This meeting was scheduled to include, amongst other things, the potential establishment of a new advisory panel and a report on complaints made against Councillors. Councillors were also scheduled to receive a report on decisions made by officers under urgency procedures.

Establishment of Constitution Advisory Panel

The Standards and Governance Committee were scheduled to discuss a proposal to establish a new advisory panel: the Constitution Advisory Panel.

This new panel would support the work of the Standards and Governance Committee in maintaining the Nottingham City Council Constitution.

The proposal included the following description of the purpose of the new panel:

The remit of the Panel is to: a) consider proposals from councillors, officers and commissioners on areas of the Constitution to review; b) review the Councillor Officer Protocol; c) advise the Standards and Governance Committee on proposed amendments to the Constitution; and d) consider activity needed to raise awareness and understanding of the Constitution.

Specifically, the agenda suggests that the Committee were scheduled to discuss whether to adopt the proposed Terms of Reference for the new panel, which are included in the report pack.

The most significant change that the committee were scheduled to consider was to the council's Contract Procedure Rules . These determine how the council makes purchasing decisions. The agenda suggests that this was in order to [e]nsure compliance with new procurement legislation taking effect from the end of February 2025 .

The agenda also suggests that the committee were scheduled to consider changes to the council's procedures for the recruitment of Chief Officers, its Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules , its Standing Orders and Committee Procedures , and its Financial Regulations .

The agenda suggests that the meeting was also scheduled to discuss a number of smaller changes to the council's constitution.

Councillor Complaints

The Director of Legal and Governance and Monitoring Officer was scheduled to present a report to the meeting summarising complaints made against Councillors since the last meeting of the Committee on the 11th of September 2024.

This report was scheduled to be presented by Jane Garrard, the Interim Head of Governance. The agenda suggests that this report included information about complaints which were still under review, as well as those which had concluded since the last meeting. The report pack includes a summary of each complaint and what action was taken. For example:

Date Complaint Summary of Allegations Action Taken Outcome of Complaint Received 01/08/21 The party Whip was used Referred to an independent Deputy Monitoring Review in progress inappropriately in relation to a Officer to review in line with the complaints Scrutiny Committee meeting procedure

The report pack also includes an update on the status of complaints which were unresolved as of the previous meeting. For example, the agenda suggests that the scheduled discussion included an update on the complaint about the use of the party whip that was still under review in September.

Decisions taken under Urgency Procedures

Councillors were scheduled to receive a report from Beth Brown, the Director for Legal and Governance on decisions taken under urgency procedures since the last meeting.

The report pack explains that The Council’s Constitution requires that decisions taken under urgency provisions within the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules (Article 11) and Access to Information Procedure Rules (Article 13) are reported to Full Council and the Standards and Governance Committee.

The report pack lists all of the decisions that had been made. In total, it lists one decision taken under urgency procedures since the previous meeting, concerning arrangements for the SEND Local Area Inspection.

Decision Date of Subject Decision taker Consultee on Reason for urgency reference decision urgency Minute 64 19/11/24 Joint SEND Commissioning Executive Board Chair of Immediate and pressing deadlines Strategy for 2024-2027 Corporate faced by both Nottinghamshire Scrutiny County Council and Nottingham City Committee Council regarding their respective SEND Local Area Re-Inspections and Inspections. This exemption was necessary to ensure that the councils remain compliant with critical legal obligations and to prevent negative repercussions that would arise from a delay in publication of the strategy.