ITEM CC9
COUNTY COUNCIL – 17 JUNE 2008
POLITICAL BALANCE ON COMMITTEES AND APPOINTMENTS
Report by the Assistant Head of Legal & Democratic Services
Introduction
1. The Council is required by the Local Government & Housing Act 1989 annually to appoint "at least one scrutiny committee, a Standards Committee and such other committees as the Council considers appropriate", to review the political balance on committees and to appoint members to the committees and this should be done at its annual meeting or "as soon as practicable" after that meeting. This was done at the last meeting of Council on 1 April 2008, although there was a vacancy in one Division at that time and the allocations were made on that basis. The note at Annex 1 (download as .doc file) summarises how the rules on political balance on committees operate.
Review
2. Following the by-election in the Kidlington and Yarnton Division on 1 May 2008, a request has been made to review the allocation of seats to political groups, in accordance with Regulation 17 of the Local Government (Committees and Political Groups) Regulations 1990 (as amended).
3. The schedule at Annex 2 (download as .doc file) shows the effect of the political balance formula based on the sizes of the four groups following the by-election on 1 May 2008, which resulted in the election of a Conservative Member, and taking into account the allocations agreed by Council on 1 May 2008. Again, the base figures show the arithmetical product of the formula. The impact of the change in political balance is limited, but the following effect is drawn to the Council’s attention:
To obtain balance across the scrutiny committees (to which this Council has chosen to apply the political balance formula), the Conservative Group must be allocated a sixth seat on the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee and as a consequence the independent Member loses her entitlement to a seat on the Committee.
Options
4. The issue for decision therefore revolves around the need for an adjustment on the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee. The initial formula calculations are based on a standard scrutiny committee size of 10, although the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee’s larger membership of 17 was agreed in June 2006 as part of the adjustments to ensure the preservation of a majority on the committee for the majority group bearing in mind the four independent Members – the consequence of which is that the Conservative Group is allocated an additional 3 seats on the committee in addition to the notional entitlement.
5. One option is to retain the “10-councillor” option for the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee which would result in the following allocations (including replacing the current independent Member on the committee with a Conservative Group nomination as set out at paragraph 3. above):
6. A second option is to increase the basic size of the committee to 12, and allow the independent Member to retain her seat on the committee. Taking into account the co-opted Members, and preserving the majority on the committee for the majority group, this would result resulting in the following allocations:
7. The current councillor membership of the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee is shown below, as appointed by Council on 1 April 2008:
RECOMMENDATIONS
8. Council is RECOMMENDED to:
(a) retain the existing "10-councillor" option for the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee with the following allocations: Conservative (6 + 3), Labour (1), Liberal Democrat (2), Green (1); or
(b) adopt the “12-councillor” option for the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee with the following allocations: Conservative (7 + 3), Labour (1), Liberal Democrat (2), Green (1), Independent (1); and,
(c) appoint to the Scrutiny Committee the councillors shown above, subject to any further nominations made by the date of the meeting.
TONY CLOKE Assistant Head of Legal & Democratic Services
Background Papers: Nil
Contact Officer: Tony Cloke, Assistant Head of Legal & Democratic Services Tel: (01865) 815314
June 2008
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