Agenda item
Special Urgency Provisions
Minutes:
Ingrid Brown, Head of Legal and Democracy & Monitoring Officer, introduced the report and made the following points:
· The report was to address an anomaly in Part 4 of the constitution, for the provision of the taking of urgent decisions and Part 3, under Delegations Scheme, that there was no delegated authority for anyone to take urgent decisions
· The proposed amendment under Part 3, Delegations Scheme, Part A, Section D – 2.2, were as follows:
“With the exception of key decisions that are covered by the special urgency provisions set out under Part 3, B, 22 and in Part 4, all key decisions must be agreed by the Cabinet.”
· The proposed amendment under Part 3, Delegations, Section E, Part B – Part 2, were as follows:
“Delegation to the Chief Executive:
i. To undertake all action related to the role of the Head of Paid Service;
ii. To exercise any power whether specified in this Scheme or otherwise delegated to any other officer with the exception of the Monitoring Officer and unless expressly prohibited by law
iii. In a situation they consider to be an emergency, to undertake all action they consider necessary, including:
(a) Incurring expenditure from working balances and/or reserves;
(b) To determine whether to take, defend and/or settle any legal proceedings;
(c) To make a final determination whether to acquire land and/or dispose of a building and/or land,
subject to consultation with the Section 151 Officer to the extent that they consider it appropriate and feasible and to notifying any emergency action as soon as Page 3 Agenda Item 4 reasonable to the Leader. For the purposes of exercising this power, all restrictions in the Financial Regulations including the contract procedure Rules are deemed waived
and any decision may be made regardless of whether it is a Key Decision. In the event of an urgent key decision the procedure rules in Part 4 of this constitution must be followed.”
· The proposed amendment under Paragraph (q) of section 15 (Call-in) of Overview and Scrutiny procedure rules, in Part 4 of the Constitution to were as follows:
“The Chair of the Council must agree both that the decision proposed is reasonable in all of the circumstances and to it being treated as a matter of urgency. In the absence of the Chair, the Vice-Chair’s consent shall be required. In the absence of both, the consent of the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny shall be required. Decisions taken as a matter of urgency must be reported to the next available meeting of the Council, together with the reasons for urgency.”
Councillors made comments and asked questions as follows:
· Councillors asked about the frequency of the use of this part in the Constitution and the steps it would take to use this provision. Officers replied that it had been rarely used in the past and was unlikely to be used more often in the future due to the proposed changes. Regarding the steps to use the provision, the Chief Executive would have to demonstrate urgency in consultation with the Monitoring Officer, Section 151 Officer and other key officers, as well as consulting with the Leader of the Council in order to make the decision to use the provision. Following this, further consultation would be needed with the Chair of Council to satisfy that the need for urgency was justified. The decision would then be taken and reported to Councillors at the next full Council meeting;
· Councillors brought up the alternative options involving consultation with the Leader of the Council. Councillors agreed that in circumstances where the Leader of the Council was unavailable that the Chief Executive Officer, being a non-political figure, provided assurance that choices are not politically motivated.
Following discussion, Councillor Britcher proposed, Councillor Austin seconded and Councillors agreed:
That the proposed amendments be approved.
Supporting documents: