Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Reverend Canon M Cooper and Councillor M T Tibby.

To receive any declarations of interest Members may wish to make including the term(s) of the Grant of Dispensation(s) by the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes be confirmed as a true record.

At its meeting on 27 October 2005, members of the Independent Remuneration Panel had considered a request for an allowance for the Deputy Leader of the New England Party. Councillor M T Tibby had submitted a letter outlining the request and had given further details at the meeting. The Panel had been unable to reach a decision at that meeting and had requested that further information be provided.

The Head of Finance and Resources introduced the report, which provided additional information for the Panel. He drew the Panel’s attention to the pages which showed how other authorities, in similar situations, paid their Leaders and Deputies.

The Panel felt that it was not possible to consider an allowance for the Deputy Leader of the New England Party, without also considering a similar allowance for the Leader of the New England Party.

The Panel recognised that Councillor Tibby, Leader of the New England Party, did now have additional responsibilities, and that in Councillor Tibby’s absence, Councillor Brooker, Deputy Leader of the New England Party, took over those responsibilities. However, having discussed these responsibilities with Councillor Tibby at the meeting on 27 October 2005, and taking into account the guidance provided by the Office of Deputy Prime Minister, together with the associated regulations, the Panel did not think that the additional responsibility was significant enough to warrant a special responsibility allowance.

The Panel noted that Councillor Tibby’s request had looked to the future, when his, and maybe other smaller political parties, might form a more significant proportion of the overall Council membership. The Panel considered that in such circumstances the additional work of the Leader and Deputy of a smaller party may be significant and warrant a special responsibility allowance.

The Head of Finance and Resources said that it had been 4 years since the last review of the Members’ Allowances Scheme and that best practice recommended a review every four years. He suggested that the Panel take the opportunity at the next review to consider a scheme that could take account of the current configuration and allow for the possible existence of smaller political groups on the Council. A formula based allowance scheme, similar to that currently being used by Medway Council, was suggested as a possible solution. The Panel felt that any revisions to the current Scheme should not be finalised until after the Local Government elections in May 2007, to ensure that it took account of the actual, post election, political make up of the Council.

RESOLVED:

To recommend to the Council that:

1.  That no special responsibility allowance be paid to the Deputy Leader of the New England Party.

2.  That in view of the passage of time since the Members' Allowance Scheme was adopted by the Council, a thorough review of the scheme should take place in 2006/07.

3.  That in view of the increasing number of political groups now standing in local government elections, the allowances paid to Leaders and Deputy Leaders of political groups  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.