Full Council

12 May 2022

Appointments to Committees and election of Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen

For Decision

Portfolio Holder:	Cllr S Flower, Leader of the Council

Local Councillor(s):	All

Executive Director:	J Mair, Director of Legal & Democratic

Report Author: Susan Dallison

Title: Team Leader Democratic Services

Tel:	01305 252216

Email:	susan.dallison@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk

Report Status: Public

Brief Summary:

Full Council is asked to review the allocation of committee seats in line with the political balance rules, and in accordance with the Council’s Constitution make appointments to committees, joint panels and boards at the Annual Meeting of Council in line with the nominations from Political Group Leaders.

Full Council is also asked to delegate authority to Political Group Leaders to make in-year changes to committee appointments and to elect the Chairmen and Vice-chairmen of the ordinary committees.

Recommendation:

(a)	That the allocation of committee seats and the appointments to committees, joint panels and boards, as nominated by the Political Group Leaders, be approved for 2022/23 as set out in Appendices 1, 2 & 3;

(b)	That delegated authority be given to Political Group Leaders to make in-year changes to committee, panel and board appointments;

(c)	That the nominations for committee Chairmen and Vice-chairmen for 2022/23 be approved as set out in Appendix 4.

Reason for Recommendation:

To comply with the Dorset Council Procedural Rules (as set out in the Constitution) Link to Constitution

Political Groups and Percentage Entitlement

1.1	Where the membership of Dorset Council is divided into political groups the Council is required to review and allocate the total number of seats on ordinary committees in accordance with the strength of each political group.

1.2	On 3rd May 2022, formal notification was received from Cllr Kate Wheller that she was no longer a member of the ALL Group and would be serving as an independent member on Dorset Council. Taking this change into account Dorset Council is currently divided into 4 political groups, (Conservative, Liberal Democrat, ALL and Green), plus 1 Labour and Co-operative member and 1 independent member.

1.3	The number of members of each political group and the percentage entitlement to the overall number of committee seats on ordinary committees is as follows:

Conservative- 43 members (52.44% entitlement)

Liberal Democrat – 28 members (34.15% entitlement)

ALL – 4 members (4.87% entitlement)

Green – 5 members (6.09% entitlement)

Cllr Paul Kimber, Labour & Co-operative (1.2% entitlement)

Cllr Kate Wheller, Independent (1.2% entitlement)

Allocation of Committee Seats and Appointments to Committees

The number of seats on ordinary committees (Appendix 1) are allocated to each political group in the same proportion as the overall size of each political group, as far as is practicable. This excludes appointments to the Cabinet, which are made by the Leader of Council, and any other panel or board where the political balance rules do not apply such as the Health and Well Being Board. In addition to appointments to Cabinet the Leader of Council is also entitled to appoint up to 6 members of the controlling group as Executive Lead members and these appointments will be reported to the Full Council on 12 May 2022.

Where a political group has the majority of seats on the Council, it must also have, where practicable, a majority of on each individual committee to which appointments are made. This means that the Conservative Group, with 52.44% of seats on the Council is entitled to the majority of seats on all ordinary committees, where this is not possible to achieve a pragmatic approach has been taken, for example on the allocation of seats to the planning committees and the Licensing Committee.

The Local Government and Housing Act 1989 sets out the 4 principles that must be followed as far as reasonably practicable when working out political proportionality:
(a) Preventing domination by a single group: That not all the seats on a committee should not be allocated to the same political group:
(b) Ensuring a majority group enjoys a majority on all committees: If one political group has a majority in the Full Council, that political group should have a majority on each committee:
(c) Aggregating all committee places and allocating fair shares: Subject to (a) and (b) above, the number of seats on the ordinary committees of an authority which are allocated to each political group bears the same proportion to the total number of all the seats on the ordinary committees of that authority as is borne by the number of members of that group to the membership of the authority; and
(d) Ensuring as far as practicable fairness on each committee: Subject to (a) and (c) above, the number of the committee seats which are allocated to each political group bears the same proportion to the number of all the seats on that committee as is borne by the number of members of the group to the membership of the authority.

Full Council may waive the political balance rules for any committee(s) where the Council wishes to appoint an alternative number of members from political groups. In order for political balance to be waived no member must vote against the motion, an objection by a single member would make to necessary to apply strict proportionality. This report assumes that the Council does not want an alternative arrangement to that prescribed in the Local Government and Housing Act 1989.

3.	Nominations Joint Panels and Boards

3.1	In addition to making appointments to the Council’s ordinary committees, there are a number of joint panels and boards to which Dorset Councillors are appointed, including the Pension Fund Committee, Joint Public Health Board, Dorchester Markets Joint Panel and Joint Archives Advisory Board. There may be some changes to the future membership of the Joint Archives Advisory Board (JAAB), Dorset Council currently appoints 4 members (2 Conservative and 2 Liberal Democrats) to the JAAB but Schedule 5, para 5 of the new Inter Authority Agreement sets out that each Council in future will appoint 3 members to the Board. If the new Inter Authority Agreement is agreed by Cabinet on 17 May 2022 then the reduction in membership will need to be agreed in consultation with Group Leaders and in accordance with political proportionality; the new membership will be 2 Conservative and 1 Liberal Democrat (relevant portfolio holder plus 2 other members).

3.2	Full Council is asked to approve the allocation of seats to joint panels and boards as set out in Appendix 3.

4.	Appointment of Committee Chairmen and Vice-chairmen

4.1	In accordance with committee terms of reference as set out in the Constitution the appointment of committee Chairmen and Vice-chairmen will take place at the Annual Meeting of Council unless Full Council agrees alternative arrangements. Under the current governance arrangements set out in the Constitution the Leader of Council will be the Chairman of Cabinet and the Deputy Leader of Council will be the Vice-chairman of Cabinet.

4.2	The list of nominations for committee Chairmen and Vice-chairmen is set out in Appendix 4 for approval.

5.	Financial Implications

Chairmen of Committees receive a Special Responsibility Allowance in accordance with the Dorset Scheme of Members’ Allowances.

6.	Climate Implications

No direct implications.

7.	Well-being and Health Implications

No direct implications.

8.

Other Implications

None.

9.

Risk Assessment

9.1	HAVING CONSIDERED: the risks associated with this decision; the level of risk has been identified as:

Current Risk: LOW

Residual Risk: LOW

10.

Equalities Impact Assessment

There are no equalities implications associated with this report.

11.

Appendices

Appendix 1 – Allocation of committee seats

Appendix 2 – Political Group nominations to committees

Appendix 3 – Political Group nominations to joint panels and boards

Appendix 4 – Nominations for committee Chairmen and Vice-chairmen

12.

Background Papers

None.