Agenda item

Report attached.

Members considered a report of Councillors Jodi Clements, Chair of the Communities and Wellbeing Overview & Scrutiny Committee and Stephen Button, Chair of the Resources Overview & Scrutiny Committee, in connection with recommendations for the appointment of co-opted members to their respective committees.

Councillor Button announced the following:

He noted that members would have read the joint report of the Chairs of the Communities and Wellbeing OSC and Resources OSC.  As Chair of the Resources OSC, he moved the recommendations in the report, subject to a revised recommendation at Paragraph 2.3.

On reflection, he considered that the Resources OSC would benefit from the contributions of a young person, as originally proposed, and accordingly moved the following revised recommendation at Paragraph 2.3 of the report:

“2.3   That Council approves the appointment of Christine Heys as a co-opted member to the Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the reservation of the remaining vacant co-optee position on the Committee for a young person (between the age of 18 to 25 years)”

He invited councillors to join him in supporting this positive move to engage with local young people.

The report indicated that the Council’s Constitution, Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule C2 stated:

“Up to four members of the public may be appointed to each Overview and Scrutiny Committee as non-voting co-optees, if they are deemed to have relevant experience of matters falling within the remit of that Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

(i)         Co-optees may be appointed following nomination by a councillor or following an application received directly from a member of the public.

(ii)        Applications received directly from the public will be considered first at the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The Committee will consider the knowledge and experience of the applicant relevant to the terms of reference or work programme of the Committee. If the majority of the Overview and Scrutiny members support the appointment of the applicant, the proposed appointment will be presented to Council for approval.

(iii)      Nominations received from councillors will be presented to the Council for approval, if supported by the Chair of the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committee. In reaching a decision, the Council will consider the knowledge and experience of the nominee relevant to the terms of reference or work programme of the Committee.”

The Communities and Wellbeing Overview & Scrutiny Committee had previously appointed two co-optee members, Jean Battle and Jackie Rawstron with two vacant co-optee positions remaining.

The Communities and Wellbeing Overview & Scrutiny Committee had taken a view that a young person would provide greater balance to discussion and be more representative of the community and therefore, had recommended that one co-optee position was reserved for this purpose.

The Communities and Wellbeing Overview & Scrutiny Committee, therefore, still had one vacant co-optee position remaining with three nominations received for the post.  At the meeting held on 8^th October, it was considered that there was insufficient information on the three nominees to make a fully informed recommendation.  Each of the three nominees had been nominated by a Member of the Council and therefore, because all supporting Councillors would be present and in the interest of fairness, Committee had made no recommendation and decided that Council would be a better forum for discussions to determine the final co-optee post.  However, due to a delay in the report being presented to Council, it was determined that the Committee should seek additional information regarding the three nominations and that the Committee would use this to make a recommendation at their next meeting held on 3^rd December, to Full Council.  A report was, therefore, submitted to this meeting and, after consideration, Committee determined that Sandie Dent should be recommended to Full Council, as a co-optee of the Communities and Wellbeing Overview & Scrutiny Committee.

The Resources Overview & Scrutiny Committee had previously appointed two co-optee members, Tim O’Kane and Richard Downie and had recommended that the further two vacancies were filled by Eddy O’Brien and Christine Heys.  This recommendation had been reviewed by the Chair as indicated above and a revised recommendation was now being proposed.

Councillor Khan expressed support for the inclusion of a young person on both committees.  He indicated that he had previously expressed concerns that co-optees were often former councillors and could be perceived to be political appointments.  There was a need for greater independence and transparency regarding those persons appointed to this role.  Councillor Clements also indicated her support for the co-option of a young person on the Resources Overview & Scrutiny Committee.

Councillor Button summed up by indicating that he would welcome receiving information about the names of any interested young people from councillors.  He also responded to the comment about co=optees’ independence, noted that only one of the current co-optees was a former councillor.

Resolved                                 (1)   That Council approves the appointment of Sandie Dent as a co-opteed member to the Communities and Wellbeing Overview & Scrutiny Committee;

(2)   That Council approves the reservation of the remaining vacant co-optee position on the Communities and Wellbeing Overview & Scrutiny Committee for a young person (between the age of 18-25 years);

(3)   That Council approves the appointment of Christine Heys as a co-opted member to the Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the reservation of the remaining vacant co-optee position on the Committee for a young person (between the age of 18 to 25 years);

(4)   That Council approves the above co-optee appointments to cover a period of 2 municipal years until the end of the 2025/26.