Councillor Bob Price proposed and Councillor Jean Fooks seconded, and there being no other nominations, Council resolved that Councillor Mohammed Abbasi be elected as Lord Mayor of Oxford for the Council Year 2014/15.

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

Councillor Ed Turner proposed and Councillor Sam Hollick seconded, and there being no other nominations, Council resolved that Councillor Craig Simmons be elected as Deputy Lord Mayor of Oxford for the Council Year 2014/15.

Councillor Simmons made and subscribed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office.

Councillor Anne-Marie Canning proposed and Councillor Scott Seamons seconded, and there being no other nominations, Council resolved that Councillor Rae Humberstone be elected as Sheriff for the Council Year 2014/15.

Councillor Humberstone made and subscribed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Oscar Van Nooijen, Richard Tarver and Councillor David Thomas.

The Lord Mayor welcomed all newly elected Councillors to the Council.

The Chief Executive reminded the Council there was no need to re-elect the Leader of the Council (minute 7).

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 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.

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.

Councillor Price thanked Councillor Cook and Councillor Curran for their work on the City Executive Board over the last year and welcomed Councillor Sinclair and Councillor Simm onto the Board.

The Chief Executive recommends Council to reaffirm for the Council Year 2014/15 its agreement to the Council’s Scheme of Delegation set out in Section 5 of the Council’s Constitution.

Council resolved to reaffirm for the Council Year 2014/15 its agreement to the Council’s Scheme of Delegation set out in Section 5 of the Council’s Constitution.