Agenda item

At its previous meetings, the Committee had been informed that the Corporate Assessment contains a proposed action that states: “Reviewing and updating the Council’s constitution ensuring that roles, responsibilities and accountabilities are clear, and that all members understand and apply their respective roles in relation to each other without compromising independence”.  With this in mind the Committee agreed to review various aspects of the Constitution, one of which would be the Scheme of Delegation. 

The Scheme of Delegation aims at making it clear where the distinction lies between the decision-making responsibilities of elected members and Chief Officers within the Council.

The Head of Democratic Services confirmed that Councillors make decisions in relation to new policies and any change to policies whilst officers take decisions on operational matters within the policies set by Council.

In July 2016 the Committee received an updated report on progress and viewed the Scheme of Delegation to elected members.

The Scheme of Delegation to officers has been amended incrementally in the past to take account of changes to the officer team and to any new responsibilities that have fallen to the Council owing to changes in legislation or other factors.

In general there are few ‘new’ delegations other than those arising from new legislation or Central Government requirements. There have been a number of changes in the Chief Officer Structure since the original scheme was drafted.

The proposed scheme presented to the Committee provided Council with a scheme that reflects the existing structure. Inevitably incremental changes will need to be made over time as the Council has to react to new legislation, policies or other factors.

The Scheme of Delegation for officers was discussed at length and clarification sought on the role of some departments and also Norse and Newport Live.

Agreed:

To recommend to Council that the amended Scheme be adopted and included in the Constitution