The Governance Committee of Lewisham Council met on Tuesday 04 March 2025 at 7pm and resolved to recommend a series of amendments to the Lewisham Council constitution¹ to the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Council on 7 May 2025. The amendments would remove Local Assemblies from the constitution, reduce the number of topics that can be discussed at Extraordinary General Meetings (EGMs) of the council, limit the length of time given over to motions at council meetings, and prevent Cabinet Advisors from being members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Proposed changes to the Council's rules

The committee discussed feedback from a workshop for Councillors about the constitution that had taken place on 20 February 2025. The feedback suggested that there was support for a number of changes to the procedural rules of the council, each of which is described below:

Deletion of Local Assemblies

The committee considered whether Local Assemblies should be retained in the Constitution.

There were mixed views regarding the need for local assemblies to be retained in the Constitution and whether the budget saving had been taken at the time of the workshop

The council officers explained that there is no legal requirement for Local Assemblies to be included in the constitution, and that Mayor & Cabinet had already recommended that the Local Assemblies be abolished as a cost-saving measure.

The committee resolved to remove all references to Local Assemblies from the constitution.

Urgency powers for the Chief Executive

The committee considered whether to grant the Chief Executive the power to make urgent decisions without referring them to elected councillors in exceptional circumstances. Similar powers already exist in the constitutions of other London boroughs including Newham, Tower Hamlets and Hackney.

Overall, there was support for urgency provisions to be included provided the appropriate safeguards were in place, e.g, prior consultation and reporting any use of the powers to a future meeting of Mayor & Cabinet or Council as appropriate

The committee resolved to recommend to the AGM that the Chief Executive should be granted powers to make urgent decisions, on the condition that wherever possible they consult with the Mayor in advance of making executive decisions, and the Speaker in advance of making non-executive decisions. The Chief Executive would also be required to report all use of these powers to the next meeting of either Mayor & Cabinet or the full council, as appropriate.

Motions on notice

The committee considered whether to change the rules around motions on notice. At present, any councillor can submit a motion for debate at a council meeting, and the motions are debated in the order they are received. The changes would restrict the number of motions that could be submitted by each political group, limit the time available for discussion of motions, and change the order in which they are debated.

There was strong support for the following:

• A restriction on the number of motions per political group and/or independent member to one; • A time limit on motions overall – 30 minutes being the preferred option to be in line with public questions and councillor questions; • That the order of motions should not be on a first come, first served basis – the preferred option being: administration, largest opposition group, second largest opposition group, etc. • That in order to be included on the agenda, the seconder for the motion should be included in the notification to the Proper Officer.

The committee resolved to recommend to the AGM that the rules be changed so that each political group can only submit one motion per meeting, that the maximum time spent debating motions be limited to 30 minutes, that the motions be debated in order of the size of the political groups, and that motions require a seconder in order to be accepted.

Extraordinary General Meeting provisions

The committee considered whether to restrict the range of business that can be discussed at EGMs. At present, public questions, councillor questions and motions on notice are all permitted.

There was strong support for Extraordinary meetings of Council to be restricted to only the business that led to the meeting being called and any other urgent business, i.e. no announcements, petitions, public questions, member questions or motions on notice.

The committee resolved to recommend to the AGM that the rules be changed so that EGMs can only consider the business that led to the meeting being called, and any other urgent business. Public questions, councillor questions, motions on notice, petitions, and announcements would no longer be permitted.

Budget Council Meeting provisions

The committee considered whether to restrict the range of business that can be discussed at Budget Council Meetings, which are the meetings where the council agrees its budget and council tax levels.

There was strong support for the Budget meeting of Council to be restricted to only the Budget reports and any other urgent business, i.e. no announcements, petitions, public questions, member questions or motions on notice

The committee resolved to recommend to the AGM that the rules be changed so that Budget Council Meetings can only consider the budget reports, and any other urgent business. Public questions, councillor questions, motions on notice, petitions, and announcements would no longer be permitted.

Councillor questions

The committee considered whether to change the rules relating to councillor questions.

• Overall support for the time available for councillor questions to remain at 30 minutes and for two questions per councillor remaining; • Strong support that the order of questions should not be on a first come, first served basis – the preferred option being: administration, largest opposition group, second largest opposition group, etc, independent . • Strong support for all first questions to be dealt with before any second questions are dealt with.

The committee resolved to recommend to the AGM that the order in which councillor questions are asked should be changed to follow the size of the political groups. They also agreed that all first questions should be asked and answered before any second questions are permitted.

Guillotine provisions

The committee considered whether to strengthen the rules governing the maximum length of council meetings.

