Agenda item

To accept the report and progress and request a further report to the February Committee

DECISION:

1.    To accept the report

2.    To accept the progress on the Work Programme

3.    Request for a further update to Committee in February 2023

a)    A report was submitted by the Head of Legal Services (Monitoring Officer) noting, following Royal Assent, that the provisions of the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021 had now come into force and although some elements of the Statutory Guidance are to be published, it will not be expected for these to divert significantly from the drafts consulted upon. In response to the requirements of the Act, reference was made to the work programme that had already been set within the Council's Corporate Risk Register with the Governance and Audit Committee keeping an overview and assurance on the actions required to act upon the provisions.

Reference was made to three work fields, the Public Participation Strategy, the Petitions Scheme and Constitution Guidelines, which need to be moved on by conducting a consultation process.

Thanks were expressed for the report.

b)    In response to a question regarding the Council's right to choose a Majority Voting or Single Transferable Vote (STV) procedure, and considering that Gwynedd, in the 2022 election, had the highest number of Councillors elected unopposed, the Monitoring Officer noted that this was an opportunity for Gwynedd to decide how to respond to the choice. He reiterated that adapting the current process would include a detailed review of the situation, that would likely include a review of boundaries, substantial procedural adaptation and consultation as statutory elements. The choice before members was to consider commencing the process or not - there would be a need to come to an opinion on how to deal with the option.

In response to a supplementary question, from the response of other Authorities to the matter, he expressed that other Authorities were in a similar position of considering opening discussions.

In response to the question on appointing Lay Members, it was expressed that the process was now a continuous one. It was accepted that there were two vacant seats on the Committee and in response, it was noted that despite the second advertisement, that no interest had been shown. It was reiterated that the posts would remain open and the closing date would be extended and the Members were encouraged, if they knew of anyone who was interested, to refer the name to the Head of Finance.

In response to a question regarding the features of the Participation Strategy, it was noted that there now was a statutory duty to encourage participation with decisions that had been made and that this was being implemented by sharing information on the website, such as decision notices and forward work programmes. The aim was to create a procedure that addressed the duty, without being a burdensome system.

In response to an observation about the consultation process, and that this was to be welcomed, a Member highlighted that there was a need to avoid undermining the democratic process.  He noted that Members had been elected to represent the population and he expressed concern that the procedures could overtake the democratic process.  In response to the comment, the Monitoring Officer noted that the consultation process should support the Democratic process - the role of Members was to take responsibility for functions and so the consultative role should be supportive of these considerations.

c)    It was proposed and seconded to accept the report

            RESOLVED:

            1.         To accept the report

            2.         To accept the progress on the Work Programme

            3.         Request for a further update to Committee in February 2023