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ITEM EX15
EXECUTIVE
– 1 OCTOBER 2002
DELEGATION
ARRANGEMENTS
Report by
Assistant Chief Executive, Director of Environmental Services and Acting
Chief Education Officer
Introduction
- The Executive
has indicated that it would wish to pursue arrangements for delegation
in respect of certain operational matters in order to concentrate more
on its strategic priorities. This report sets out proposals for bringing
this about in the areas identified by the Executive as suitable for
such delegation, ie:
- individual highway
and traffic schemes;
- bus subsidy decisions;
- early years proposals.
Options
for Delegation
- The Constitution
allows the Executive to arrange for the discharge of any of its functions
by:
- a committee of
the Executive;
- an individual
member of the Executive; or
- an officer.
- In relation to
B, however, the Executive has adopted a convention that in general,
and with the exception of Community Safety, responsibility for matters
within each Executive portfolio will be exercised jointly by the Executive
"pair" which includes that portfolio. It is not believed to be legally
possible for there to be formal delegation to two (or more) individual
members unless constituted as a committee. However, either of the following
would be legitimate alternatives:
- a member of the
Executive following consultation with the other member of the "pair";
- an officer following
consultation with one or both members of the "pair".
- Options C and
E are already widely used, both in the standing delegations set out
in Section L of the Constitution and in one-off delegations where, for
example, a need is identified for some subsequent action following initial
consideration and decision by the full Executive.
Choosing
between Options
- Which of these
options should be employed in particular situations is a matter of choice
for the Executive. However, there are a number of factors that are likely
to affect that choice. For example, for those issues where there will
be a direct effect on individuals or a local community, there will be
a particular need for transparency and public access in the procedure
for the authority’s consideration of people's views. Option A – the
committee - clearly satisfies this requirement.
- The committee
option can only operate through the formal meeting procedure, with full
compliance with "access to information" requirements. All the other
options offer more flexibility, with the opportunity to address issues
as they arise. On the other hand, where the exercise of discretion is
involved, none of the options dispenses with the need to document and
publish the decision and the reasons for it properly, including the
relevant background material that informed the decision*. It is also
important to ensure that any option adopted is seen to be open to the
formal scrutiny process – which applies to any decision taken by a committee
or individual member of the Executive and also to any "key decision"
taken by an officer.
Proposals
- The table below
shows the specific actions which it is suggested might be the subject
of specific delegations within the framework already identified by the
Executive, set against related existing officer delegations (see Section
L of the Constitution for a more detailed list of delegated powers).
Individual
Highway and Traffic Schemes
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The
Director of Environmental Services may at present promote and
implement traffic management and road safety proposals subject,
in the case of permanent measures, to any County Council expenditure
being within budget/programme and to "any objections or other
material representations ... being reported to the Executive for
determination".
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New
delegation would be aimed at taking on responsibility for considering
these "objections or other material representations".
A high level of public interest and concern may be involved.
It
could also usefully cover other detailed highway and traffic authority
matters which may fall outside the terms of the existing delegation,
such as stopping up and diversion proposals and minor capital
scheme implementation issues.
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Bus
Subsidy Decisions
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At
present the Director has power only to agree temporary subsidy
to maintain commercial services which would otherwise be withdrawn,
pending decision on possible "permanent" subsidy.
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New
delegation could extend to all subsidy decisions. Extensive local
consultation is involved, and sometimes local controversy. Consideration
normally needs to be in private to avoid prejudice to the tender
process.
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Early
Years Proposals
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This
relates to specific proposals such as the development of early
years units or incorporation of nursery classes in schools. Proposals
have not been frequent and there is no specific delegation at
present.
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New
delegation could assign responsibility for deciding individual
proposals, including the consideration of the outcome of consultation
and authorisation of formal processes and implementation.
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- The creation of
a committee of the Executive to deal with individual highway and traffic
schemes would clearly relieve the full Executive of a substantial amount
of non-strategic business – although at the expense of an additional
burden on the members concerned. This business would be likely to justify
scheduling meetings at a frequency sufficient to avoid undue delay in
processing individual proposals. On the basis of the number of schemes
which have hitherto come before the Executive, this could involve meetings
on a four or six week cycle.
- The obvious membership
of such a committee would be the Executive Members for Transport and
Strategic Planning & Waste Management, whose remit also includes
bus subsidy matters. These normally involve multiple decisions, for
example on a review of services for a particular area of the County,
and it is suggested that the same committee's terms of reference should
extend to this area also. It would certainly appear sensible to avoid
setting up a further series of meetings for dealing with subsidy matters.