There was strong support for clearer guillotine provisions to be adopted – with the following being preferred: The current item under debate immediately put to the vote; All outstanding reports voted on without debate; Any remaining motions fall and are not carried forward to a future Council meeting.

The committee resolved to recommend to the AGM that the rules be changed to create clearer guillotine provisions. The provisions would mean that if a council meeting overruns its allotted time, the item currently under discussion would be put to the vote immediately. All remaining reports would be voted on without further debate. Any outstanding motions would fall, and would not be carried over to a future meeting.

Appointment of chairs and vice chairs

The committee considered whether the chairs and vice chairs of council committees should be appointed by the full council at its AGM, or by the committees themselves at their first meeting of the municipal year.

• Strong support for the Annual General Meeting of the Council to appoint chairs, Vice-Chairs and membership for all committees and sub committees.

The committee resolved to recommend to the AGM that it should be responsible for appointing the chairs and vice chairs of all of the council committees at its AGM.

Disapplying certain council procedure rules to committees

The committee considered whether to clarify that certain council procedure rules do not apply to meetings of council committees.

• Strong support for the Council Procedure Rules and Committee Procedure Rules to confirm that the Council Procedure Rules relating to Extraordinary Meetings, Council Urgency Committee, Public Questions, Member Questions, Petitions and Motions on Notice do not apply to Committees.

The committee resolved to recommend to the AGM that the rules should be changed to confirm that the rules relating to Extraordinary General Meetings, the Council Urgency Committee, public questions, councillor questions, petitions and motions on notice do not apply to meetings of the council committees.

Proposed changes to Overview & Scrutiny

The committee made a series of recommendations about changes to the rules governing Overview & Scrutiny. Overview and Scrutiny is the name given to the function of committees of councillors whose job it is to scrutinise the decisions and actions of the executive. In Lewisham, the executive is the Mayor and Cabinet.

Cabinet Advisors

The committee considered whether Cabinet Advisors should be allowed to be members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, or the Select Committees. Cabinet Advisors are unelected councillors who are appointed by the Mayor to support the work of the Cabinet.

There were mixed views on whether Cabinet Advisors should be able to sit on the Overview & Scrutiny Committee or Select Committees. Opinions ranged from no councillor appointed by the Mayor to any executive function should have a role in scrutiny to there isn’t an issue with it;

The committee resolved to recommend to the AGM that Cabinet Advisors should not be allowed to be members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. It agreed that they should be allowed to be members of Select Committees, but not any committees where the work of the committee conflicts with the portfolio of the Cabinet Advisor.

Call-in

The committee considered the rules around the call-in process. Call-in is the name given to the process by which the Overview and Scrutiny Committee can force the Mayor and Cabinet to reconsider a decision.

• There was full support that any request for call-in should include specific and reasonable reasons for call-in; • There was support for all executive decisions to be subject to call-in rules with the exception of decisions (a) to note reports, and (b) to recommend matters for onward consideration and decision by Council; • There was overall support that the current threshold for call-in should be amended. The appropriate number of councillors required to trigger a valid call-in was discussed and whilst there was no unanimous view, a minimum number of councillors appeared to be the preferred trigger; • A question was asked regarding who determines valid reasons for call-in. The Monitoring Officer confirmed they would consider the application to call-in and should they be minded to reject the call-in, there would be an obligation to first consult with the chair of Overview & Scrutiny Committee.

The committee resolved to recommend to the AGM that:

• requests for call-in should include specific and reasonable reasons
• the Monitoring Officer should consider the validity of any call-in request and consult with the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee before rejecting any request
• all executive decisions should be subject to the call-in rules except for decisions to note reports, and decisions to recommend matters to the full council
• at least 7 councillors who are not members of the executive should be required to make a valid call-in request

Additional budget consultation

The Committee considered the rule that gives the Overview and Scrutiny committee the power to conduct its own budget consultation, in addition to the budget consultation conducted by the Mayor and Cabinet.

• There was support for the removal of the additional budget consultation provisons;

The committee resolved to recommend to the AGM that this power be removed.

Call-in referrals to full council

The committee considered the rule that requires the full council to meet within 10 days of an Overview and Scrutiny call-in referral. At present, there are some circumstances in which the Overview and Scrutiny committee can refer an executive decision to the full council for a final decision. The current rules state that the council must then meet within 10 days. The committee discussed whether this time period should be extended.

• There was support for an extension of the 10 pay period for a Council meeting being held following a call-in referral for a matter outside the Budget & Policy Framework.

The committee resolved to recommend to the AGM that this period be extended to 21 days.