Agenda item

To consider the report of the Head of Democratic Services  (attached).

 

The Head of Democratic Services set the context, and explained:-

 

·         That the report that was before the council this time was a little different from usual because the Plaid Cymru group had a clear majority on the Council.

·         By fully implementing the rules pertaining to political balance, the Plaid Cymru Group would have the right to have a majority on every individual committee, but it was agreed at a meeting of the Business Group that the focus should be on expertise and experience, rather than implementing the rules rigidly in every case.

·         As a result, the recommendations in the report included three committees where the Plaid Cymru Group did not have a majority, namely the Corporate Scrutiny Committee, the Employment Appeals Committee and the Special Educational Needs Joint Committee.

·         In order to approve the recommendations, and that because the rules were not being fully implemented, the Council would have to approve them unopposed.   Otherwise, revised figures would have to be submitted to the Council which would mean that the Independent, Llais Gwynedd and Labour groups would further lose out on some committees.

 

He further noted:-

·         A notice was received during the meeting that Councillor Louise Hughes was joining the Independent Group and the groups were urged to present these types of notices far earlier in future.

·         That the result of the change in the political balance and the report's recommendations were that the Independent Group had gained two seats, one on the Communities Scrutiny Committee and the other on the Central Licensing Committee, and that at the expense of the individual members, but as Councillor Louise Hughes was the individual member on both of the committees in question, it did not involve any further changes to those committees.

 

The Leader gave a further explanation, and noted:-

 

·         That every member, across all of the political groups, had a contribution to make with only 16 months remaining until the next local government elections, and it was agreed that the culture of collaborating and seeing contributions from across the political spectrum should continue.

·         This meant that there was more pressure on all members to attend meetings.

·         That there was a need to look again at the seats of the Pensions Committee as a member of the Labour Group who would be losing his seat on the committee had received training in the field.

 

A registered vote was called for on the proposal.

 

In accordance with Procedural Rules, the following vote was recorded on the motion:-

 

In favour of the motion: (48) Councillors Stephen Churchman, Annwen Daniels, Anwen Davies, Lesley Day, Gwynfor Edwards, Dyfed Edwards, Elwyn Edwards, Thomas Ellis, Alan Jones Evans, Aled Evans, Gweno Glyn, Simon Glyn, Gwen Griffith, Selwyn Griffiths, Alwyn Gruffydd, Siân Gwenllian, Annwen Hughes, John Brynmor Hughes, Louise Hughes, Sian Wyn Hughes, Peredur Jenkins, Aeron M.Jones, Aled Wyn Jones, Anne Lloyd Jones, Brian Jones, Charles W.Jones, Eric Merfyn Jones, John Wynn Jones, Sion Wyn Jones, Eryl Jones-Williams, Beth Lawton, June Marshall, Dafydd Meurig, Dilwyn Morgan, Linda Morgan, Dewi Owen, Michael Sol Owen, W.Roy Owen, William Tudor Owen, Nigel Pickavance, Caerwyn Roberts, Gareth A.Roberts, John Pughe Roberts, W.Gareth Roberts, Angela Russell, Dyfrig Siencyn, Mike Stevens, Glyn Thomas, Ioan Thomas, Hefin Underwood, Ann Williams, Elfed Williams, Gruffydd Williams, Hefin Williams, Owain Williams, R.H.Wyn Williams, Mandy Williams-Davies and Eurig Wyn.

 

Abstentions: (0)

 

Against: (0)

 

RESOLVED

(a) To adopt the allocation of seats on the Council’s committees in accordance with the table below –

 

SCRUTINY COMMITTEES

 

	Plaid  Cymru	Independent	Llais Gwynedd	Labour	Liberal Democrats	Individual Member
Corporate	9	5	2	1	1
Communities	10	5	1	1	1
Services	10	4	2	1		1
Audit	10	5	2	1

 

OTHER COMMITTEES

 

	Plaid Cymru	Independent	Llais Gwynedd	Labour	Liberal Democrats	Individual Member
Democratic Services	8	4	2	1
Language	8	4	2	1
Planning	8	4	1	1	1
Central Licensing	8	5	2
Employment Appeals	3	1	1	1		1
Chief Officers Appointment	8	4	1	1	1
Number of seats	82	39	16	9	4	4	154

 

	Plaid Cymru			Independent		Llais Gwynedd		Labour		Liberal Democrats			Individual Member
Pensions	4			2		0		0		1
Local Joint Consultative Committee	6			2		1		2
Special Educational Needs Joint Committee	3			2		1							1
Joint Planning Policy Committee	4 (3 seats and one substitute)			2		1		1
SACRE	4			2		1
Total seats		103	49		20		12		5		5	194

 

(changes highlighted in grey)