Summary
At the 16 May 2012 meeting of Council, members consider a report which proposed that the Chairman of the Council be paid an allowance. Council resolved to request the Resources and Performance Scrutiny Board to review the proposal and make recommendations to the July meeting of Council.
The Democratic and Elections Manager will be present at the meeting to answer any specific questions. A briefing pack will be circulated to Members under separate cover.
Recommendation
The Resources and Performance Scrutiny Board is recommended to consider the information and to frame appropriate recommendations to Council.
Minutes:
The Chairman welcomed the Democratic and Elections Manager to the meeting and explained that at the 16 May 2012 meeting of Council, members consider a report which proposed that the Chairman of the Council be paid an allowance. Council resolved to request the Resources and Performance Scrutiny Board to review the proposal and make recommendations to the July meeting of Council.
The Democratic and Elections Manager advised the Board that the purpose of the allowance was to cover out of pocket expenses. At present the Council Chairman was able to claim expenses however this provision was infrequently used as it was time consuming and unclear what could and could not be claimed. The proposed allowance would be payable for the ceremonial role played by the Chairman, as permitted by the Local Government Act 1972. The Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) had considered the payment of a special responsibility allowance (SRA) to the Council Chairman for the administrative part of the role but determined that it was relatively formulaic and therefore did not warrant an SRA. The IRP would review this again in 2012/13 as part of the annual review of Members’ Allowance Scheme.
In considering the proposal to pay an allowance to the Council Chairman, Members agreed that an allowance should be paid and commented that whilst the proposal to the 16 May 2012 Council meeting to pay £2000 was a relatively modest sum, it was important to be transparent about what it would cover. The position of Council Chairman was a position of honour and no member should feel unable to accept the opportunity due to concerns about the potential personal financial cost.
Councillor Rose Stratford, a former Cherwell District Council’s Chairman, advised the Board that she had claimed travel expenses but not for expenditure at events such as buying raffle tickets. As Mayor of Bicester Town Council, a Mayor’s allowance was included in the annual budget to cover all of the Mayor’s expenditure excluding tickets for events which were paid for from a civic budget.
The Board noted the comments of the 2011/12 Cherwell District Council Chairman in relation to the proposal to pay a Chairman’s allowance. Members agreed that it would be useful to have feedback from the five past Chairman on the expenses they have claimed, any out of pocket expense they incurred during their term of office and any additional comments to inform the Board’s deliberations.
Members noted that information that had been circulated pertaining to allowances paid to Civic Heads at other local authorities and that this varied considerably. Members agreed that it would be useful to have further information from neighbouring district councils detailing what their Chairman’s allowance covers and what other civic budgets they have.
In response to Members’ questions on the Civic Ceremonial budget, the Democratic and Elections Manager provided clarification on the different elements of the budget and confirmed that he would liaise with Finance Officers to seek to simplify the terminology which was currently open to misinterpretation.
In terms of the payment of a Special Responsibility Allowance to the Chairman under the Members’ Allowance Scheme, Members agreed that they should include a recommendation asking the Independent Remuneration Panel to consider the payment of a special responsibility allowance to the Council Chairman for the administrative element of the role, i.e. chairing meetings.
In terms of the payment of an allowance to the Council Chairman for the civic element of the role, Members agreed that it was extremely important that a Scheme of Reference be developed to ensure transparency to the public about what was and was not covered by the allowance. The Scheme would also provide clarity for the Council Chairman.
Members agreed that, in principle, an allowance should be paid to the Council Chairman but resolved to defer framing recommendations to Council to enable further consideration of the matter with supplementary information. It was agreed that the 10 July 2012 meeting of the Performance Scrutiny Working Group would be changed to a full Resources and Performance Scrutiny Board meeting to enable timely further consideration of the proposal and recommendations to be submitted to the 16 July 2012 Council meeting.
Resolved
(1) That the 10 July 2012 meeting of the Performance Scrutiny Working Group be changed to a full meeting of the Resources and Performance Scrutiny Board to allow further consideration of the proposal to pay an allowance to the Chairman of the Council.
(2) That the following supplementary information be provided to the 10 July 2012 meeting to inform the Board’s deliberations: Feedback from the past five Cherwell District Council Chairman; Further information of the allowances claimed by the Council Chairman of neighbouring district councils; Proposals for a scheme of reference for what the Chairman’s allowance should cover; and, a comparison of the work undertaken by the Chairman that would fall within a special responsibility allowance and that which would fall in the ceremonial role.