Agenda and minutes

No apologies for absence were received for the meeting.

No declarations of interests were made.

[For approval]

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 18 March 2015 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

[To consider any matters arising from the minutes of the previous meeting]

There were no matters arising from the minutes of the previous meeting.

[To recommend a number of changes to the Constitution for approval by Full Council]

The Advisory Group received a report that outlined the Leader’s allocation of responsibilities for Cabinet portfolios and that sought support for new terms of reference of the Scrutiny Board and Scrutiny panels for approval by the Council.

Cllr Roger Lawrence reported that the proposals were fine tuning and a realignment following on from the recent senior management restructure.

Cllr Wendy Thompson sought further clarity on the Scrutiny Board terms of reference 11.2 b and the reference to ‘citizens’ in 11.2 g.  She was advised that via the Council’s web site citizens of Wolverhampton have been invited to comment on a topic or suggest an issue they would like scrutiny to discuss. Regarding 11.2 b. this was about more proactively identifying issues for pre decision scrutiny from the Leader’s Forward Plan. 

Resolved:

That Special Advisory Committee agrees the revisions to the Constitution for approval by Council, specifically:

1.         To delete the current Cabinet portfolios.

2.         To note the Leader’s allocation of responsibilities for Cabinet portfolios as contained in appendix to the report and insert them into the Constitution.

3.         To amend all references and delegations to Cabinet portfolios to reflect the new Cabinet portfolios contained in the appendix to the report.

4.         To delete terms of reference for the current Scrutiny Board and Scrutiny panels.

5.         To inset the new terms of reference for the Scrutiny Board and scrutiny panels as contained in the appendix to the report.

6.         To amend all references to Scrutiny terms of reference to reflect the new Scrutiny terms of reference as contained in the appendix to the report.

[To recommend to Annual Council for approval]

A revised schedule of Councillor meetings for 2015/16 was considered. The schedule had been shared and agreed with the three political groups on the Council.

Resolved:

That the schedule of Councillor meetings 2015/16 be submitted to Annual Council on 20 May 2015 for approval.