Proposed by Councillor Jeff Green

Seconded by Councillor Lesley Rennie

Council welcomes the support of the Local Government Association (LGA) and the creation of the LGA Wirral Improvement Board.

Council notes the Improvement Board is a partnership between Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council and the Local Government Association which will provide oversight, support and challenge to Wirral’s improvement.

Council welcomes the Board’s aims in supporting the Council to:

·  Demonstrate its ambitions for its local communities

·  Drive forward its plans for improvement in corporate governance and services in a timely way

·  Prioritise what is most important

·  Create the capacity and plans to embed lasting improvements and culture change

·  Deliver improved services within realistic spending constraints

Council welcomes the Improvement Board’s role to:

·  Provide support and guidance

·  Identify and signpost appropriate good practice

·  Provide challenge and act as a critical friend

·  Ensure the contributions from different external agencies/bodies to Wirral’s improvement journey are coordinated

·  Ensure there is a single, integrated and holistic improvement plan that can be clearly understood and communicated internally and externally

·  Endorse decisions which impact on political and managerial leadership arrangements, corporate governance and improvement in advance of them going through Wirral’s own decision-making structures, eg. Cabinet or Council.

Council further notes that attendees of the LGA Wirral Improvement Board will include the Council Leader and Leaders of the other two main political parties.

Amendment submitted in accordance with Standing Order 7(2)

Proposed by Councillor Phil Davies

Seconded by Councillor Ann McLachlan

Add the following at end of motion:-

‘Council is disappointed that the Leader of the Council called an additional Cabinet meeting on the 29^th March during purdah and failed to publish the papers until a few hours before the meeting commenced. In addition, the Cabinet meeting of the 12^th April had an agenda of 53 items, many of which were blatant electioneering by the Tory/LibDem coalition during purdah. A number of items included contentious restructuring proposals which had not been endorsed by the LGA/Wirral Improvement Board.

Council believes that these actions represent extremely poor corporate governance and calls on the Leader of the Council to start taking the improvement agenda seriously and spend less time playing party politics and undermining the standing of the Council.

Council also believes that the Improvement Board will be best served by including the Deputy Leader of the Council in its membership, as per the original terms of reference as agreed with the LGA, as a vital component in driving forward improvements at the decision making level.’

Having applied the guillotine in accordance with Standing Order 7(8) the Council did not debate this matter.

The amendment was put and lost (29:36) (One abstention).

The motion was put and carried (36:29) (One abstention).

Resolved (36:29) (One abstention) –

Council welcomes the support of the Local Government Association (LGA) and the creation of the LGA Wirral Improvement Board.

Council notes the Improvement Board is a partnership between Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council and the Local Government Association which will provide oversight, support and challenge to Wirral’s improvement.

Council welcomes the Board’s aims in supporting the Council to:

·  Demonstrate its ambitions for its local communities

·  Drive forward its plans for improvement in corporate governance and services in a timely way

·  Prioritise what is most important

·  Create the capacity and plans to embed lasting improvements and culture change

·  Deliver improved services within realistic spending constraints

Council welcomes the Improvement Board’s role to:

·  Provide support and guidance

·  Identify and signpost appropriate good practice

·  Provide challenge and act as a critical friend

·  Ensure the contributions from different external agencies/bodies to Wirral’s improvement journey are coordinated

·  Ensure there is a single, integrated and holistic improvement plan that can be clearly understood and communicated internally and externally

·  Endorse decisions which impact on political and managerial leadership arrangements, corporate governance and improvement in advance of them going through Wirral’s own decision-making structures, eg. Cabinet or Council.

Council further notes that attendees of the LGA Wirral Improvement Board will include the Council Leader and Leaders of the other two main political parties.