Agenda item

Report of the Assistant Chief Executive and Chief Digital Officer

The committee received information in relation to the Member Scrutiny Champion - Update as contained within the circulated report.

The committee agreed that issues regarding grammar in reports and minutes should be raised with the relevant officers outside of the meetings.

The committee acknowledged the importance of non-committee members giving advance notice to the relevant chair of their intention to attend a meeting. The committee also agreed that non-committee members should only attend for the relevant items that they had expressed an interest in. Officers advised that a firm rule for non-committee members’ attendance at meetings might not be a suitable arrangement as flexibility should be built in for exceptional circumstances. 

The committee commented that pre-briefings provided committee members with an opportunity to discuss matters on the agenda and to organise themselves in preparation for the main meeting. The committee stated that pre-briefings added value by seeking different perspectives in advance of the main meeting and reaching better conclusions.

Members raised concerns with regard to the timing of pre-briefings, particularly Cabinet Scrutiny which begun at 9:00am, and posed an issue for those taking their children to school first. The committee recommended that discretion be given to chairs to slightly alter commencement times for meeting to accommodate members with childcare responsibilities Officers stated that this could be raised during the re-constitution of Council.