To consider matters referred to the Council for determination. The relevant minutes are attached.

In accordance with Standing Order 7(1), these matters will be taken as approved except in respect of any to which objections or amendments are submitted in accordance with Standing Order 7(2).

A.  Cabinet (18 April 2013) – Minute 241

B.  Report of the Chief Executive and Appendix – Revisions to the Constitution

C.  Proposed Revised Constitution (Printed as a separate document)

D.  Audit & Risk Management Committee (15 April 2013) Minute 63

E.  Report of the Chief Executive and Appendix – Proposed Revisions to Council Contract Procedure Rules

F.  Report of the Interim Director of Finance and Appendix – Proposed Revisions to the Council Financial Regulations

G.  Minutes of the Democracy Working Party (8 April 2013)

H.  Member Consultation and Engagement Feedback Report

In accordance with Standing Order 7(1), Cabinet Minute 241, 18 April 2013, Revisions to the Constitution, was submitted for approval by the Council, but was the subject of two amendments.

Proposed by Councillor Phil Davies

Seconded by Councillor Ann McLachlan

That Council is recommended to:

(1)  adopt the revised constitution as set out as Appendix 3 to the Chief Executive’s report;

(2)  note that additional consequential changes will need to be made over the next year in the light of operating the new Policy and Performance Committees and Constituency Committee arrangements;

(3)  rename the Standards Committee the Standards and Constitutional Oversight Committee:

(4)  delegate the following additional responsibilities to the Standards and Constitutional Oversight Committee:

  To keep the Council’s constitutional arrangements under review and to make such recommendations to the Council as it considers appropriate for ways in which the constitution should be amended in order to better achieve the purposes set out in Article 1 (set out at paragraph 2.23 of the Chief Executive’s report); and

Oversee and agree such minor changes to the Council’s constitution arrangements as are recommended by the Monitoring Officer from time to time.

Amendment submitted in accordance with Standing Order 7(2)

Proposed by Councillor Jeff Green

Seconded by Councillor Lesley Rennie

(1)  Given its history, Council believes it is dangerous to remove the Children and Young People and the Adult Social Services Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committees.

(2)    Given the lack of detail regarding the finances, powers, responsibilities and processes of the proposed Area Committees and the lack of clarity regarding its roles with regard to Public Sector Boards, Council believes it is unable to support this proposal at this time.

(3)  As the changes proposed to the Council Procedures and Standing Orders will remove the opportunity for Councillors to raise matters of concern to them or have these items debated.  Council believes this will place even greater power in the hands of the administration at the expense of ordinary members of the Council. Seen alongside the administration’s desire to abolish annual local elections and the lack of any ‘opposition time’ to raise matters of concern to the public and have them debated by the Council.

Council therefore rejects those Amendments of the Constitution outlined in the Summary of Amendments and listed as:

• Article 6 Overview and Scrutiny Committees

• Article 10 Creation of four Area Committees

• Part 4 Council Procedure and Standing Orders

Amendment submitted in accordance with Standing Order 7(2)

Proposed by Councillor Tom Harney

Seconded by Councillor Phil Gilchrist

Delete all and replace with:

This Council regrets that the Democracy Working Party was unable to reach a consensus on the way Wirral Council should move forward.  Council believes that insufficient time was set aside to study the way other Councils serve their residents and that only limited evidence of best practice was studied.

Council considers that:

a.  the proposed format for Council meetings provides insufficient time for debate.

b.  the process proposed for questioning Cabinet Members and consideration of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 146

The Assistant Chief Executive reported that alongside proposals to revise the Constitution as part of the Council’s Improvement Plan, proposals were also being developed to revise the council’s Contract Procedure Rules and Financial Regulations, both of which had been in place for some years and had been subject to periodic changes and additions at various times, predominantly in response to actions resulting from internal and external reviews.

i. Proposed Revised Contract Procedure Rules

The Assistant Chief Executive presented the proposed revised CPR’s, in draft form, for consideration and comment and indicated that the proposed revisions had been based on the following principles –

(i)  respond in part to the overall commitment given to review the council’s Constitution and Schemes of Delegation as part of the council’s Improvement Plan and also to respond to recommendations of the recent Peer Challenge in respect of clarification of Member and Officer roles and responsibilities;

(ii)  form part of the response to the HESPE report and the resultant Action Plan, both in terms of the CPR’s themselves and also using any approved, revised rules and documentation as part of specific staff training on Procurement and Contract Procedures;

(iii)  respond to a position where the existing CPR’s require updating to take account of current and potential future developments, for example, joint commissioning with other authorities and organisations, shared services with other councils and the council’s role as commissioner of services with a variety of private, voluntary, community and faith organisations;

(iv)  the need to integrate existing functions with new functions and responsibilities in particular Health.

He commented that the review had been undertaken by a small group of key users who had the greatest involvement in the letting of contracts and had included input from Health and Internal Audit.

Having considered the CPR’s used by a number of local authorities, it had ultimately been decided that, with their permission, the CPR’s from Cheshire West and Chester Council would be used as the starting point for the review and as the basis for Wirral’s proposed procedures. They had been tried and tested and had stood up to scrutiny and he commented that any future joint procurement with Cheshire West and Chester Council would be aided by each Council sharing a similar set of CPR’s. The revisions had sought to clarify the Member/Officer role in that decisions related to the award of contracts were defined as an officer responsibility, with Members holding officers to account through the scrutiny process. The proposed revisions introduced a simplified procedure for individual items of expenditure below £500 and sought also to simplify and clarify officer roles in respect of contract variations and proposals.

ii. Proposed Revised Financial Regulations

The Interim Director of Finance presented the proposed revised Financial Regulations, which were based upon –

(i)  the overall commitment given to review the Council’s Constitution and Schemes of Delegation as part of the Council’s Improvement Plan and to respond to recommendations of the recent Peer Challenge in respect of clarification of Member and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 63