Councillor J. Kent, Leader of the Council, introduced the interim report following a governance review where the constitution working group had met over the last year to discuss best practices and potential protocols.

It was recommended that the setting of the Council Tax Base and the Determining the Collection Fund Balance should be delegated to the section 151 Officer.

Members were then referred to 14 other areas of the constitution working group which they seek the permission of Council to continue investigating and exploring before coming back to Council. 

Councillor Ojetola thanked the Constitution Working Group for their hard work, time and openness. It was suggested that a time frame be added to the recommendations and asked that this item be returned to Council for an update.

Councillor Ray, as a member of the Constitution Working Group, thanked all Members that turned up the meetings. He noted that no UKIP member was on this group.

Councillor J. Kent agreed the urgency of this document but due to time constraints this item might not appear on the agenda in time for Annual Council. It was recommended that it was brought back in September 2016.

Upon being put to the vote, Members voted unanimously in favour of the recommendations, whereupon the Deputy Mayor declared this to be carried.

RESOLVED

1.         That the options discussed at Constitutional Working Group set out in the report were investigated further for best practice and that potential protocols, changes to procedures or draft amendments to the Constitution be developed for consideration where appropriate.

2.         That the pursuant to the recommendation that the function of setting the Council Tax Base and Determining the Collection Fund Balance be delegated to the section 151 Officer.