Meeting: County Council (County Hall, Durham - Council Chamber - 17/03/2009 10:00:00 AM)
Item: A5 Appointment of Council Bodies and Allocation of Seats to Political Groups under Section 15 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989
Purpose of the Report
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, in readiness for Vesting Day.
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 and sub-committees of the Council to political groups, to give effect, so far as practicable, to the following four principles:
(i) that not all seats on the committee/sub-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 and sub-committee,
(iii) that, subject to (i) and (ii) above, the number of seats on the Council’s committees and sub-committees allocated to each political group, bears the same proportion to the total number of such committee/sub-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 and sub-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 committees, sub-committees and Scrutiny Committees detailing the proportionate distribution of seats among all groups (i.e. Labour Group, Liberal Democrat Group, Conservative Group, Durham Independent Group and the Durham County Council Independent 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 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 | 22 |
| Liberal Democrat | 9 |
| Durham Independent | 5 |
| Conservative | 3 |
| Durham County Council Independent | 1 |
Recommendations 7 (i) that the Council appoints the Committees and Sub-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 and Sub-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 and Sub-Committee as shown in the Appendix;
(iii) that I be authorised, in consultation with the relevant Group Leader, to determine the adjustments to be made to individual Committee and Sub-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 further 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.
FOR APPENDICES PLEASE REFER TO ATTACHED PDF
Attachments
Appt of Council Bodies & Alloc of Seats.pdf