Agenda item

Report No: COU/SE/16/022

Council considered Report No: COU/SE/16/022, which sought approval for a new Scheme of Members’ Allowances for St Edmundsbury Borough Council.

The West Suffolk Joint Independent Remuneration Panel (the Panel), was appointed for a four-year term from 1 June 2016, and consisted of the following four members:

Sandra Cox; Karen Forster; Clive MacLeod and John (Don) Watson.

Karen Forster was subsequently elected Chairman of the Panel by its own members.

The Panel had previously noted and agreed its Terms of Reference, as outlined in section 2 of the report, and that the Members’ Allowances for both St Edmundsbury Borough Council (SEBC) and Forest Heath District Council were to remain as two separate schemes in their own right.  The Panel had also been appraised of the full range of roles covered by Members in carrying out their duties as District/Borough Councillors in relation to the current Scheme of Members’ Allowances applicable to each respective authority.

Attached to Report No: COU/SE/16/022 were the following appendices:

Appendix A:          The complete list of 35 recommendations put forward by the Panel.

Appendix B:          The Panel’s financial proposals, which set out the current allowances paid; the proposed allowances and the variance for each allowance.

Appendix C:          The proposed revisions to the existing SEBC Members’ Allowances Scheme, shown as tracked changes.

A revised version of Appendix B was tabled at the meeting, which showed an amended calculation relating to the number of Cabinet Members.  The financial proposals had previously illustrated a calculation based on a maximum of seven Cabinet Members (not including the Leader and Deputy Leader); however, a maximum of eight Cabinet Members, plus a Deputy Leader may be appointed by the Leader if required, and therefore the figures were amended to reflect this.  

Karen Forster, Chairman of the Panel, was in attendance and presented a brief overview of the Panel’s deliberations, conclusions and the process undertaken that had led to the significant number of detailed recommendations contained in the report.  Mrs Forster thanked her fellow Panel members, the co-operation of Councillors that had supplied information or had been interviewed as part of the process, together with acknowledging the valuable assistance of the Monitoring Officer and the Democratic Services Officer (Scrutiny).

Councillor Ian Houlder, Portfolio Holder for Resources and Performance, commended the Panel for its extremely comprehensive review.  However, given the number of detailed recommendations proposed by the Panel, it was felt that the item should be deferred to allow more time to consider these recommendations and other matters raised in the report.

Written comments already made since the publication of the report had been noted by the Panel and Members were asked that should the matter be deferred then any further comments should be emailed to the Head of HR, Legal and Democratic Services by 6 January 2017, which would then be presented to the Panel for consideration before the matter would be reconsidered by Council on 21 February 2017.

The majority of Members considered this was a sensible approach and noted that the current scheme, which expired on 31 December 2016, would in any event, need to be extended.

On the motion of Councillor Houlder, seconded by Councillor Carol Bull, and duly carried, it was

RESOLVED:

That

(1)     following the West Suffolk Joint Independent Remuneration Panel’s consideration of Members comments, this report (No: COU/SE/16/022) be reconsidered at the next ordinary meeting of the Council on 21 February 2017; save for any amendments that the Panel may feel are appropriate; and

(2)     as a consequence of the above and as any new Scheme would not be expected to be implemented until 1 April 2017, the current St Edmundsbury Borough Council Members’ Allowance Scheme be extended until a date of expiry of 31 March 2017.

(Karen Forster, Clive MacLeod and John (Don) Watson left the meeting at the conclusion of this item.)