Issue - meetings

Report of the Chief Executive

Presented by the Chairman of Policy Development Group

Councillor M Specht presented the report to members as Chairman of the Policy Development Group.  He thanked all members of Policy Development Group for their sterling cross-party work and input over the last 12 months.  He stated that he met regularly with senior officers to consider the work programme.  He added that Policy Development Group had a clear purpose with clarity on call-in arrangements and made reference to the terms of reference set out in the report.  He also mentioned the proposal to increase the number of meetings from 4 per annum to 6.  He outlined the issues considered by Policy Development Group in the last year as set out in the report. 

Councillor J Geary stated that the Labour Party had always been in favour of strong and meaningful scrutiny.  He expressed concerns in respect of the call-in arrangements which allowed a maximum of 4 call-ins per year and prevented a member from signing a further call-in request for a period of 3 months.  He understood that the reason for these restrictions were to prevent abuse of the call-in process, however there had been no record of this taking place.  He felt that these restrictions detracted from open scrutiny and he would like to see them removed in future. 

Councillor R Blunt expressed thanks to Councillor M Specht and his ability to chair the meeting and command respect from both sides.  He referred to the point raised by Councillor J Geary in respect of the restrictions on call-in and said that he was not aware of a reason for these restrictions. 

Councillor N Clarke thanked Councillor M Specht for chairing the meetings well. 

Councillor M Specht suggested that the restrictions on call-in could be considered by Policy Development Group at a future meeting.

It was moved by Councillor M Specht, seconded by Councillor J Geary and

RESOLVED THAT:

The Annual Report be received and endorsed.