North Yorkshire Council
Full Council
15 November 2023
Appointments to Committees and Outside Bodies
Report of the Assistant Chief Executive, Legal and Democratic Services
|
1.0 |
PURPOSE OF THE REPORT
|
|
1.1 |
To enable appointments to Committees and Outside Bodies, arising out of political changes within political groups/parties and resignations to be considered.
|
2.0 APPOINTMENTS TO COMMITTEES
Scrutiny of Health Committee
2.1 Councillor Lindsay Burr MBE resigned from the Scrutiny of Health Committee on 14 August 2023. The Scrutiny of Health Committee is made up of 16 proportionally represented seats. Due to Councillor Burr’s resignation, there is a vacant seat aligned to the North Yorkshire Independents that needs to be appointed to.
Strategic Planning Committee
2.2 Councillor Malcolm Taylor will be replaced by Councillor David Hugill as a Conservative and Independents representative on the Strategic Planning Committee.
Richmond (Yorks) Area Constituency Planning Committee
2.3 Councillor Tom Jones will be replaced by Councillor David Hugill as a Conservative and Independents representative on the Richmond (Yorks) Area Constituency Planning Committee.
Audit Committee - Independent non-voting co-opted members
2.4 The Constitution allows for the appointment of up to 3 independent co-opted members to the Audit Committee. The positions are non-voting, and the members must not be affiliated to any political party. The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) recommends the appointment of at least two independent members to provide audit committees with appropriate technical expertise and knowledge[1].
2.5 The usual term of appointment for the co-opted member is four years from 31 July in the year that the Council has elections. The term of the two current co-opted members was originally due to end on 31 July 2022, but this was extended to 30 November 2023 to avoid any loss of knowledge or expertise during the period of local government reorganisation.
2.6 Audit Committee met on 23 October 2023 and resolved that the terms of the independent co-opted members of the Audit Committee be extended from 1 December 2023 to 31 July 2027 (following the Council elections in May 2027). The independent co-opted members are David Marsh and David Portlock.
2.7 A recruitment exercise was conducted in August 2023, to select suitable candidates for the next term. However, despite publicising the vacancy only two applications were received by the closing date of 28 August. The two applications were from the current co-opted members of the Audit Committee.
2.8 The Audit Committee was informed that a further recruitment exercise could be conducted but it was thought unlikely this would attract any further applications at this time. It would also delay the appointment process at a time when the Audit Committee is facing a significant workload because of the need to oversee the audit and approval of multiple statements of accounts. The Audit Committee resolved to confirm the re-appoint to the two current co-opted members for a further term, subject to approval by full Council on 15 November 2023.
2.9 The Audit Committee, when discussing this matter at its meeting held on 23rd October, 2023 enquired of Officers’ whether efforts could also be made to see if any of the non-voting independent Members who had served on some of the legacy Borough/District Councils Audit Committees would be interested in applying for the third (vacancy) independent member co-opted position on the North Yorkshire Council Audit Committee or otherwise to conduct another recruitment exercise for the vacancy position in the 2024/25 Municipal Year.
2.10 The forthcoming term will however need to be shortened in order to bring it into line with the usual period of appointment, linked to the Council’s elections. It is therefore proposed that the term of appointment should be from 1 December 2023 to 31 July 2027 (following the Council elections in May 2027).
Development Plan Committee
2.11 The report on Proposed Amendments to the Council Constitution, that is on the agenda for the meeting of Council, includes a recommendation regarding the creation of a Development Plan Committee. The allocations of seats according to political proportionality is included in Appendix 7 to the report. It is intended that the proposed appointments to that committee be circulated to Council ahead of the meeting on 15 November 2023, so that if the Council agrees to the creation of that committee the necessary appointments can be made.
3.0 APPOINTMENT TO VACANT OUTSIDE BODIES
3.1 On 17 July 2023, Councillor Bridget Fortune resigned from the Conservative and Independent Party. Councillor Fortune was a member of the North York Moors National Park Authority, which now falls vacant. As a result, a replacement appointment needs to be made by Council:
3.2 This appointment was made at the Executive Committee on 17th October 2023 by the Chief Executive using his delegated emergency powers, and Councillor David Hugill was appointed subject to Council approval.
4.0 IMPLICATIONS
4.1 There are no equalities, finance, legal or climate change implications arising from the recommendations in this report.
|
5.0
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
5.6 |
RECOMMENDATIONS
That Council note the appointment to the vacant North Yorkshire Independents seat on the Scrutiny of Health Committee as at paragraph 2.1.
That Council note the appointment of Councillor David Hugill to replace Councilllor Malcolm Taylor on the Strategic Planning Committee as at paragraph 2.2.
That Council note the appointment of Councillor David Hugill to replace Councilllor Tom Jones on the Richmond (Yorks) Area Constituency Planning Committee as at paragraph 2.3.
That Council ratify the appointment of Councillor David Hugill to the vacant North York Moors National Park Authority position as described in paragraph 3.1.
That Council confirm that appointment of David Marsh and David Portlock as two independent co-opted members of Audit Committee for the period 1 December 2023 until 31 July 2027.
That Council confirms appointments to the Development Plan Committee, should the decision be made to constitute that committee as recommended in the report on Proposed Amendments to the Constitution.
|
Barry Khan
Assistant Chief Executive, Legal and Democratic Services
County Hall
Northallerton
7 November 2023
Report Author:
Report Author:
Daniel Harry, Head of Democratic Services and Scrutiny, North Yorkshire Council daniel.harry@northyorks.gov.uk
Background Documents:
The Constitution of the Council – NYCConstitutionVersion2May2023.pdf (northyorks.gov.uk)
Note: Members are invited to contact the author in advance of the meeting with any detailed queries or questions.