Agenda item

(a)        To agree amendments to the arrangements for Overview and Scrutiny in the County Council.

(b)        To approve the revised version of the Financial Framework for Local Committees.

(A) Changes to the County Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Function

Prior to inviting any comments on the report, the Chairman drew attention to the three typos in the report on page 18, which were:

·           Towards the top of the page in (d), the number should be 6 not 5 select committees

·           Paragraph 5: the number of Members to be appointed to the Overview and Budget Scrutiny Committee should be 10 not 12

·           Also, paragraph 5: Children and Education Select Committee, the number of co-opted members should be 4 not 2

After a short discussion, after which the Leader of the Council clarified the role of the Select Committee’s Chairmen’s Group and the membership of the Adults and Health Select Committee, which he believed had the right number of Councillors and co-opted Members, the recommendation was put to the vote, with one Member voting against it. There were eight abstentions.

Therefore, it was:

RESOLVED:

That the revised structure for overview and scrutiny in the County Council set out in paragraph four of the submitted report, and the specific committee remits as shown in the Annex, be approved.

(B) Financial Framework for Local Committees Review

When invited to comment on this report, ten Members spoke and made the following points:

·         Disappointment that there would be a reduction in the funding for Members’ Allocations.

·         Concern that applications for street lighting, grit bins or highway schemes including speed limit assessments could no longer be considered within this scheme. Also, that this point was listed last, at number 10.

·         The importance of continuing with Member Allocations, even if the funding had been reduced.

·         The amended financial framework for Members’ Allocations appeared to have been agreed without any consultation.

·         The Surrey Opposition Forum would not support the recommendation if point 10 was included.

·         Members had supported applications for grit bins in their divisions. These requests would never be a priority for Surrey Highways but were an important issue for local residents.

·         Members’ allocations were one of the few areas where County Councillors had some decisive influence.

·         A request for the section of ‘What cannot be considered’, especially point 10 to be reviewed.

·         The Audit and Governance Committee had asked that the Constitutional document relating to the Financial Framework for Local Committees be reviewed but this report only covered the financial framework for Members’ Allocations.

·         The £0.5m saving from reducing Members’ Allocation funding was a significant contribution towards the savings that the County Council needed to make.

·         The Sustainability Review Group had recommended the total withdrawal of Members’ Allocations because they considered that all Council funding should be spent strategically.

·         Members’ allocation funding gave Councillors the opportunity to help local groups who supported vulnerable members of society.

·         Members should have the freedom to spend their allocations as they wished.

·         That this money would only be available this funding year between 1 June – 1 December 2017 and Cabinet had agreed to reduce the Members’ Allocation funding rather than withdraw it completely.

·         Local committees were the right place for applications for grit bins to be considered.

Mr Goodwin proposed an amendment, seconded by Mr Cooksey, which was to delete point 10, ‘Applications for street lighting, grit bins or highway schemes including speed limit assessments’ from the ‘What we cannot consider’ section of Annex A.

Members made the following points on the amendment:

·         That Annex A was a clarification of existing rules.

·         A request for Cabinet to re-consider the inclusion of point 10 because deleting it removed the discretion of local Members to use their allocations.

·         Awareness of the financial difficulties of the County Council and that every penny counted. Residents were also aware of the financial pressures that the Council faced.

·         Clarification was requested on whether Members would still be able to fund the provision of grit for existing bins.

·         Consider lobbying local committees and the Highways Service to obtain the funding for local initiatives.

·         Concern about the removal of choice on how to spend Members’ Allocations and that if point 10 remained, these highway improvements were unlikely to happen.

After a debate on the amendment in which nine Members spoke, the amendment was put to the vote, with 19 Members voting for and 51 Members voting against it. There were 5 abstentions.

Therefore the amendment was lost.

Returning to the recommendation, as set out on page 28 of the Council agenda, it was put to the vote, with 54 Members voting for and 18 Members voting against it. There was one abstention.

Therefore, it was:

RESOLVED:

That the revised Financial Framework for Members’ Allocations funding as set out in Annex A to the submitted report be approved.