Councillor Laurence Baxter proposed and Councillor Saj Malik seconded, and there being no other nominations, Council resolved that Councillor Dee Sinclair be elected as Lord Mayor of Oxford for the Council Year 2013/14.

Councillor Sinclair took the Chair from Councillor Abbasi and then made and subscribed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office.

Councillor Graham Jones proposed and Councillor Elise Benjamin seconded, and there being no other nominations, Council resolved that Councillor Tony Brett be appointed Deputy Lord Mayor of Oxford for the Council Year 2013/14.

Councillor Brett then made and subscribed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office.

Councillor  Bob Price proposed and Councillor Jean Fooks seconded, and there being no other nominations, Council resolved to appoint Councillor Mohammed Abbasi Sheriff of Oxford and Conservator of Port Meadow and City Fisheries for the Council Year 2013/14.

Councillor Abbasi then made and subscribed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Campbell, McCready and Simmons.

The Lord Mayor made three announcements:-

(1)               That Chris Scanlan, a Liberal Democrat Councillor for Barton and Sandhills between 2006 and 2010 had died recently.  Could stood for a minute in silent memory.

(2)               That at the City bye-elections on 2^nd May 2013 Susan Brown had been elected as councillor for Churchill Ward and Michele Paule had been elected councillor for Rose Hill and Iffley Ward.  The Lord Mayor welcomed both councillors to their first Council meeting and Council congratulated the councillors on their election.

(3)               That her Mayoral charities would be Crisis Skylight and Maggies.  

The Chief Executive made two announcements:-

(1)               The first in the new series of members’ briefings would take place on 22^nd May starting at 6.00 pm.  Code of conduct refresher training would take place on 23^rd May starting at 5.30 pm

(2)       To thank David Edwards (Executive Director, City Regeneration and Housing) and Steve Sprason (former Head of Corporate Property) for their work on the Westgate redevelopment project that had culminated a few days ago in the signing of the development agreement.

At the Annual Meeting of Council in 2012 (minute 9) Council elected Councillor Price as Leader of the Council for a four year term to 2016, as the law requires.

Council noted that at the Annual Meeting of Council in 2012 (minute 9) it had elected Councillor Price as Leader of the Council for a four year term to 2016, as the law required.

The Head of Law and Governance has submitted a report which invites Council to appoint committees for the Council Year 2013/14 and members to serve upon.

Council is asked:

(a)       To appoint a Licensing Committee (last year called the Licensing and Gambling Acts Committee) to discharge the responsibilities contained in the Licensing Act 2003 and the Gambling Act 2005, with powers and duties as set out in paragraphs 5.4 and 5.5 of the Constitution and members to it.

(b)       To consider the appointment of an East Area Planning Committee, a West Area Planning Committee, a Planning Review Committee, an Audit and Governance Committee, a General Purposes Licensing Committee, a Standards Committee, an Appointments Committee and a Disciplinary Committee for the Chief Executive, Directors and Heads of Service (each of these committees were appointed for the 2012 - 13 Council Year), with powers and duties as set out in Sections 5 and 7 of the Constitution, and members to serve upon them (and with one co-opted member on the Standards Committee, namely a parish council member from one of the Oxford parish councils to represent parish council interests).

(c)        To appoint at least one scrutiny committee and members to serve upon it.

(d)       To consider whether to appoint a pool of members to be the observer representative on appeals bodies as described in paragraph 4 of this report.

(e)       To appoint a member to the Oxfordshire Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee – paragraph 5 of this report refers.

(f)         To authorise the Head of Law and Governance to make any changes to the Constitution in consequence of Council’s decisions on committee appointments and powers and duties.

NOTE: The appendix to this report will be circulated later once the Party Groups have decided who to appoint to Committees.

The Head of Law and Governance submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended) which invited Council to appoint Committees for the Council Year 2013/14 and member to serve on them.

Council resolved:

(1)       To appoint a Licensing Committee (to be called the Licensing and Gambling Acts Committee) to discharge the responsibilities contained in the Licensing Act 2003 and the Gambling Act 2005, with powers and duties as set out in paragraphs 5.4 and 5.5 of the Constitution and with a membership as set out in the appendix to these minutes;

(b)       To appoint an East Area Planning Committee, a West Area Planning Committee, a Planning Review Committee, an Audit and Governance Committee, a General Purposes Licensing Committee, a Standards Committee, an Appointments Committee and a Disciplinary Committee for the Chief Executive, Directors and Heads of Service, with powers and duties as set out in Sections 5 and 7 of the Constitution, and members to serve upon them (and with one co-opted member on the Standards Committee, namely a parish council member from one of the Oxford parish councils to represent parish council interests) as set out in the appendix to these minutes;

(c)        To appoint one scrutiny committee to discharge the Council’s scrutiny responsibilities with a membership as set out in the appendix to these minutes;

(d)       That all members of Council should constitute the pool of members from which an observer representative would be invited to observe at appeals bodies as described in paragraph 4 of the report;

(e)       To appoint Councillor Susanna Pressel to the Oxfordshire Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee;

(f)         To authorise the Head of Law and Governance to make any changes to the Constitution in consequence of Council’s decisions on committee appointments and powers and duties.

Council will receive a report from the Leader on the appointment of the Deputy Leader of the Council, the appointment of Board Members and the Executive Scheme of Delegation.

The Leader of the Council (Councillor Price) informed Council of the Board Members for 2013/14 along with their portfolios:-

Councillor Bob Price (Leader)

Councillor Ed Turner (Deputy Leader)

Councillor Susan Brown – Benefits and Customer Services

Councillor Bev Clack – Youth and Communities

Councillor Pat Kennedy – Education, Crime and Community Safety

Councillor Mark Lygo – Parks, Sports and Events

Councillor Mike Rowley – Leisure Services

Councillor Scott Seamons – Housing

Councillor John Tanner – Cleaner Greener Oxford

The Leader also reported that the Executive Scheme of Delegation would, for 2013/14, be as contained in Section 4 of the Constitution.

The Chief Executive recommends Council to reaffirm for the Council Year 2013/14 its agreement to the Council’s Scheme of Delegation set out in Section 5 of the Council’s Constitution.

Council agreed to reaffirm for the Council Year 2013/14 the Council’s Scheme of Delegation as set out in Section 5 of the Council’s Constitution.