Agenda item

Information on matters of urgency is available online

There are two late reports that officers agree should be dealt with in this way.

1.     Impropriety in relation to three Cabinet decisions

To report, under S.5 of the Housing and Local Government Act 1989, that certain decisions that have been taken were not in accordance with legal requirements and the Constitution. One of those decisions is being returned to Cabinet for it to appropriately recommend the matter to Council for decision.

2.     Council Plan 2021-2023
This report provides the first draft of the new Council Plan for 2021-2023

There were two late reports that members agreed should be dealt with in this way.

Impropriety in relation to three Cabinet decisions

The Monitoring Officer reported under S.5 of the Housing and Local Government Act 1989 that three decisions which had been taken in 2018, 2019 and 2021 were not in accordance with legal requirements and the Constitution. Of the three decisions two had not been actioned with money being found from alternative sources and one was being returned to Cabinet for it to appropriately recommend the matter to Council for decision. While acknowledging the errors it was stated that thankfully the impact had been minimal. The Monitoring Officer expressed; on behalf of officers, his sincere apologies for these errors. He stated that there were a number of remedial steps being put in  place to ensure that there was not a repeat including that report writers were expected to understand whether what is proposed was in accordance with the budget or policy framework to establish whether their recommendations were either for Cabinet or for Council to make.

Discussions included the following:

·        This was an unfortunate situation but it hadn’t appeared to cause any major issues. Staffing issues were the problem, with the extra workload being put on staff over the last months

·        We must look after our staff, they are the backbone of the council. The pressure on the Monitoring Officer was intolerable. Democratic Services had to manage and operate these extra meetings which must put them under constant workload pressure

·        Need to look into getting on with the Senior Management review to look into areas of the council that need extra resources

·        There should be no blame on any one individual, this just highlights the pressure the staff are under presently. We need to take this extra workload off all staff from the top to bottom

·        We need to be the best council we can, a full investigation is required into this issue with independent advice and the use of the Scrutiny committee

The Portfolio Holders for Council and Corporate Co-ordination, and Strategic Planning thanked the Monitoring Officer for his apology but stated it was not needed. They thanked him for his work and said that it could not have been easy for him to have written this report as well as present it to members.

The Chair thanked Cllr Paul Millar for bringing this issue to the council’s attention. He also thanked the Monitoring Officer for the report and admitted it could not have been easy to produce.

RESOLVED that Cabinet:

1.     accept the content of the report in relation to the issues identified and remedial actions being taken to prevent a reoccurrence

2.     thank Councillor Millar for bringing the matter to the attention of the Council.

RECOMMENDED the following to Council:

3.     that Resolutions 1 & 2 of Minute 328 (Hayne Lane Site, Honiton) of the Cabinet meeting of 3rd February 2021 be approved.

4. the recruitment of an additional lawyer (Grade 9) to support the work of the
    Monitoring Officer be agreed.

REASON:

So that members were appraised of three decisions that were ultra vires and to take steps to ensure that one of those decisions was rectified.

Council Plan 2021-2023
The Chief Executive provided details of the first draft of the new Council Plan for 2021-2023. He announced that there would be 3-4 cross party member workshops in April with the aim to have this completed by July.

Discussions included the following:

·        This looked like it was at its first stage and just being started. There was a need for swift progress as decisions could not be taken without a Council Plan

·        In response to the above comment, it was said that officers were working to full capacity with the challenges of a global pandemic, everyone was managing to the best that they could under exceptional circumstances

·        The timeframe dovetails with the budget for the next financial year

·        The cross party member workshop were important for consultation and views for the plan

RESOLVED:

That the preparation of the new Council Plan 2021-2023 should progress in accordance with the process and timeline identified in the report. 

RECOMMENDED the following to Council:

that a budget of £5,000 is agreed to obtain external support to facilitate member workshops.

REASON:

To assist with the ongoing development of the new Council Plan.