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ITEM CC5

COUNTY COUNCIL – 20 JUNE 2006

POLITICAL BALANCE ON COMMITTEES AND APPOINTMENTS

Report by the Head of Democratic Services

1. The Council is required by the Local Government & Housing Act 1989 to review the political balance on its committees at its annual meeting or "as soon as practicable" after that meeting. The note at Annex 1 (download as .doc file) summarises how the rules operate. The Council at the annual meeting on 4 April agreed to defer the review to enable it to take into account the outcome of the by-elections held on 4 May.

Review

2. A schedule is attached at Annex 2 (download as .doc file) which shows the composition of the Council’s current committees which was agreed by the Council at the meeting on 17 May 2005 and which currently applies. The base figures in the schedule are the arithmetical product of the political balance formula for the number of seats on each committee; these are annotated with the adjustments agreed by the Council last year in order to comply with the over-riding requirements as to balance across the committees and the preservation of a majority on each individual committee for the majority group.
3. The initial formula calculations last year were based on a standard scrutiny committee size of 10 (or 12 for what is now Children’s Services.) The larger committee sizes shown in Annex 2 (download as .doc file) for the Children’s Services and Social & Community Services Scrutiny Committees were agreed as part of the adjustments referred to above. For the purposes of the present review, it seems appropriate to revert, for the purpose of the initial calculations at least, to the original committee sizes.
4. This is therefore the starting point for the schedule at Annex 3 (download as .doc file), which shows the effect of the political balance formula based on the sizes of the four groups following the May by-elections. Again, the base figures show the arithmetical product of the formula. The impact of the change in political balance is limited, but the following effects are drawn to the Council’s attention:

(a) To obtain balance across the scrutiny committees and overall, the Labour Group must be allocated an extra seat and the Green Group must lose one. This was also the position last year, when the Groups chose the Community Safety Scrutiny Committee on which to make the necessary adjustments.

(b) The three seats which the Liberal Democrat Group presently hold on the Social & Community Services Scrutiny Committee reduce to two. (This would be the case whether the Committee were to stay at its present size or revert to 10 seats.)

(c) The Conservative Group gain a seat on the Standards Committee, which means there is no longer a "spare" seat on this Committee, offered last year to the Green Group (though see footnote 1 in Annex 1 (download as .doc file) .)

(d) The Conservative Group allocation on the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee must be increased to give an overall majority of seats on the committee, including those of the four voting co-optees (see Annex 1 para 4(i) (download as .doc file)). This has been achieved previously by increasing the number of Conservative seats on an enlarged committee.

Options

5. The issues for decision therefore revolve around the need for an adjustment between the Labour and Green Groups (4(a) above) and the composition of the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee (4(d)). On the first of these, the obvious option would be to continue the arrangement agreed last year: to make the adjustment on the Community Safety Scrutiny Committee. It would of course be possible to choose a different committee on which to make the adjustment.
6. As to the adjustment required on the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee, the allocation of three additional seats to the Conservative Group (with a corresponding increase in the size of the Committee) would satisfy the legal requirements. This would result in a total of 19 voting members, including co-optees. (There are also non-voting teachers’ and governors’ representatives.)
7. The size of the Committee could be reduced to 17 by cutting the basic number of councillor seats to 10 (plus the 4 co-optees), before adding back the three additional Conservative Group seats to achieve the necessary majority. This would give a committee of 13 councillors and 4 co-optees and do something towards keeping its size within manageable bounds. However, this option also disturbs the overall balance between the groups: the adjustment required to correct this would involve the Green Group giving up a seat to the Liberal Democrat Group on one of the committees.

Appointments

8. Annex 4 (download as .doc file) is a table showing the committees to which appointments are to be made, with nominations where these are already known. The pattern of seats shown on the committees reflects the comments above and the recommendations that follow, except insofar as the further adjustment required as mentioned in paragraph 7 and recommendation (a)(iii) remains to be decided.
9. Subject to the decisions on those issues the Council must give effect to the Groups’ wishes in appointing individual members to the available seats.

RECOMMENDATIONS

10. The Council is RECOMMENDED to:

DEREK BISHOP
Head of Democratic Services

Background Papers: Nil

Contact Officers: John Leverton, Head of Committees Services, tel: (01865) 815314

June 2006

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