Decision details

The Democratic Services Manager introduced the report and outlined the key aspects to members.

The Centre for Governance and Scrutiny compiled a report in February 2022 which found that the Council’s current arrangements lead to a lack of collective democratic accountability, was resource heavy, opaque, did not result in improved outcomes for the Council and was not as inclusive as it could be for residents to engage with.

The Governance Reference Group (GRG) was established to consider the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny and Independent Renumeration Panel (IRP) findings and develop proposals for the Civic Affairs Committee that could be put to full Council.

The GRG in December 2023 came up with four principles for good governance and highlighted the below:

·      Decision making is timely / prompt, focussed and efficient

·      Decision making is accountable

·      Our governance system and decision-making processes are transparent

·      Encourages collaboration

The CfGS review went to great lengths to emphasise the importance of behaviours and culture.

The City Council’s written constitution already incorporated the Leader and Executive/Cabinet form of governance. The constitution provided for collective Executive decision making at public meetings (e.g. Cabinet), and an Overview and Scrutiny Committee. However, in practice the Council operates what has been termed a ‘hybrid-hybrid’ system because it blended elements of the two distinct forms of governance available to local authorities - the Committee and Leader-Cabinet systems.

The GRG also commissioned officers to provide some hypothetical options for the Leader and Executive/Cabinet model based on current best practice; and that these options should consider members’ desire for new arrangement to provide for strong scrutiny and enable non-executive members to have a role in the decision-making process. 

Members of the Committee commented on the report which included:

·      There was no overall consensus on the best model within the GRG, however the majority of the GRG were supportive of the Leader and Cabinet model.

·      The Liberal Democrat Group as a whole was not supportive of the Leader and Cabinet model for a few grounds namely that there could potentially be less involvement in decision-making for non-executive councillors.

·      The recommendations in the report were about working towards implementing a revised Leader and Cabinet model, which would give the opposition opportunities to contribute and have more democratic debates on key items that affect the City.

·      It had been two years since the CfGS report had been completed and it was time that the Council moved forward towards a new system, stepping away from being unique in comparision with other local authorities. The work of the Chair of the GRG was noted for being collaborative.

·      It was important that non-executive councillors from across all parties were given the opportunity to scrutinise the decisions of the Executive.

·      There were potentially opportunities for non-executive councillors and for opposition to be involved in policy formation, before political groups ask members to project certain ideas before a later stage. More councillors could be involved within the creative stage of decision-making.

Resolved (4 votes for, 2 votes against, 0 abstentions) to recommend to Council:

a.    That the Council design and implement a revised ‘Leader and Cabinet’ model of decision making and authorises the Chief Executive to enable changes to be implemented from the Annual Council Meeting in May 2025

b.    To establish a member-officer design group with external technical support to develop a revised 'Leader and Cabinet' model with final proposals including an updated constitution being presented to the Civic Affairs Committee and then to full Council for adoption.