor DG Harlow proposed and Councillor JA Hyde seconded the nomination of Councillor RJ Phillips.

There were no other nominations

Councillor Phillips was appointed.

Chairman of the General Scrutiny Committee

Councillor JG Lester proposed and Councillor A Warmington seconded the nomination of Councillor WLS Bowen.

There were no other nominations

Councillor Bowen was appointed.

Vice-Chairman of the General Scrutiny Committee

Councillor P Rone proposed and Councillor KS Guthrie seconded the nomination of Councillor Baker.

There were no other nominations.

Councillor Baker was appointed.

Chairman of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To approve changes to the constitution as recommended by Audit and Governance Committee.

Council considered a report containing proposed changes to the constitution following the review undertaken by a member working group. Three proposed amendments were received prior to the meeting from the following members; Councillor NE Shaw, Councillor AJW Powers and Councillor EPJ Harvey. The proposed amendments were published as a supplement in advance of the meeting.

Councillor PD Newman OBE moved the report and explained that following the introduction of the current constitution in May 2017 a cross-party working group, of the audit and governance committee, had been established to undertake an overview of the constitution and make recommendations. The recommendations agreed by the working group were presented to the audit and governance committee in May 2018 and were approved in a split vote. Councillor J Stone seconded the report and its recommendations.

Council discussed the recommendations contained in the report and made the following points:

·         The working group were thanked for their work on the constitution and it was positive that a change to the terms of reference of the scrutiny committees now included the ability to examine relevant budget and performance framework items;

·         The new right of appeal for members against code of conduct judgements was welcomed; and

·         There was concern that none of the proposed changes addressed issues of ‘silo working’, which had been identified as an issue in the recent peer review.

Amendment 1

Councillor NE Shaw introduced his amendment and informed Council of the addition of the word upheld to his amendment which had been omitted in error from the published supplement. The amendment proposed the naming of councillors, in the annual code of conduct report to the audit and governance committee, against whom complaints had been upheld. Councillor Shaw explained that code of conduct complaints were mostly raised against parish councillors and only a small proportion were upheld. The proposal would only affect a small number of councillors and ensured that the electorate were aware when their local members were found to be in breach of the code of conduct. It was proposed that parish councils should be consulted on any change in future constitution reviews.

Councillor JG Lester seconded the amendment.

Council made the points below in the debate which followed:

·         Support was expressed for the amendment which would assist the audit and governance committee to complete its annual review of complaints and allow for councillors to be held to account by the electorate.

·         There was concern that publishing the names of councillors in an annual report may not serve the public interest if breaches of the code were not known at times of election; and

·         The amendment sought to ensure that the Council was open and transparent.

The amendment was put to the vote and approved unanimously.

RESOLVED: That an amendment to section 3.5.14 (f) of the constitution is agreed as follows; ‘To annually review overall figures and trends from code of conduct complaints which will include number of upheld complaints by reference to individual councillors within unitary, town and parish councils.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.