Constitution Part 5 - Protocol on Elected Member/ Officer relations

Relationships between Chairs/Elected Members of Committees and Officers will operate in line with the relevant codes of conduct and the principles contained in the protocol.

Elected Members in positions which include the chairing of meetings will seek to ensure that relevant codes are adhered to and all meeting participants, both Council and non-Council, behave courteously at all times.

6.1 Policy Committees 

In making their decisions, Elected Members of the Policy Committees must seek and have regard to the professional advice given by Officers. Elected Members must at all times pay due regard to the advice given by Statutory Officers and be aware of, and take account of, their statutory responsibilities.

Elected Members should respect the principle that Officers serve the full Council and therefore have responsibilities to its Policy, Regulatory and other Committees.

Elected Members should at all times take full responsibility for their political decisions within the Council and as representatives on other agencies or bodies.

Elected Members must follow all of the statutory and constitutional requirements governing the decision making process.  

Elected Members, Officers and representatives of outside bodies providing information to a Committee will be treated courteously at all times and will treat such individuals with courtesy and respect. Elected Members asking questions will act in accordance with the Member Code of Conduct and the Contract Procedure Rules. It will be the responsibility of the Chair to ensure that members of the public and other non-Council attendees behave appropriately.

Directors and Chief Officers may be required to attend the Committee and may be asked questions as to policies and decisions. They may be required to explain advice given to Elected Members and the objectives of policies. Comment should, however, be consistent with the requirement for Officers to be politically neutral and Officers may not be held accountable for decisions taken by Elected Members. Other Officers may attend the Committee at the discretion of their Director/Chief Officer in order to provide information which will assist. The Committee should not be used to address issues of the individual performance of employees. It will not be the purpose of any Committee to require Officers to personally account for their actions in circumstances where general management provisions including the appraisal and disciplinary processes may apply.

Although professional advice on Council services will generally be provided to a Committee from within the existing Officer structure, circumstances may arise where specific experience is unavailable in-house. Appropriate expertise may then be commissioned subject to budgetary provision being available. 

At the request of another Committee a Policy Committee Chair may attend meetings to explain the objectives of policies and the reasons for their Committee’s decisions, relevant to their remit.

A Committee may commission independent advice on matters outside of the Council’s direct responsibility where budgetary provision exists and where it is either required or advisable and the Council’s statutory Officer has been duly committed. A Committee may invite, but not require, the attendance of representatives from other Councils or agencies.

6.2 Regulatory and Other Committees

• (i) Audit and Governance Committee

The Audit and Governance Committee may require a variety of information and advice in order to carry out their work effectively (particularly that relating to the undertaking and discharge of their statutory scrutiny functions) and mechanisms to ensure this is achieved are addressed in detail in other sections of the Constitution.  However in planning their work the Audit and Governance Committee must recognise that Officers and outside agencies providing information and Elected Members, Officers and outside agencies requested to attend Committee meetings, may have other commitments which may restrict their ability to meet the requests of the Committee within specified timescales. This is particularly the case where very detailed/complex information is requested or where a number of individuals are requested to attend a Committee meeting. The Committee should be conscious of such circumstances and plan, consider and programme their work accordingly.

• (ii)  Planning and Licensing Committees

Particular issues arise in relation to the Planning and Licensing Committees, when Elected Members are determining applications for permissions, licences etc. Although Elected Members act in an administrative role in the Planning Committee and a quasi-judicial role in the Licensing Committee, similar issues arise regarding the status of Officers’ recommendations on the merits of an application.

When acting in a quasi-judicial capacity (for example in relation to licensing), Elected Members will pay particular regard to the requirements of natural justice and the procedural advice issued by the Monitoring Officer.

The Planning Committee through the Planning Code of Practice has endorsed the following principles:

“Elected Members are entitled to reject the Officer’s advice but they should only do so on the basis of an objective consideration of the planning issues. Planning is not a defined science and frequently involves decisions based on judgements relating to a wide variety of issues – traffic, appearance, character of the area, environmental impact etc. Elected Members are entitled to bring their local knowledge into play in weighing considerations that often compete with each other. Their judgement on a particular issue may be different from that of the Planning Officer.

“However, the Committee must recognise the importance of factors such as:

• the local planning scene as set out in the Local Plan;
• the national planning regime as set out in legislation and planning decisions and case law;
• the Council’s own guidance to developers;
• previous decisions of the Committee.

The Planning Officer’s advice will reflect these factors. Whenever Elected Members depart from the Officer’s advice and recommendation they increase the potential for undermining the integrity of the local planning scene and the ability of the Committee as the Local Planning Authority to require and enforce relevant standards of development – in the interests of the community as a whole.“

The Licensing Committee in their licensing statement have endorsed the following principles:

The role of the Officer in the context of the Licensing Committee’s consideration of applications presented to it for determination is to provide the information available to the Council to enable the Elected Members to form their own judgement of the issues relevant to the application. The factual content of the information comprises the evidence presented on behalf of the Council. It is the practice for the Officer to make a recommendation whether the application should be granted or refused. The recommendation represents the Officer’s opinion, in the light of the information available in advance of the hearing and with the benefit of his/her professional training and experience.

However, as the proceedings of the Committee are quasi-judicial, the Committee would be acting improperly if it failed to pay due regard to information and evidence presented by the parties (applicant and/or objectors). The Committee are required to make a determination by reference to all the evidence presented to them at the hearing, and they are required to take note also of the evidence submitted by or on behalf of the parties (applicants and objectors). The Committee are entitled to, and should, form a view as to the weight they attach to the evidence presented. In assessing the weight to be given to the evidence, the Committee is also entitled to recognise that information presented by the Officer and the Officer’s recommendations have the particular merit of being: 

• objective;
• based on a knowledge of the local licensing scene as a whole;
• informed by the previous decisions of the Committee;
• aimed towards the benefits to the community as a whole and not influenced by the benefits to the applicant, or his/her business or an objector or a section of the community.