Agenda and minutes

(1)       The Committee noted the appointment of Mr R A Latchford in place of Mr C P D Hoare.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 9 July 2013 are correctly recorded and that they be signed by the Chairman.

(1)       The Cabinet Member for Corporate and Democratic Services tabled paragraph 3 (3) of the report which read:

“However, if such a facility was introduced, it would result in unfairness, as members of the public attending a formal meeting are not afforded the same opportunities to interrupt a meeting with a comment or question and it is not recommended that KCC uses these facilities at the current time.”

(2)       The Committee considered whether to webcast all the bodies set out in Appendix B of the report.  

(3)       The Committee agreed that it would be inappropriate to broadcast meetings of the Corporate Parenting Panel due to the sensitive nature of its business and because there was no legal requirement for this Panel to be open to the public.

(4)        The Committee discussed the reasons why it would not be appropriate to webcast meetings of the Regulation Committee and its Sub-Committees.

(5)       The Committee discussed the principle of webcasting meetings of the Planning Applications Committee.   It stressed that, in the light of the strong objections of that Committee’s Chairman, no action should be taken to commence webcasting until a protocol had been produced in full consultation with him and the Head of Planning Applications Group to address as many of these concerns as possible.

(6)       Pursuant to Committee Procedure Rule 2.26 (1), Mrs T Dean asked that her opposition to the decision to exclude Regulation Committee and its sub-committees from the extension of webcasting be recorded.

(7)       Pursuant to Committee Procedure Rule 2.26 (1), Ms A Harrison asked that her opposition to the decision taken in principle to webcast Planning Applications Committee be recorded.

(8)       RESOLVED that:-

(a)       the proposed amendments to the Constitution set out in paragraph 1.4 of the report (in relation to the recording of meetings by the public and media organisations) be recommended to the County Council for approval;

(b)       in principle, all formal meetings which are open to the public should be webcast;  

(c)        pursuant to (b) above, the webcasting of meetings be extended to all the Committees set out in Appendix B of the report with the following exceptions;

(I)                  the Corporate Parenting Panel;

(ii)               Regulation Committee (together with its Member Panels and Mental Health Guardianship Sub-Committee); and

(iii)             the Planning Applications Committee pending the provisions set out in (d) below; 

(d)       the Head of Democratic Services be given responsibility for drafting a protocol for webcasting, including specific measures to address the issues related to webcasting the Planning Applications Committee (to be produced in consultation with the Chairman of the Planning Applications Committee and the Head of Planning Applications Group) and that this draft protocol be submitted to a future meeting of the Committee for approval.

(1)       The Director of Governance and Law advised the Committee that the definition of officer decisions set out in paragraph 4.12 needed further detailed consideration. He therefore recommended that consideration of the “recording of Decisions by Officers” section of the report should be deferred to the next meeting.  This was agreed.

(2)       The Committee agreed to note the recommendations rather than to endorse them.

(3)       RESOLVED that, with the exception of the “recording of Decisions by Officers” section of the report, the changes to the Constitution proposed in the report be noted and referred to the County Council for its consideration.

(1)       On being put to the vote, the recommendations in the report were agreed by 6 votes to 3.

(2)       RESOLVED that the County Council be requested to agree to:-

(a)       amend paragraphs 1.10 and 1.23 of Appendix 4 Part 1 of the Constitution  to remove the requirement for the Minutes of the Planning Applications and Regulation Committees to be submitted for information and to cease the practice of the Superannuation Fund Committee Minutes being submitted to the County Council for information; and

(b)       remove the requirement for Minutes of the Governance and Audit Committee to be submitted to County Council and the provision for a debate and to amend paragraphs 1.10 and 1.23 of Appendix 4 Part 1 of the Constitution accordingly.                      

(1)       In agreeing the recommendations, the Committee agreed to delegate the decision on how the Member Development Steering Group would be constituted to the Head of Democratic Services in consultation with the Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Corporate and Democratic Services.

(2)       RESOLVED that:-

(a)       the outcome of the mid term review against the Member development Charter Plus Standard be noted;

(b)       the cross-party Member Development Steering Group be re-established, with its composition being determined by the Head of Democratic Services in consultation with the Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Corporate and Democratic Services;

(c)        the proposed Member Development Policy Statement be recommended to the County Council for approval; and

(d)       a report on the events and Member Development opportunities to enable Members to respond to the challenges of the Transformation Programme be submitted to the next meeting of the Committee

(1)       In respect of the Appendix to the report, the Committee noted that Dr M R Eddy had been appointed to the LGA Urban Commission instead of the LGA Rural Commission; that Mrs P A V Stockell had been appointed to serve on the LGA Rural Commission instead of the LGA Urban Commission; and that Mr D Baker had now been appointed to fill the vacancy on the Southern Regional Flood and Coastal Committee.

(2)       In the light of requests received from Members of the Committee, the Chairman agreed to hold further discussions with the minority Groups to see whether any further amendments could be made to the list set out in the Appendix to the report.

(3)       RESOLVED that subject to (1) and (2) above the appointments to Outside Bodies set out in the Appendix to the report be noted together with the amended representation to the University of Kent Council.