(This proposal, if agreed, would be likely to affect the programming
of the committee’s meetings as subsidy decisions are normally time-critical.)
- Any exercise of
delegated powers by a committee is as much subject to the provisions
of the Constitution as action by the Executive itself, in respect of,
for example, rights of access and address for both interested members
of the public (including the press) and councillors. This is explicit
in the Executive Procedure Rules in the Constitution. It is not therefore
thought necessary to create separate procedure rules, but it is suggested
that certain basic rules and convention should be applied:
- delegation would
be subject to compliance with the Council's and the Executive's policies,
budget and programme;
- with a committee
of only two, a meeting should be quorate only if both members are
present;
- it will be necessary
for certain procedural purposes for one of the members to agree to
act as standing Chair/Chairman/Chairwoman;
- the relevant
local member should be informed of any matter to be considered at
a meeting of the committee;
- the Leader of
the Council and Deputy Leader of the Council would have the right
to attend and speak, and to act as substitutes for either or both
of the "main" members as the need may arise;
- there should
be a right on the part of either or both members of the committee
to refer any matter up to the full Executive for determination.
- The arguments
for creation of a committee of the Executive to deal with early years
proposals are less clear. They are likely to arise much less frequently
and then as individual "one-off" issues. Whilst they may sometimes
give rise to some controversy, it is expected that they will more often
achieve a large measure of consensus. The Executive may therefore like
to consider an arrangement whereby the appropriate officers would decide
individual proposals in consultation with the relevant Executive Members
(in this context, Children & Young People and Schools would seem
appropriate) and local members. Care would need to be taken to document
the decisions, and the views expressed by the members, in a structured
way; and it is suggested that either of the Executive Members could
require the delegation to be remitted to the full Executive in any case
where he/she felt this was warranted on the basis of concerns expressed
by consultees.
Financial
and Staff Implications
- Any financial
implications of the procedures outlined in this report will be marginal
and can be absorbed within existing budgets. The staffing effects for
the reporting directorates should in theory be neutral compared with
the existing arrangements. Servicing an additional committee will have
some impact on Democratic Services; members are already aware of the
pressure on that part of the organisation and the Corporate Governance
Scrutiny Committee have been asked by the Scrutiny Co-ordinating Group
to consider this issue.
Scrutiny
Views
- Members of the
Executive were keen to obtain the views of the Corporate Governance
Scrutiny Committee. The Committee was due to consider this report on
19 September – after the report had to be finalised for printing. Any
comments on the Committee’s part will therefore be circulated separately.
RECOMMENDATION
- The Executive
is RECOMMENDED, subject to consideration of any comments on the part
of the Scrutiny Committee, to:
- create a
Transport Implementation Committee, comprising the Executive Members
for Transport and Strategic Planning & Waste Management, to consider
and determine:
- individual
local highway, traffic and parking matters, including the promotion
and implementation of schemes within the ambit of the transport
capital programme and the consideration of responses to consultation;
and
- support
for individual public transport services, including the conduct
of area reviews and the authorisation of the making, variation
or termination of service subsidy agreements;
- adopt the
rules and conventions set out in the report for the operation of the
Committee;
- confirm the
powers of the Director of Environmental Services to take action in
relation to highway, traffic and parking matters where there are no
material objections or representations which fall to be considered
in relation to that matter;
- authorise
the Acting Chief Education Officer (or Director for Education when
appointed), in consultation with the Executive Members for Children
& Young People and Schools, to consider and determine individual
proposals for the making or alteration of early years provision, including
the promotion and implementation of schemes within the ambit of the
relevant programmes and the consideration of responses to consultation,
subject to:
- positive
notification to the local member(s) for each division directly
affected by the schemes to be considered under this procedure
to enable them to make their views known to both officers and
Executive Members; and
- a right
on the part of either Executive Member to require the delegation
to be remitted to the full Executive in any case where he/she
feels this to be warranted on the basis of concerns expressed
by consultees.
d. review
these arrangements after 12 months of operation, or earlier if appearing
to the Executive Members concerned to be expedient to do so.
CHRIS IMPEY
Assistant Chief Executive
DAVID YOUNG
Director of Environmental Services
ROY SMITH
Acting
Chief Education Officer
Background
Papers: Nil
Contact
Officers:
John Leverton, Democratic Services, Tel 01865 815314
Eddie Luck, Assistant
Director, Environmental Services, Tel 01865 815845
Rick Harmes, Principal
Education Officer, Tel 01865 810626
September
2002
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