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Report to:
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Governance Committee |
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Date:
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18 April 2023 |
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By:
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Assistant Chief Executive |
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Title of report:
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Appointments of Members to Committees, Sub-Committees, Panels and Other Bodies
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Purpose of report:
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To consider the allocation of places on committees, sub-committees, panels and other bodies to the four party political groups, the Independent Democrat Group and independent members.
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RECOMMENDATIONS: The Governance Committee recommends the County Council to: 1) Allocate to political and independent groups the places on, and membership of: (a) The main committees in appendix 1 of this report; (b) other committees and panels listed in Appendix 2 of this report; and (c) Chair and Vice Chair positions on Scrutiny Committees and other Committees.
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1. Supporting Information
1.1 In appointing members to committees, sub-committees, most panels and some outside bodies, the Council must comply with section 15 of the Local Government Act 1989 and subsequent Regulations. These provide that places on committees must be allocated to political groups in proportion to the number of seats on the Council held by each group, unless there is agreement, without dissent, that the provisions of the Act should not be applied.
1.2 The allocation of places to party groups must, so far as is reasonably practicable, give effect to the following principles:
(a) not all the seats on the body can be allocated to the same political group;
(b) where more than half the members of the Council belong to one political group, that group shall have a majority on all committees, sub-committees, etc;
(c) subject to (a) and (b) above, the total number of seats on the ordinary committees (including sub-committees) allocated to a political group reflects that group’s proportion of the members of the Council;
(d) subject to (a), (b) and (c) above, the number of seats on each body allocated to a political group reflects the proportion of the seats on the Council held by the group.
1.3 The rules require seats to be allocated on a proportional basis “so far as practicable” and inevitably there must be some rounding up and rounding down. It is open to the Council to review the size and number of committees and sub-committees at any time.
1.4 Members of the Cabinet may not serve on the Scrutiny Committees or the Regulatory Committee and the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council may not serve on the Standards Committee.
1.5 The Leader of the Council appoints the Cabinet and allocates portfolios to those Cabinet Members. Political balance provisions do not apply to the Cabinet
1.6 The principle in paragraph 1.2 (c) above applies to appointments to ordinary committees (including sub-committees). Accordingly, before considering the allocation of places to political groups the Committee will need to consider whether it wishes to recommend any changes in committees, including their size.
1.7 Following the Committee’s meeting, the party group leaders and independent members will be asked to let the Assistant Chief Executive have nominations to fill the places on committees, sub-committees, panels and other bodies covered in this report provisionally allocated to their group. The nominations received will be circulated to members of the County Council on the day of the annual council meeting, for approval by the Council.
2. Allocation of seats
2.1 The tables in Appendix 1 show the proposed allocation of seats for 2023/24. There are no changes to the allocation agreed in May 2022 for 2022/23. The proposals in relation to the ordinary committees and sub-committees, their total membership and the number of seats on each to which the groups will be entitled follows the principles set out in paragraph 1.2 above.
2.2 The allocation of seats to the Governance Committee has been proposed to take into account the importance of having one member from each of the three largest political groups. Membership of this Committee normally includes the Group Leaders.
2.3 The Committee is asked to consider the allocations in Appendix 1 and to make a recommendation to the County Council as to number of places on each committee to be allocated to each group or independent members.
3. Other Committees and Panels
3.1 There is no obligation in relation to other committees and panels to aggregate the total number of places and to adjust allocations so that the total number of places allocated to each group reflects its proportion of the members of the Council. It is proposed that places should be allocated on a proportionate basis, unless the Council agrees to waive the political balance provisions which has been the custom for certain panels over many years.
3.2 The practical effect of the proportionality rules for a committee, panel or group of members of any given size from 3 to 12 is set out in Appendix 2, together with the list of current committees and panels to which appointments will need to be made and their membership. Their terms of reference are set out in the Constitution.
3.3 The Committee is asked to recommend to County Council the number of places on the Committees and Panels listed in Appendix 2.
4. Chairs and Vice Chairs of Scrutiny Committees
4.1 The Council’s Constitution provides that the Chairs and Vice Chairs of Scrutiny Committees and Audit Committee should be added together and the positions then allocated to groups in accordance to the number of seats they have on the Council. Within this allocation the Chair of the Audit Committee shall be appointed from the members of the largest Group not represented on the Cabinet. On this basis the allocation of the 8 places would be as follows:
Conservative – 4
Liberal Democrat – 2
Labour – 1
Green - 1
Independent Democrat - 0
The proposed list of Chairs and Vice Chairs (there are no changes to the allocation agreed in May 2022 for 2022/23) to be appointed by the County Council is:
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Committee
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Chair |
Vice-Chair |
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Regulatory
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Conservative |
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People Scrutiny Committee
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Conservative |
Liberal Democrat |
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Place Scrutiny Committee
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Conservative |
Green |
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Audit Committee |
Liberal Democrat |
Conservative |
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Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee
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Conservative |
Labour |
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Governance Committee
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Conservative |
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Planning Committee
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Conservative |
Conservative |
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Pension Committee
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Conservative |
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Standards Committee
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Conservative |
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5. Conclusion
5.1 The Committee is asked to recommend the County Council to agree the allocation of places on committees to each group as set out in Appendix 1 and 2 and the Chair and Vice Chair positions on committees.
