Agenda Item No______17______
NORTH NORFOLK DISTRICT COUNCIL CONSTITUTION
Summary:
Section 9P of the Local Government Act 2000 requires
every Local Authority to prepare and keep up to date a
document referred to as its constitution.
Conclusions:
The North Norfolk District Council's current constitution
requires some revision and updating to take account of
changes made by the Localism Act 2011 (in particular to
the Standards and Conduct regime), the management
restructuring at the Council and consequential
amending and tidying of the wording.
Recommendations:
1. To instruct the Monitoring Officer in consultation with
the Chief Executive Officer and the Constitution
Working Party to make the required changes as
described in this report to the Council’s Constitution
2. To confirm the appointment of the Head of Financial
Services as the Council’s designated officer for the
purposes of section 151 of the Local Government
Act 1972.
Cabinet Member(s)
Ward(s) affected
All
All
Contact Officer, telephone number and email: Contact Officer, telephone number and
email: David Johnson, david.johnson@norfolk.gov.uk
1.
Introduction
Section 9P of the Local Government Act 2000 requires every Local Authority
to prepare and keep up to date a document referred to as its constitution
which must contain:•
a copy of the Authority's standing orders for the time being;
•
a copy of the Authority's Code of Conduct (if any) for the time being;
•
such information as the Secretary of State may direct;
•
such other information (if any) as the Authority considers appropriate.
Copies of the constitution must be available at the Council offices and
available on demand to any person requesting a copy.
3. Changes
The North Norfolk District Council's current constitution requires some revision
and updating to take account of changes made by the Localism Act 2011 (in
particular to the Standards and Conduct regime), the management restructuring
at the Council and consequential amending and tidying of the wording.
4.
Governance
The first area which requires some amending is to the provisions concerning
the election and dismissal of the Leader of the Council. The provisions of the
Local Government Act 2000 amended by the Localism Act 2011 impose
requirements upon an authority operating executive arrangements.
The Council has a Leader and Executive form of governance arrangements
which means that its constitution must now include provision with respect to
the election of the executive leader, including provision for an election where
there is a vacancy in the office of executive leader, and provision for the
council to remove the executive leader by resolution.
If a council passes a resolution to remove the executive leader, a new
executive leader is to be elected at the meeting at which the leader is
removed from office, or at a subsequent meeting.
5.
Standards and Conduct
The replacement of the Local Government Act 2000 Standards and Conduct
regime by that contained in the Localism Act 2011 also needs to be reflected
in the constitution. Members have already approved a Code of Conduct and
arrangements for investigating breaches of the Code. These newly adopted
provisions will go into the constitution in place of the superseded ones.
6.
Management Restructure
Following a restructure of the senior management of the authority references
to officer posts and titles will need to be revised to reflect the new structure.
The Chief Executive Officer is currently also the Council’s designated officer
for the purposes of section 151 of the Local Government Act 1972 (financial
propriety role). It is inappropriate that these two roles be held by one officer
so under the restructure the Chief Executive officer has designated Karen Sly
to be the Council’s Section 151 Officer and Council’s endorsement to this
appointment is sought.
7.
Recommendations
1. To instruct the Monitoring Officer in consultation with the Chief Executive
Officer and the Constitution Working Party to make the required changes
as described in this report to the Council’s Constitution
2. To confirm the appointment of the Head of Financial Services as the
Council’s designated officer for the purposes of section 151 of the Local
Government Act 1972.