The Head of Law and Governance will submit a report inviting Council to make appointments to committees following two by-elections on 27November. This report will be circulated with the briefing note.

Council agreed to appoint:

-       Councillor Rowley to the Standards Committee;

-       Councillor Smith to the Scrutiny Committee;

-       Councillor Henwood to the Licensing and Gambling Acts Committee;

and confirmed the appointment of Councillor Henwood to the Planning Review Committee.

Following two recent by-elections there is no change to the political balance of the Council. Linda Smith was elected to represent Blackbird Leys ward and Sian Taylor was elected to represent Northfield Brook.

Council is asked to make appointments from the Labour Group to the vacant seats as shown:

Standards Committee

Scrutiny Committee.

Licensing and Gambling Acts Committee.

Planning Review Committee –confirm appointment of Councillor David Henwood.

Following three recent by-elections there is no change to the political balance of the Council.

Councillor Gill Sanders is standing down from the Scrutiny Committee, leaving a vacancy.

Council is asked to make appointments from the Labour Group to the vacant seats as shown:

West Area Planning Committee – Councillor Alex Hollingsworth.

Scrutiny Committee –Councillor David Henwood.

Licensing and Gambling Acts Committee - Councillor Chewe Munkonge.

The Head of Law and Governance will submit a report which invites Council to make appointments to committees following three by-elections, the last on 18^th September. This report will be circulated with the briefing note.

Council had before it nominations for vacant places allocated to the Labour Group on West Area Planning, Scrutiny, and Licensing & Gambling Acts Committees.

Council agreed to appoint:

·         Councillor Alex Holingsworth to West Area Planning Committee;

·         Councillor David Henwood to Scrutiny Committee; and

·         Councillor Chewe Munkonge to Licensing and Gambling Acts Committee.

The Head of Law and Governance has submitted a report which invites Council to appointment Committees for the Council Year 2014/15 and Members to serve upon.

Council is asked:

(a)          Note the arrangements for determining Political Groups and achieving political balance within the Political Governance arrangements;

(b)          To appoint the bodies as currently defined within the Council’s constitution and included in the table at paragraph 9 of this report;

(c)          To agree the nominations to committees made by political groups and attached within a document circulated separately;

(d)          To appoint a member to the Joint Oxfordshire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee;

(e)          To agree that all members of Council will form the pool of members able to observe on appeals and some grievances;

(f)           To authorise the Head of Law and Governance to make any changes to the constitution as a consequence of these decisions. 

The Head of Law and Governance submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended) which invited Council to appoint Committees for the Council Year 2014/15 and Members to serve upon.

Councillor Fooks raised the issue that the opposition group only had one member on the Scrutiny Committee whilst the Green Party had two and this restricted their ability to effectively scrutinise the Executive. The administration stated that scrutiny work was not restricted to Scrutiny Committee members and that all opposition members could be involved in the scrutiny function.

Council resolved to:

(a)  Note the arrangements for determining Political Groups and achieving political balance within the Political Governance arrangements;

(b)  To appoint the bodies as currently defined within the Council’s constitution and included in the table at paragraph 9 of this report;

(c)  To agree the amended nominations to committees made by political groups (document attached)

(d)  To appoint a member to the Joint Oxfordshire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee;

(e)  To agree that all members of Council will form the pool of members able to observe on appeals and some grievances;

(f)   To authorise the Head of Law and Governance to make any changes to the constitution as a consequence of these decisions.

See pages 7-14 of the main agenda for the main report.

Appendix 2 of the report detailing Group nominations to Committees is attached to this Briefing Note.