Assistant Chief Executive
Contact Officer: Stuart McKeown
Tel: 01273 481583
E-mail: stuart.mckeown@eastsussex.gov.uk
Local Member: All
Background Documents: None
Appendix 1
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Group |
Number of Councillors |
% |
Number of seats |
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Conservative |
27 |
55 |
44 |
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Liberal Democrat |
11 |
23 |
17 |
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Labour |
5 |
10 |
8 |
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Green |
4 |
8 |
6 |
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Independent Democrat Group |
2 |
4 |
3 |
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Independent |
1 |
0 |
0 |
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Total |
50 |
100% |
78 |
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COMMITTEE |
Conservative |
Liberal Democrat |
Labour |
Green |
Independent Democrat |
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Number of councillors |
27 |
11 |
5 |
4 |
2 |
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Regulatory (18) |
9.92 (10) |
4.04 (4) |
1.84 (2) |
1.47 (1) |
0.73 (1) |
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Planning (7) |
3.86 (4) |
1.57 (2) |
0.71 (1) |
0.57 (0) |
0.29 (0) |
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Governance (5) |
2.76 (3) |
1.12 (1) |
0.51 (1) |
0.41 (0) |
0.20 (0) |
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Standards Committee (7) |
3.86 (4) |
1.57 (1) |
0.71 (1) |
0.57 (1) |
0.29 (0) |
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Pension Committee (5) |
2.76 (3) |
1.12 (1) |
0.51 (0) |
0.41 (1) |
0.20 (0) |
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Scrutiny Committees:
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Audit (7) |
3.86 (4) |
1.57 (2) |
0.71 (0) |
0.57 (1) |
0.29 (0) |
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Health Overview & Scrutiny (7) |
3.86 (4) |
1.57 (2) |
0.71 (1) |
0.57 (0) |
0.29 (0) |
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People (11) |
6.06 (6) |
2.47 (2) |
1.12 (1) |
0.90 (1) |
0.45 (1) |
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Place (11) |
6.06 (6) |
2.47 (2) |
1.12 (1) |
0.90 (1) |
0.45 1) |
TOTALS (78)
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44 |
17 |
8 |
6 |
3 |
Appendix 2
Recommended allocation of seats for Committees and Panels of between 3 and 12 seats
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Committee size |
Conservative |
Liberal Democrat |
Labour |
Green |
Independent Democrat |
Independent |
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3 |
1.65 (2) |
0.67 (1) |
0.31 (0) |
0.24 (0) |
0.12 (0) |
0.00 |
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4 |
2.20 (3) |
0.90 (1) |
0.41 (0) |
0.33 (0) |
0.16 (0) |
0.00 |
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5 |
2.76 (3) |
1.12 (1) |
0.51 (1) |
0.41 (0) |
0.20 (0) |
0.00 |
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6 |
3.31 (4) |
1.35 (1) |
0.61 (1) |
0.49 (0) |
0.24 (0) |
0.00 |
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7 |
3.86 (4) |
1.57 (2) |
0.71 (1) |
0.57 (0) |
0.29 (0) |
0.00 |
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8 |
4.41 (5) |
1.80 (2) |
0.82 (1) |
0.65 (0) |
0.33 (0) |
0.00 |
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9 |
4.96 (5) |
2.02 (2) |
0.92 (1) |
0.73 (1) |
0.37 (0) |
0.00 |
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10 |
5.51 (6) |
2.24 (2) |
1.02 (1) |
0.82 (1) |
0.41 (0) |
0.00 |
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11 |
6.06 (6) |
2.47 (2) |
1.12 (1) |
0.90 (1) |
0.45 (1) |
0.00 |
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12 |
6.61 (7) |
2.69 (3) |
1.22 (1) |
0.98 (1) |
0.49 (0) |
0.00 |
This allocation relates to the following Committees and Panels
(a) County Joint Consultative Committee (5 members of the County Council)
(b) County Consultative Committee Governors (5 Members of the County Council, one of whom should be the Lead Cabinet Member for Learning and School Effectiveness who chairs the Committee).
(c) Joint Advisory Committee (Schools) (5 Members of the County Council of whom one should be the Lead Cabinet Member for Learning and School Effectiveness, and another should be a member of the Cabinet.
(d) Corporate Parenting Panel (7 Members of the County Council)
(e) Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (5 members of the County Council)
(f) Transport and Student Support Panel (3 Members of the County Council). The County Council has a custom of agreeing to waive the political balance provisions in relation to this Panel.