Agenda item
Minutes:
The Committee had received a report on 2 July, 2020, explaining that with the establishment of the new unitary Council the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) had indicated that it intended to conduct an electoral review of Buckinghamshire Council. Any changes would not come into effect until the 2025 Buckinghamshire Council elections although the precise timeframe for the stages of the Review still needed to be confirmed.
The Committee had agreed that a Member Working Group (MWG) of 9 Members (to allow for cross party representation) should be established to oversee the work of officers in the preparation of the statistical and other information required by the LGBCE. The membership had now been confirmed as Councillors Waters (Chairman), Mordue, Adoh, Collingwood, Etholen, M Knight, Lambert, L Smith and Stannard.
On 4 August, 2020, the MWG had met remotely with the LGBCE and received a presentation on their approach to the Review, the process that would be followed and the timetable. A similar presentation was given to all Members on 23 September. The briefing session had attended by 90 Councillors. It had also been recorded so that those Members who were unable to attend could also view it.
The LGBCE’s initial review timetable proposed a deadline for the Council to make a submission on the final Council size numbers in November 2020, and for the second part of the review looking at Warding arrangements to commence on 11 May 2021.
The MWG had expressed concerns to the LGBCE on both deadlines and asked for more time to be allowed to gather evidence and put together the first submission, and for the Warding submission to commence in June 2021 rather than May. The LGBCE had responded that it was amenable to the submission date on the final Council size numbers being deferred until the beginning of March 2021, and for the second stage of the review to commence in June 2021, to allow a period of time after the elections for things to settle.
The MWG had met on 3 occasions and received information from Officers who had started to populate the template provided by the LGBCE and that they required the Council’s submission to be made on. The template and information was still at a draft stage and it was hoped that a fuller version would be reported to the Standards and General Purposes Committee’s next meeting in December.
The Standards and General Purposes Committee would need to approve the final Council size numbers submission to the LGBCE in due course and, as such, it was recommended that an additional meeting of the Committee was timetabled to be held on 25 February 2021 for this purpose.
Members were informed that it was important for the submission to be evidence based as much as possible and to this end the information provided by the Officers had focussed on statistical / factual information. However, part of the template (Section 9) related to the community involvement and leadership role of Councillors, where the LGBCE required information on how Members undertook their role, their involvement in Council work and the community, and the time commitment. This included the range of meetings attended and how Members deal with their casework.
A survey (Appendix 1) had been sent to all Members on 24 September following the all Member briefing with the LGBCE. To date, 37 Members had completed the survey.
Separately, the MWG had also been engaging with the Cabinet to help include information with the submission on what the future expectations would be for the Cabinet and the Cabinet Member role, and what other support the role might require.
RESOLVED –
(1) That the update, including the work undertaken by the Member Working Group since 2 July 2020, be noted.
(2) That an additional meeting of the Standards and General Purposes Committee be held on 25 February 202021, to approve the Council’s final submission to the Local Government Boundary Commission for England on Council size numbers.
Supporting documents:
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