Meeting documents

County Council
Thursday, 27 November 2008

 
To All Members of the County Council

 



Notice of an Extraordinary Meeting of the Council

 

Thursday 27 November 2008 at 5.00 pm

 

County Hall, Oxford

 

Joanna Simons

Chief Executive                                                                                                                          

19 November 2008

 

Contact officer:          Marion Holyman

                                (Tel: 01865 810177;

                               E-mail: marion.holyman@oxfordshire.gov.uk)

 

In order to comply with the Data Protection Act 1998, notice is given that Item 3 will be recorded.  The purpose of recording proceedings is to provide an aide-memoire to assist the clerk of the meeting in the drafting of minutes.


AGENDA

 (Schedule of Business - download as .doc file)

1.                 Minutes

 

To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 4 November 2008 (CC1) and to receive for information any matters arising from them.

 

2.                 Apologies for Absence

 

3.                 Declarations of Interest – see guidance note

 

Members are reminded that they must declare their interests orally at the meeting and specify (a) the nature of the interest and (b) which items on the agenda are the relevant items.  This applies also to items where members have interests by virtue of their membership of a district council in Oxfordshire.

 

4.                 Official Communications

 

5.                 Appointments

 

            To make any changes to scrutiny and other committees on the nomination of political groups

 

6.                 Petitions and Public Address

 

7.                 New Executive Arrangements

 

The Cabinet has considered, at its meeting on 21 October 2008, a report (CC7) by the Leader of the Council on the new executive arrangements the Council should operate after the 2009 elections. 

 

(a)       Cabinet RECOMMENDS Council:

 

(i)                 To comply with the government’s instruction to adopt the “strong leader” model and to amend the constitution to provide for the Leader of the Council:

 

(1)       to be elected by the Council for the full term of the Council;

            (2)       to determine the size of the Cabinet;

            (3)       to appoint members of the Cabinet; and

            (4)       to allocate all executive functions.

 

(ii)        To maintain the policy and budget framework as set out in the current constitution.

 

(iii)       To note the Leader of the Council’s intention to delegate executive functions to Cabinet Members as they are currently delegated in the Constitution.

 

(iv)      Not to delegate any non-executive functions to individual members of the Council.

 

(v)       To maintain the local choice functions as set out in Section H of the Council’s Constitution.

 

(vi)      To note that there are a number of methods by which members may ask for issues to be addressed and to await government guidance before considering implementing a process for a Councillor Call for Action.

 

(b)       Cabinet believes many members will be irritated and annoyed by the prescriptive nature of this legislation; by the short timescale in which it must be implemented; and by the inconvenience of having to convene a separate Council meeting to debate it and RECOMMENDS Council to ask the Leader of the Council to write to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government expressing this view.

 

 

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