Further to minute 23 (4 November 2009), the Director of Law, HR and Asset Management reported that the draft protocol in respect of the ‘Councillor’s Call for Action’ (CCfA) had been circulated to all Members of the Council and that no comments had been received. The protocol had been endorsed by the Cabinet (minute 237 (9 December 2009) refers) and recommended to the Council for adoption and inclusion at Part 5 of the Council’s Constitution – Codes and Protocols.

The Director had also prepared a checklist of evidence to help Members in gathering information to assist any Councillor Calls for Action, which would also be presented to the Cabinet/Council for consideration, approval and adoption. A Member expressed the view that the process seemed too difficult in order to resolve a problem. In response, the Director indicated that the CCfA should only be taken as a last resort when all other avenues available to a Councillor to address a problem had failed. The checklist was intended to assist Members in evidencing those failures, in order to demonstrate to the Monitoring Officer that he or she had sought to address the issue through all existing means.

Resolved – That the Record and Evidence Trail be endorsed, to be appended to the Councillor Call for Action protocol, and referred to the Cabinet/Council for consideration/approval and adoption.