Venue: Committee Room 1, City Hall. View directions
Contact: Charlie Mason, Democratic Services Officer (01522 873533)
No. | Item |
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Confirmation of Minutes - 3 February 2014 Minutes: RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 3 February 2014 be confirmed. |
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Declarations of Interest Please note that, in accordance with the Members' Code of Conduct, when declaring interests members must disclose the existence and nature of the interest, and whether it is a disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI) or personal and/or pecuniary. Minutes: No declarations of interest were received. |
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Code of Conduct: Cases Review Minutes: The Assistant Director of Legal and Corporate Support Services:
a) presented a report containing information on recent cases relating to other local authorities' codes of conduct.
b) highlighted that members should identify any issues raised within the report as being relevant for further consideration with regard to their impact upon members.
c) drew members’ attention to the case involving the prosecution of a councillor for taking part in a vote on setting council tax contrary to the Local Government Finance Act 1992, and advised of the provisions in place to limit the likelihood of this occurring locally.
d) invited members' questions and comments.
Members:
The Reserve Independent Person noted the importance of a council’s finance department in providing the relevant information to a monitoring officer in a timely manner in order to ensure action could be taken wherever was appropriate.
The Assistant Director of Legal and Corporate Support Services:
RESOLVED that:
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Member Development Update Minutes: The Assistant Director of Legal and Corporate Support Services:
a) presented a report updating members on the delivery of member development.
b) highlighted the extensive changes made to the delivery of the induction process for new councillors.
c) requested any guidance from members on their member development priorities for the year ahead.
d) invited members' questions and comments.
Members:
The Independent Person suggested that combined training sessions on separate topics might assist in attracting more members to events.
The Assistant Director of Legal and Corporate Support Services advised that officers had sought to provide alternative methods for training provision, including e-learning, but that these had not been widely used.
RESOLVED that the report be noted. |
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Promoting Constructive Debate within Meetings Additional documents: Minutes: The Democratic Services Officer:
a) presented a report providing commentary on the Council Procedure Rules in place for meetings of Council.
b) advised that the report had been provided to give members the chance to review the rules as a whole in order to assess whether the rules were appropriately balanced to encourage constructive debate within meetings.
c) highlighted a number of areas in which the Council had flexibility to change its rules, including providing for Council as a place for broad debates and provisions related to the questioning of elected representatives.
d) invited members' questions and comments.
Members:
The Independent Person and Reserve Independent Person:
RESOLVED that:
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Electoral Registration in Lincoln Minutes: The Principal Democratic Officer:
a) noted that the report had been provided for the attention of members following recent consideration by the Audit Committee of the number of properties in the city without registered electors.
b) highlighted the changes due to be made to the electoral registration system as a result of individual electoral registration.
c) advised of students’ discretion in choosing where to register to vote and of the reluctance of some residents to be added to the electoral register.
d) drew members’ attention to the work underway with Lincoln University to agree a data-sharing protocol to improve student registration rates.
e) stated that the Council had received a grant from the Cabinet Office to support electoral registration and requested guidance from members on the most suitable uses for this funding.
f) invited members' questions and comments.
Members:
The Principal Democratic Officer responded that:
RESOLVED that the report be noted. |
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Work Programme 2014-15 Additional documents: Minutes: The Assistant Director of Legal and Corporate Support Services:
a)
presented the proposed 2014-15 Ethics and
Engagement Committee work programme for consideration by
members. b) invited members' questions and comments.
RESOLVED that the work programme be approved. |