This meeting was about the possible adoption of a new version of the Wandsworth Council Constitution¹. The document pack included for discussion was an updated version of the Council's Constitution, last updated in August 2024.

Summary and Explanation

The summary and explanation section of the constitution says that the purpose of the constitution is

to:

(i) enable the Council to provide clear leadership to the community in partnership with citizens, businesses and other organisations;

(ii) support the active involvement of citizens in the process of local authority decision making;

(iii) help Councillors represent their constituents more effectively;

(iv) enable decisions to be taken openly, efficiently and effectively;

(v) create a powerful and effective means of holding decision-makers to public account;

(vi) ensure that no one will review or scrutinise a decision in which they were directly involved;

(vii) ensure that those responsible for decision-making are clearly identifiable to local people and that they explain the reasons for decisions; and

(viii) provide a means of improving the delivery of services to the community.

Rights of Citizens

The summary and explanation section of the document pack contains a description of the rights of citizens in Wandsworth. It says that residents have a number of rights in their dealings with the Council, including the right to:

• vote at local elections if they are registered
• contact their local councillor
• obtain a copy of the Constitution
• attend meetings of the Council, the Executive and any committees or sub-committees except where confidential or exempt matters are being discussed
• petition to request a referendum on a mayoral form of Executive
• raise issues of concern with the overview and scrutiny committees by the submission of petitions or deputations
• find out from the Forward Plan what decisions are to be discussed by the Executive or decided by the Executive or officers, and when
• see reports and background papers, and any record of decisions made by the Council, and Executive and any committees or sub-committees except where a confidential or exempt matter would be discussed
• make suggestions or complaints to the Council about its services and the way they are provided
• complain to the Local Government Ombudsman² if they think the Council has not followed its procedures properly. However, they should do this only after using the Council’s own complaints process
• complain to the Council’s Standards Committee if they have evidence which they think shows that a councillor has not followed the Members’ Code of Conduct
• inspect the Council’s accounts and make their views known to the external auditor
• draw attention to suspicions of fraud, corruption or impropriety affecting Council affairs.

How the Council Works

The report pack also contains a description of the arrangements made by the Council for its operation. It says that Wandsworth Council is made up of 60 councillors elected every four years. All councillors are required to follow a local code of conduct. The Standards Committee has responsibility for promoting high standards of conduct.

Councillors meet together as the Council. Council meetings are open to the public. At these meetings councillors decide the Council’s overall policies and budgets.

The Council elects the Leader for a four-year term. The Leader appoints other members of the Executive (Cabinet members) and also decides on the delegation of Executive powers. The Executive is responsible for all the functions of the Council that are not decided by the full Council or delegated by the Council to regulatory and other committees. The Council appoints overview and scrutiny committees to consider all reports on services.

Joint arrangements

The report pack describes the arrangements that Wandsworth has made with Richmond Council for the provision of services to residents. It says that Wandsworth and Richmond Councils have entered into a Shared Staffing Arrangement under which most services are managed by senior staff who work across both Councils. It says that the Executive may establish joint arrangements with one or more local authorities to exercise functions.

Responsibilities for functions

The document pack also contains detailed descriptions of the responsibilities for functions of the various parts of the Council, as well as descriptions of the delegated authorities given to officers. It lists the functions of the Council that must be carried out by the Full Council.

The report pack includes for discussion a document that describes the terms of reference of the Overview and Scrutiny Committees, which are as follows:

• Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee
• Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee
• Children’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee
• Finance Overview and Scrutiny Committee
• Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee
• Transport Overview and Scrutiny Committee

The report pack describes the terms of reference for the Executive, which is to carry out all of the Council’s functions that are not the responsibility of any other part of the Council.

The report pack also describes the terms of reference of the following Regulatory and Other Committees:

• Audit Committee
• General Purposes Committee
• Licensing Committee
• Planning Applications Committee
• Regulatory Licensing Committee

The report pack describes the terms of reference of the Standards Committee³. It also contains a summary of the process for dealing with complaints of alleged misconduct by a Member, which must be made in writing and relate to the Members’ Code of Conduct.

The report pack contains a Scheme of Delegation describing the delegations of authority to officers to carry out specific functions of the Council.