Agenda item
Dispensation for non-attendance at meetings
To consider a report by the Team Leader, Democratic Services.
Minutes:
The Leader
introduced the report and highlighted that this was a procedural matter, of
which the proposal included in the report had received cross party
support. The Leader proposed the
recommendation set out in the report.
The recommendation
was seconded by N Ireland who indicated that he wished to speak to the motion
at the end of the debate.
During the
discussion, a number of councillors spoke to express their thanks and support
in respect of work undertaken by the council’s staff and councillors and key
workers in the community, for their response to the situation with
Covid-19. A particular point of thanks
was noted to the Fire and Rescue Service in respect of recent fires in the
area.
During the
discussion, the following points were raised:
·
A point
was raised that there was legitimate public concern that councillors were not
attending meetings at this time and that decisions were not being
scrutinised. Questions were raised as to
how residents were able to raise their concerns in a public forum between now
and October and how the contributions made by ward councillors could be
monitored?
·
In
response, the Leader noted that most councillors would attend a meeting during
this period and that the recommendation provided a safeguard position only if
required. He noted that there would be
an Annual Meeting of Council in September 2020 and that Cabinet continued to
meet and take questions from the public
·
Plans
for the Council meeting in September were being considered, which included a
possible hybrid solution for how councillors could attend the meeting
·
In
response to a point raised with regard to the importance of local democracy and
the restoration of committee meetings, the Leader noted that many officers had
been seconded into other areas of work.
In the short term a number of decision making meetings had been
prioritised, although in addition to these, a number of additional meetings had
been scheduled
·
Reference
was made to recent meetings of the Resources Scrutiny Committee and the Audit
and Governance Committee. In addition,
proposals for hybrid meetings were being discussed
·
The
point was made that the recommendation in the report sought to prevent any
councillor being disbarred from being a councillor through no fault of their
own. In addition it was noted that
councillors could continue to support their communities during this time and
that this was of value to local communities.
At the conclusion
of the debate, N Ireland spoke to express his support of the motion. However he made reference to a recent meeting
of Full Council held at Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council where all
councillors had been able to participate and he felt that Dorset Council needed
to consider its arrangements for meetings, including the Full Council meeting
scheduled for September 2020, which may include a hybrid solution.
Decision
That
all members of Council receive a dispensation in relation to Section 85 of the
Local Government Act for the period up to and including 6 May 2021 for the
reason that not all members may be able to attend a virtual committee meeting
during this pandemic period.
Supporting documents:
- Dispensation Report 11 June 2020, item 77. PDF 61 KB
- Dispensation Report 11 June 2020- updated report, item 77. PDF 61 KB