Agenda item

To consider the enclosed report of the Chief Executive.

That the recommendations be approved, with the proviso that the issues raised by Members at the meeting on the meetings’ timetable be discussed at the next meeting of the All Party Leaders.

The Director of Transformation presented a report on a review of the Council’s meetings calendar, with a view to the reduction of a relatively few number of meetings in 2010/11 and changes to the servicing arrangements for Chorley Partnership bodies and the Local Development Framework Working Group.

The review had been undertaken in the light of the proposal emanating from the recent Value for Money review of Corporate Support Services to reduce the staffing level of the Democratic Services Section, but had also taken account of the need to ensure both the continued good governance of decision making and the transaction of business as quickly and efficiently as possible.

During the Members’ debate on the proposals, the following specific issues were raised in particular:

·                    There is likely to be a need to hold a number of informal Neighbourhood Working meetings during the year, which would not require servicing by the Democratic Services Section.

·                    The feasibility of the Council’s partners providing more administrative support for LSP meetings should be examined.

·                    The status of the Informal Cabinet Briefings should be examined by the All Party Leaders’ meeting.

·                    Meetings during school half-term weeks should be avoided whenever possible.

Decision made:

That the following changes in scheduled meetings be agreed, with the proviso that the issues raised by Members at the meeting on the meetings’ timetable be discussed at the next meeting of the All Party Leaders:

·                    Executive Cabinet, Informal Cabinet Briefing and Overview and Scrutiny Committee each reduce from 10 meetings a year to 8;

·                    Council meetings reduce from 7 meetings a year to 6, with the January meeting being removed from the calendar;

·                    Member Support Working Group to reduce from 5 meetings a year to 4;

·                    Support for the Rivington and Brinscall Local Advisory Group be reviewed with Lancashire County Council;

·                    The number of scrutiny reviews be managed within the resources of the Democratic Services Team;

·                    The Policy team, rather than the Democratic Services team, support both the Chorley Partnership Board and the Chorley Partnership Executive;

·                    The Policy team, rather than the Democratic Services Team, support any Task Groups established by the Equality Forum;

·                    The Planning team, rather than the Democratic Services Team, support the Local Development Framework Working Group, but the Democratic Services Team continue to support the Central Lancashire LDF Joint Advisory Committee (on a rotational basis) as at present;

·                    In recognition of the importance of the neighbourhood working agenda to Councillors, the Democratic Services team support one Neighbourhood Tour and one Neighbourhood Area Action Planning Meeting for each Neighbourhood Area per year, with the dates being set in advance and included in the meetings’ timetable.

Reason for decision:

Along with other more minor changes in working practice, the proposals will allow a sufficient reduction in the workload of the team to allow the deletion of one post of Democratic and Member Services Officer.

Alternative option(s) considered and rejected:

There remains an option to retain a similar calendar of meetings with no fundamental changes but this would not allow the reduction in staffing and therefore costs in the Democratic Services team.