Agenda item

Gareth Price – Head of Law and Standards

The Head of Service gave a brief overview to the Committee and explained that the report provides further details of the arrangements, roles and responsibilities for the Presiding Member. The appointment of the Chair of Council/ Presiding Member and the Vice-Chair/Deputy Presiding Member will be determined at the Council Annual General Meeting on 17 May 2022. Council will also be asked to endorse the necessary changes to the Constitution as a consequence of the adoption of the new Presiding Member role.

The Officer gave more information on how the process would work in practice; the revised role description of the Presiding Member and Vice Chair is detailed in the document. Members were advised that in the report, 76% of councils in Wales have a Presiding Member. The Committee was advised that the councils have already taken that decision but the main point is that the Presiding Member appointment is a matter for full council and will be the first item for the AGM in May.

The Head of Service went into detail to explain the nomination and appointment process of the Presiding Member in Council and advised that the role would be up for review each year, with nothing to prevent the chair of council being re-elected. And highlighted the distinction between the Chair and ceremonial role of the Mayor; that the Mayor simply represents the council as the first citizen at internal and external events.

The Officer referred to other council practices, by agreement on the parties of the council; should the Presiding Member be appointed from one group, the Deputy Presiding Member could be nominated by the other group. This was mentioned as it could be something that the groups may wish to consider after May 2022.

The officer welcomed any comments and questioning from the committee.

Committee raised the following points:

·       Councillor M. Evans raised concern of a potentially long meeting in May for the newly elected Members. The Member asked whether the Presiding Member would have a casting vote.

In response, the Head of Service confirmed that the Presiding Member would have a second and casting vote and advised that this was noted in the report but would need to make an amendment to the council standing orders as a consequence to the change. The Presiding Member would have the same rights as the Mayor and the individual chairing the meetings could call the vote.

·       The Chair queried whether the current Mayor, Councillor David Williams would open the meeting as Mayor.

The Lead Officer advised assuming if Councillor Williams would be re-elected.

And should he be elected in, then the Mayor would open the AGM and the first item on the agenda would be the nominations for the Presiding Member and then after being appointed; that individual would take the chair for the rest of the AGM.

·       The Chair queried if it would be conceivable there would have to be elections within the parties to vote for the Members as speakers.

The Officer advised that they could not comment on that but the nominations will be received in council. If there would be more than one individual, then there would be a vote and the appointment would be made for the Member who receives the most votes. How that works within the groups would be of no concern to the Head of Service.

The Chair thanked the committee for their input and the officers for their time.