Agenda item - Annual Review and Appointment of the Cabinet's Working Group, Joint Committees/Panels and Other Groups

Report No: CAB/FH/18/032

Portfolio Holder: James Waters Lead Officer: Leah Mickleborough

RESOLVED:

That:-

Current Cabinet Working Group: Forest Heath District Council Membership only

1.

(a) The Local Plan Working Group continues to operate at the present time in accordance with its current Terms of Reference, as detailed in Appendix A to Report No: CAB/FH/18/032.

(b) The future direction of the Local Plan Working Group, as outlined in Section 1.2.2 of Report No: CAB/FH/18/032, be noted.

Current Joint Panels and Steering Group: Joint Membership with St Edmundsbury Borough Council

2. That the Growth and Innovation Group continues to operate in accordance with its amended Terms of Reference contained in Appendix B to Report No: CAB/FH/18/032.

3. The Future Governance Steering Group continues to operate in accordance with its current Terms of Reference contained in Appendix C.

4.

(a) The West Suffolk Joint Health and Safety Panel and the West Suffolk Joint Staff Consultative Panel continue to operate in accordance with their current Terms of Reference contained in Appendices D and E to Report No: CAB/FH/18/032 respectively.

(b) Periodical meetings of the Joint Panels continue to be scheduled as and when required, but with regard to the discussion outlined in Section 1.3.18.

Joint Committees: Anglia Revenues and Benefits Partnership Joint Committee

5.

(a)The Portfolio Holder for Resources and Performance be re-appointed as the full Member and the Portfolio Holder for Operations and the Leader of the Council be re-appointed as the two substitute Members to the Anglia Revenues and Benefits Partnership Joint Committee for 2018/2019.

(b) The proposal to establish and appoint to a Joint Executive (Cabinet) Committee for consideration by Council at its Annual Meeting on 9 May 2018, be noted.

(c) Should any future changes to membership of the bodies listed in (a) and (b) above be required during 2018/2019, the Service Manager (Democratic Services) be requested to exercise their existing delegated authority to appoint on the nomination of the Leader of the Council.

Other Informal Working Groups

6.

(a) The Cabinet’s existing informal Working Groups be retained as indicated in Section 1.6.2 of Report No: CAB/FH/18/032.

(b) Provided that resources are available to support them, further informal task-and-finish working groups continue to be established to consider specific issues as required throughout 2018/2019.

Joint Committees/Panels

7.

(a) Forest Heath District Council’s membership (including substitutes) of the Local Plan Working Group, Future Governance Steering Group, West Suffolk Joint Health and Safety Panel, West Suffolk Joint Staff Consultative Panel, as set out in Table 1 of Appendices A, C, D and E respectively, be re-appointed for 2018/2019.

(b) Should any future changes to membership of the bodies listed in (1) above be required in the remainder of 2018/2019, the Service Manager (Democratic Services) be requested to exercise their existing delegated authority to appoint on the nominations of Group Leaders.

(c) Such appointments be made on the basis of political balance requirements, where applicable and identified in Report No CAB/FH/18/032.

Political Balance and Appointment of Membership

8. That:

(a) Forest Heath District Council’s membership (including substitutes) of the Local Plan Working Group, Future Governance Steering Group, West Suffolk Joint Health and Safety Panel and the West Suffolk Joint Staff Consultative Panel, as set out in Table 1 of Appendices A, C, D and E respectively, be re-appointed for 2018/2019.

(b) Should any future changes to membership of the bodies listed in (a) above be required for the remainder of 2018/2019, the Service Manager (Democratic Services) be requested to exercise their existing delegated authority to appoint on the nominations of Group Leaders.

(c) Such appointments be made on the basis of political balance requirements, where applicable and identified in Report No: CAB/FH/18/032.

Re-appointment of Representatives to Outside Bodies

9. The Members stated in Section 1.7.2 of Report No: CAB/FH/18/032 be re-appointed as ‘Observers’ to the respective outside bodies listed and to NOTE the Leader or ex-officio appointments to the project or partnership groups listed in Section 1.7.3.

(Report No: CAB/FH/18/032)

The Cabinet received this report which presented the annual review and appointment of the Cabinet’s Working Group, Joint Committees/Panels and other Groups for 2018/2019. The existing Terms of Reference and membership for the relevant bodies was attached as Appendices A to E inclusive.

It was also explained that as an interim review had been undertaken relatively recently in January 2018, no changes were being recommended to the existing arrangements.

The Cabinet also noted the proposed establishment of a Joint Executive (Cabinet) Committee, which had been approved at the Annual Council meeting on 9 May 2018. This new Joint Committee would comprise all the current Members of Forest Heath District Council’s and St Edmundsbury Borough Council’s Cabinets and would have executive decision making powers and would thus avoid the need for separate ‘informal joint’ Cabinet meetings, which in the past had proved to often be confusing. The Key Decision threshold had also been increased from £50,000 to £100,000 for the individual Cabinets and for the Joint Executive (Cabinet) Committee. The first meeting of this Joint Committee would be held on Tuesday 26 June 2018* at 6.00 pm. (*Note: subsequent to the meeting, this meeting date had now been moved to Monday 25 June 2018).

It was proposed, seconded and with the vote being unanimous, it was