Agenda item

From the Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities 21 March 2022

Further to Minute 33 of the Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities, the City Council considered a report of the Director of Law and Governance which proposed a number of changes to the Constitution that reflect changes in practices within the Council.

The Cabinet Member recommended that the Council approve the following amendments:

1.  Part 2N – Coventry Shareholder Committee Terms of Reference:

a)  An increase from the current maximum of 5 elected Members to be a maximum of 10 elected Members at paragraph 2.1: Composition (NB minimum of 3 is to remain the same);

b)  Additional wording to be inserted to permit Key Decisions in relation to charitable holdings held by the Council on trust for a charity to be made by the Shareholder Committee as trustee, with decisions below the Key Decision threshold delegated to Directors, Heads of Service and Officers in the areas concerned.

Recommendation b) above was made on the basis that currently there was no delegation in the Constitution for Key Decisions or other decisions that do not meet the threshold for key Decisions in respect of charitable holdings.

2.  Part 2D – Functions of Scrutiny, paragraph 6: Educations Representatives:

a)  A maximum four year term of office and a minimum of two year term of office (which will be applicable to all Education Representatives);

b)  Removal of the requirement for a parent governor representative from both a maintained primary and secondary school in the City (instead introducing a requirement for a generic parent governor who could technically be from any maintained school) in keeping with the legislation in this area and to reflect the fact that Coventry now has no maintained secondary schools.

3.  Part 6: Management Structure:

a)  Changes to staff and job titles need to be reflected in the Constitution as well as the fact that the Management Team are now known as the Strategic Leadership team;

b)  The changes to staff and job titles have also subsequently resulted in changes to delegations as these have been redistributed and should also be reflected throughout the Scheme of Delegation.

4.  Part 2A – General Principles – Paragraph 6: Government Consultation Papers:

a)  The introduction of wording to permit Government Consultation Papers to be primarily considered by the relevant Cabinet Member as apposed to Council by default, unless the Government Consultation Paper is high profile or of a particular matter of substantial public importance.

5.  Part 2M: Taxi Licensing Delegations

a)  An addition be made to the Constitution to the Taxi Licensing delegations to allow Taxi Licensing Officers to take enforcement action under the “Smoke Free Legislation” at Part 2M – Scheme of Functions Delegated to Employees, paragraph 6.15 Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Scheme of Delegation, as new paragraph 1.

The proposed changes to the Constitution were detailed in the annexes to the report.

RESOLVED that, the City Council approves Recommendations (1) to (5) below, with immediate effect, and authorises the Director of Law and Governance to make any necessary amendments to the Constitution.

(1)  With regard to the Coventry Shareholder Committee Terms of Reference:

(a)  The current maximum of 5 elected Members be increased to a maximum of 10 elected Members; and

(b)  Approve additional wording to permit Key Decisions in relation to charitable holdings held by the Council on trust for a charity to be made by the Shareholder Committee as trustee, with decisions below the Key Decision threshold delegated to Directors, Heads of Service and Officers in the areas concerned.

(2)   With regard to the Functions of Scrutiny in respect of Parent Governor Representative:

(a)  The requirement for a Parent Governor Representative from both a maintained primary and secondary school in the City be removed (instead introducing a requirement for a generic parent governor who could technically be from any maintained school); and

(b)  A maximum four year term of office and minimum of two year term of office for Parent Governor Representatives be inserted into the Constitution.

(3)  The Management Structure in Part 6 and the Scheme of Delegations in Part 2 to be updated to reflect changes to staff and job titles.

(4)  The change of wording to permit Government Consultation Papers to be primarily considered by the relevant Cabinet Member as apposed to Council by default, unless the Government Consultation Paper is high profile or of a particular matter of substantial public importance.

(5)  An addition to the Taxi Licensing delegations to allow taxi Licensing Officers to take enforcement action under the “Smoke Free Legislation” with the written permission of the City Solicitor.