Meeting documents
County Council (DCC)
Friday 23 May 2008
Meeting: County Council (County Hall, Durham - Council Chamber - 23/05/2008 10:00:00 AM)
Item: A10 (a) To appoint Committees, Sub-Committees and Panels with the terms of reference set out in the Interim Constitution and to allocate seats to Committees under Section 15 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 - Report of Acting Director of Corporate Services
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| Report of Lesley Davies, Acting Director of Corporate Services | |
1 To appoint Committees and the Corporate Parenting Panel in accordance with the Council’s Constitution and with the terms of reference set out therein.
2 To determine the allocation among the political groups represented on the Council of seats on such Committees in accordance with the provisions of Section 15 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989.
Background
3 Section 15 of the 1989 Act (Duty to Allocate Seats to Political Groups) sets out the requirements as to political proportionality on Council bodies and requires the Council, in allocating seats on committees to political groups, to give effect, so far as practicable, to the following four principles:
(i) that not all seats on the committee are allocated to the same political group,
(ii) that the political group having a majority of seats on the Council should have a majority on each committee,
(iii) that, subject to (i) and (ii) above, the number of seats on the ordinary and scrutiny committees of the Council allocated to each political group, bears the same proportion to the total number of such committee seats as the number of members of that group bears to the membership of the full Council, and (iv) that, subject to (i) to (iii) above, seats will be allocated on each committee in the same ratio as exists on the full Council.
4 Section 16 of the 1989 Act (Duty to Give Effect to Allocations) requires the Council to give effect to the allocations determined as set out above in accordance with the wishes of the relevant group.5 The attached Appendix sets out a schedule of all ordinary Committees and Scrutiny Committees detailing the proportionate distribution of seats among all groups together with 1 individual member who does not wish to be treated as part of a group. In each case the determination of seat numbers has followed the general principle of rounding up or down. There will therefore need to be some adjustment to the resulting distribution in order to correct the consequences of this and to give effect to the principles in Section 15 of the 1989 Act as set out in paragraph 3 above.
6 In addition, the seats on the Corporate Parenting Panel (as increased under Item 8 on the agenda) have in the past been allocated on the basis of political proportionality. This would result in the following distribution of the 40 seats on the Panel:-
Labour 21
Lib Dems 9
Independent (1) 5
Independent (2) 2
Conservatives 3
Recommendations
7 (i) that the Council appoint the Committees as shown in the Appendix in accordance with the Constitution and with the terms of reference set out therein;
(ii) that, in respect of the total number of seats on such Committees, the Council determines the total allocation of seats to each political group and individual and, subject to any necessary adjustments arising from that determination, agrees the indicative allocation of seats on each Committee as shown in the Appendix;
(iii) that I be authorised, in consultation with the relevant Group Leader/individual to determine the adjustments to be made to individual Committee allocations in accordance with the provisions of Sections 15 and 16 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989;
(iv) that I be authorised to allocate seats to political groups in respect of any Sub-Committee which might be established from time to time, in accordance with the provisions of Sections15 and 16 of the 1989 Act and
(v) that the Council appoint the Corporate Parenting Panel with the allocation of seats set out in Paragraph 6 above and with the terms of reference set out in the Constitution and that such seats be filled in accordance with the wishes of the relevant political group.
| Contact: Lesley Davies Tel: 0191 383 3639 To view table, please refer to PDF attachement or hard copies located in the Record Office or Corporate Services. |
Attachments
Item 10 a.pdf