This meeting will include for discussion the ongoing review of the Council's constitution, the government consultation into remote attendance and voting at council meetings, and confirmation of the minutes of the previous meeting.

Constitutional Review Programme

The Committee has previously been asked by the Council to investigate the possibility of establishing a shadow cabinet and to consider making changes to the Council's call-in procedure to incorporate changes to the call-in procedure for Cabinet member decisions.

This meeting will include consideration of the ongoing constitutional review programme. The most significant change being considered as part of this review is a wholesale restructuring of the council's constitution document to make it easier to understand. To this end, a report prepared for the meeting proposes that:

The proposed new constitution will bring together rules about a body or subject matter area into a single place to remove the current situation where the rules about a body like Cabinet are in three different sections. This is unworkable and confusing.

The report also proposes a number of improvements to the council's decision-making arrangements to:

improve accessibility; improve consistency and clarity; embed clear arrangements for delegations and the discharge of functions; refresh and updating a range of Codes and Protocols; present information on council decision making bodies clearly and in a single section; and embed cross-cutting themes and obligations in respect of risk, compliance equality, diversity, and inclusion across all parts.

The report proposes that the review will be delivered in four stages, three of which are already underway. The final stage will establish a continuous programme of review by the Monitoring Officer, supported by:

key stakeholders including elected members and officers. Feedback gathered through internal approval processes and facilitated workshops for key elements of the constitution review will inform content put forward to members for consideration and approval.

Enabling Remote Attendance and Proxy Voting at Local Authority Meetings - Government Consultation

The Committee has been asked to consider a consultation by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on proposals by the government to enable remote and proxy voting at local authority meetings in England.

Sandwell, in common with other local authorities, held remote and hybrid meetings using temporary powers granted by the government from April 2020 to May 2021 during the pandemic.

The report prepared for the meeting describes some of the challenges the council experienced holding remote meetings during that time:

Committee Chairs and Members of Committees commented at times it was harder to manage meetings remotely as it was more difficult to recognise the tone or mood of debate in the absence of traditional ‘in person cues’. Similarly, larger scale Member meetings such as Full Council, whilst able to transact business and hold debates, felt more artificial [sic] not as effective. Disruptions to connectivity or audio and video quality were also considered to be disrupted.

Notwithstanding those challenges, the report describes how:

Monitoring of website traffic during this period shows there were higher numbers of people viewing proceedings than those who normally attended meetings in person.

The report also notes that the government has not published an equality impact assessment of its proposals.

Minutes

The Committee will also be asked to confirm the minutes of its previous meeting which was held on 21 September 2023.