To approve the suggested amendments to the Council’s constitution recommended by audit and governance committee.

Council considered a report by the Chairperson of the Audit and Governance Committee to approve the suggested amendments to the Council’s constitution recommended by the Audit and Governance Committee. The Vice-Chairperson Audit and Governance Committee and Chairperson of the Re-thinking Governance Working Group introduced the report and moved the recommendations in the report.

Council wished to record its thanks for the work undertaken by the Re-thinking Governance Working Group and its Chairperson, Councillor Christy Bolderson.

Council debated the report and the following action was raised during the debate:

·         The monitoring officer would use the delegation within the report recommendation (b) to include virtual participation of the public in meetings as a technical change within a relevant provision in the constitution.

The Chairperson of the Audit and Governance Committee seconded the recommendations in the report.

The recommendations in the report were put to the vote and were carried.

RESOLVED: That:

a)    having regard to the work undertaken by the re-thinking governance working group, the revised constitution as set out at appendices 1 to 29, be approved for adoption, with implementation with effect from 20 May 2022; and

b)    authority be delegated to the director of law and governance to make technical amendments (grammatical, formatting, and consistency) necessary to finalise and represent the revised constitution for publication.

There was an adjournment at 11:25 a.m.; the meeting reconvened at 11:40 a.m.