This meeting concerned the proposed changes to the Surrey County Council constitution. The document was presented for discussion and decision.

Part 3, Section 3 Part 3A - Specific Delegations to Officers

This section of the constitution describes the specific functions of the council (both executive and non-executive) that are delegated to named officers. Changes made at this meeting to this document concerned updates to contact details for officers and members, and changes to their responsibilities. In particular, the following changes were made:

• The Deputy Chief Executive, Mr Michael Coughlin, will now be responsible for signing settlement claims in excess of £100,000, along with the Executive Director of Resources.
• The Director of Finance – Corporate & Commercial, Ms Anna D’Alessandro, and the Director of Finance – Insight & Performance are now jointly responsible for approving the sale of land and buildings with a value of between £500,000 and £1,000,000.
  
• The threshold for Cabinet Member approval for the acquisition and disposal of land has been raised from £250,000 to £1,000,000.
• The Director of Education and Lifelong Learning now has the authority to approve school loans of less than £500,000 and to licence school deficits of up to 5% of a school’s budget.

Part 3 - Section 3 Part 3B - Specific Delegations to Officers - Orbis

This section concerns the specific functions that are delegated to officers of the Orbis partnership. No changes were made to this document.

Part 4 – Standing Orders

Standing Orders are rules that the council must follow in its work. These were changed in relation to the timing of the publication of written responses to councillor questions. Written responses are to be circulated to councillors by email during the working day before a council meeting. If the day before the council meeting is a Bank Holiday, the responses will be circulated on the previous Friday.

Part 7 - Members Allowances Scheme

This section describes the allowances paid to councillors for carrying out their work. There are several types of allowance:

• Basic Allowance - paid to every councillor
• Special Responsibility Allowance - paid to councillors with specific roles like leader of the council or chair of a committee
• Travelling and Subsistence Allowance - paid to reimburse councillors for travelling and other expenses associated with their role
• Childcare Allowance - paid to enable councillors with children to undertake their role
• Dependant Carers Allowance - paid to enable councillors with dependants to undertake their role

Several changes were made to the amounts of these allowances at this meeting. The changes reflect an annual adjustment to compensate for inflation.

From May 2025, the Council will provide Councillors with a £300 one-off payment for “bespoke IT solutions”.

Part 8 – Management Structure

This part of the constitution describes the management structure of Surrey County Council.

Ms Helen Coombes is now the Interim Executive Director of Adult Social Care and Integrated Commissioning.

The Interim Head of Paid Service and the Interim Section 151 Officer and Executive Director of Finance and Corporate Resources are now both permanently in these positions.