Agenda and minutes

Venue: Civic Centre, High Road, Wood Green, N22 8LE. View directions

Contact: Michael Kay, Democratic Services and Scrutiny Manager 

Note: Special meeting 

Items
No. Item

33.

FILMING AT MEETINGS

Please note this meeting may be filmed or recorded by the Council for live or subsequent broadcast via the Council’s internet site or by anyone attending the meeting using any communication method.  Although we ask members of the public recording, filming or reporting on the meeting not to include the public seating areas, members of the public attending the meeting should be aware that we cannot guarantee that they will not be filmed or recorded by others attending the meeting.  Members of the public participating in the meeting (e.g. making deputations, asking questions, making oral protests) should be aware that they are likely to be filmed, recorded or reported on.  By entering the meeting room and using the public seating area, you are consenting to being filmed and to the possible use of those images and sound recordings.

 

The Chair of the meeting has the discretion to terminate or suspend filming or recording, if in his or her opinion continuation of the filming, recording or reporting would disrupt or prejudice the proceedings, infringe the rights of any individual, or may lead to the breach of a legal obligation by the Council.

Minutes:

The Chair drew attendees’ attention to the notice on the agenda regarding filming at meetings.

34.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Beacham, Opoku and Reith, for whom Councillors Ross, Jennifer Mann and James Patterson were attending as substitutes respectively.

35.

Urgent Business

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of urgent business. Late items of urgent business will be considered under the relevant item, or at item 7.

Minutes:

None.

36.

Declarations of Interest

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a prejudicial interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered:

 

(i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent, and

(ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.

 

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Register of Members’ Interests or the subject of a pending notification must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

 

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interests are defined at Paragraphs 5-7 and Appendix A of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

Minutes:

The Chair mentioned that she had received a request in relation to the Council’s Constitution, which would be considered at item 6.

37.

Minutes of the last meeting pdf icon PDF 127 KB

To confirm and sign the minutes of the meetings of the Standards Committee held on 16 November 2017.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting of the Standards Committee held on 16 November were agreed.

38.

Members' Allowances Scheme pdf icon PDF 364 KB

To consider proposals relating to the Council’s scheme of allowances for Members.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair asked Michael Kay, Democratic Services and Scrutiny Manager, to introduce the paper that set out the previous discussions and agreements of the Committee in respect of the scheme for Members’ Allowances and the recently-published guidance of the Independent Panel on the Remuneration of Councillors in London.

 

The Committee agreed that it would be helpful for its conclusions to date to be put to all Members as a briefing, along with two of the three options contained in the paper for re-distributing the savings generated from the changes agreed in accordance with the Guidance– Option A, increasing the basic to £11 045, and option B, increasing all allowances by one per cent.

 

Councillor Ross suggested the Leader of the Opposition, as effectively a full-time position, ought to remain at Band 3B, and the Chair suggested that there would be opportunities for all Members to give their views on the Committee’s recommendations at the briefing.

 

RESOLVED

 

The Committee agree:

 

1.    Following consideration of the 2014 and 2018 Guidance and levels of allowances across London and particularly comparable boroughs at its previous meeting, to confirm the recommendation of the following changes to the current Members’ allowances scheme:

a.    That the special responsibly allowance paid to the Chair of Corporate Committee be moved from Band 2B in the current structure to Band 1.

b.    That the special responsibly allowance paid to the Leader of the Opposition be moved from Band 3B to Band 2B

c.    That the special responsibly allowances paid to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and the Opposition Chief Whip be moved from Band 2B to Band 1.

d.    That the Vice Chair of the Regulatory Committee be paid a special responsibility allowance at Band 1 in light of its workload, including chairing a Licensing Sub-Committee that meets regularly.

e.    That the Deputy Leader of the Opposition’s allowance be provided to the Leader of a third group, and that the group should be of at least 2 Members. If there is no third group, the SRA would be paid to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition.

f.     That the Dependent Carers’ Allowance should be at the London Living Wage, rather than including a figure that can be outdated

g.    To move to a per-meeting allowance for those co-optees currently remunerated, to a maximum of the current level of £616.50

2.    To present the preferred options of either a one per cent allowance to each allowance or an increase in the Basic Allowance to £11 045, to all members, prior to a final decision at the March Standards Meeting.

39.

New Items of Urgent Business

Minutes:

The Chair discussed a suggestion made to her, that the annual report of the Council’s progress toward reducing carbon emissions be included on the Council’s agenda each year. With the Committee broadly in favour of such a suggestion, it was agreed that a possible insertion be drawn up and presented to the Committee’s next meeting.

 

RESOLVED

 

That the next meeting consider a possible amendment to the Council’s Constitution, to the effect of the Council receiving an annual update on progress toward reducing carbon emissions.

40.

Dates of Next Meetings

8 March

Minutes:

8 March.