Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

(a)  To agree the minutes of the Cabinet Member (Policing and Equalities) meeting held on 30^th January 2020.

(b)  Matters arising

The minutes of the meeting held on 30 January 2020 were signed as a true record.

Report of the Director of Finance and Corporate Services

The Cabinet Member considered a report of the Chief Executive which set out proposed changes to the Constitution, as considered by the Constitutional Advisory Panel at its meeting on 19 November 2019.

These were:

(a)  Revisions to the Conference and Travel Protocol: Part 4E of the Constitution

(b)  Revisions to the Rules for Contract: Part 3G

(c)  Revisions to the Financial Procedure Rules: Part 3F

(d)  Audit and Procurement Committee Terms of Reference: Part 2I

(e)  Protocol for Conferring the Title of Honorary Alderman

(f)  Code of Conduct for Elected and Co-opted Members: Part 4A

(g)  Licensing and Regulatory Committee Terms of Reference: Parts 2F and 2M

These changes were set out in detail in Appendices 1 to 7 of the report, including the required tracked changes to the Constitution.

The Advisory Panel had agreed all the proposed revisions with the following exceptions or additions:

• Travel and Conference Protocol: The Advisory Panel recommended that, once drafted, officers submit a new policy on conference and travel to Ethics Committee for approval.

• Rules for Contract: The proposal to reduce the frequency of reports on the activities of the Procurement Board to the relevant Cabinet Member from every 6 to every 12 months was not approved. The Advisory Panel recommended that this continues to be made every 6 months. (Rule 9.2). In addition, officers will speak to the Chair of Audit and Procurement Committee to seek their agreement to remove the requirement to make an annual report to the Committee on procurement.

• Finance Procedure Rules:  The Advisory Panel recommended that a proviso be inserted so that where a grant bid will require match funding by the Council, there should be a requirement to seek the approval of the Cabinet Member and that footnote 6 in the table of financial thresholds should read “following consultation with the relevant Cabinet Member(s)”.

• Protocol for Conferring the Title of Honorary Alderman: The Advisory Panel recommended that Paragraph 2 d) be amended to increase the minimum service required as a Member from 15 to 20 years.

Following consideration of the report, the Cabinet Member agreed the recommendations of the Advisory Panel with one exception in respect of the Protocol for conferring the title of Honorary Alderman in that the minimum service required as a Member not be increased to 20 years, but to remain at 15 years.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities recommends to Council that:

Report of the Chief Executive

The Cabinet Member considered a report of the Chief Executive which sought approval to required amendments to the Constitution as a result of the deletion of the post of Deputy Chief Executive (Place) from April 2020 and a move to a new corporate landscape reflecting the One Coventry approach.

As a result of these changes to the Council structure, the scheme of delegation to officers and other officer functions, including the designation of proper officers, currently provided for within the City Council’s Constitution need to be updated and amended.

The report sought approval to the required amendments to the Constitution to reflect the new Council structure and to designate the post of Director of Law and Governance as the Monitoring Officer and City Solicitor and the post of the Director of Finance as the Section 151 Officer. 

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities recommend that, with effect from 1 April 2020, the City Council:

There are no outstanding issues.

There were no outstanding issues.

To consider any other items of business which the Cabinet Member decides to take as a matter of urgency because of the special circumstances involved.

There were no other items of public business.