Issue - meetings

The Council had before it the recommendation of the Executive in respect of a Notice of Motion submitted by Councillor Chrystie.  The Notice of Motion stated that:

“Following upon various issues arising recently and current apparent paucity of member involvement it is proposed that adjustments are made to the current classification practice as follows:

1.       Member input is vital and the Monitoring Officer must consult the Council Leader and Leader of the Opposition prior to making a decision upon a Part 2 designation.

2.       In all cases where there is a statutory requirement for confidentiality then the Monitoring Officer’s recommendation shall be automatically endorsed by the said 2 Councillors.

3.       The principle guiding Part 2 designations must be transparency is required unless there is a substantial material commercial reason for confidentiality.

4.       All matters deemed subject to Part 2 must be regularly reviewed and as soon as possible an item must be declassified (unless there is a statutory bar on declassification).”

The Executive had not supported the proposal and accordingly had recommended that the notice of motion should not be supported.  Councillor Chrystie spoke in support of the motion, noting that the topic would be considered by the next meeting of the Standards and Audit Committee and that no further debate would be necessary at this stage.

RESOLVED

That the Motion be not supported.

Reporting Person – Corporate Management Group

At its meeting on 13 February 2020, the Council referred the following Notice of Motion to the Executive.

Councillor G Chrystie

“Following upon various issues arising recently and current apparent paucity of member involvement it is proposed that adjustments are made to the current classification practice as follows:

1.       Member input is vital and the Monitoring Officer must consult the Council Leader and Leader of the Opposition prior to making a decision upon a Part 2 designation.

2.       In all cases where there is a statutory requirement for confidentiality then the Monitoring Officer’s recommendation shall be automatically endorsed by the said 2 Councillors.

3.       The principle guiding Part 2 designations must be transparency is required unless there is a substantial material commercial reason for confidentiality.

4.       All matters deemed subject to Part 2 must be regularly reviewed and as soon as possible an item must be declassified (unless there is a statutory bar on declassification).”

The Executive was not supportive of the Motion.  As set out in the Officer Comment, the Council’s procedures for dealing with Part II matters complied with the relevant statutory provisions and good practice.  If the Council sought to deal with matters in accordance with the Notice of Motion then this would not be the case.

RECOMMENDED to Council

That the Motion be not supported.

Reporting Person – Corporate Management Group