The meeting was scheduled for a discussion of the proposed adoption of a new version of Surrey County Council's Constitution.

Adoption of new Constitution

The report pack provided to attendees for the meeting includes Surrey County Council’s proposed new constitution. This document sets out how the council is run, how decisions are made, financial management, and public access to meetings and information.

The report states that Surrey County Council has agreed a Constitution which sets out how the Council operates, how decisions are made and the procedures which are followed to ensure that these are efficient, transparent and accountable to local people. The proposed new constitution contains more detail than the previous version, explaining that Some of these processes are required by the law, while others are a matter for the Council to determine.

The report goes on to summarise the various parts of the constitution. It says that The Constitution is divided into 14 Articles which set out the basic rules governing the Council's business. The report also explains how the council operates and how decisions are made, saying that All councillors meet together as the Council. Meetings of the Council are normally open to the public. Here councillors decide the Council’s overall policies and set the budget each year. It also explains that The Leader of the Council is responsible for most day-to-day decisions and that These decisions can be delegated to a Cabinet, individual Cabinet Members, Local Committees, individual local Members, or officers.

The proposed new constitution also contains detail about Overview and scrutiny, saying that There are a number of select committees which between them support the work of the Leader/Cabinet and the Council as a whole. They are responsible for advice and policy development, and for the scrutiny of decisions on executive functions. The report also explains that these committees can ‘call-in’ a decision which has been made but not yet implemented. This enables them to consider whether the decision is appropriate. They may recommend that the decision is reconsidered by the decision maker.

The report also summarises The public's rights, explaining that they have a number of rights in their dealings with the Council. It says that Some of these are legal rights, whilst others depend on the Council’s own processes, and provides examples of the rights of the public.

The report also summarises the Policy Framework, Principles of decision making, Decision making by committees acting as tribunals and Budget.