Agenda and draft minutes

(if any) – receive.

Apologies were received from Councillors Mandy Anderson (Matt Stanton substituting) and Tim Ryan.

Members are invited to disclose any interest in any of the items on the agenda at this point of the meeting.

Members may still disclose any interest in any item at any time prior to the consideration of the matter.

There were no disclosures of interest.

Report attached.

Executive Appointments

The Executive Appointments as shown in Appendix 1 to these minutes were recommended by the Committee to be made by the Leader.

Non-Executive Appointments

It was noted that the Veolia ES Cleanaway Havering Riverside Trust had now ceased operations.

Two Members (Councillors Trevor McKeever and John Wood) had expressed interest in being nominated to the Havering Theatre Trust and would be attending interviews with the Havering Theatre Trust Board on 7 June.

Interest had been received from Councillors Jane Keane and Matt Stanton in joining the Lucas Play Charity Nominative Trustees. It was noted that there remained one vacancy on the Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education.

It was noted that the Leader would announce a replacement Cabinet Lead for Climate Change in due course.

The Non-Executive Appointments as shown in Appendix 2 to these minutes were agreed by the Committee.

Other recommendations agreed:

1.    Where the Council’s representative (or any deputy or alternative representative where applicable) is unable to attend a particular meeting and the constitutional arrangements of the body in question so permit, that representative may authorise the Chair of the meeting to exercise a proxy vote.

2.    The Council’s voting rights at the General Assembly of the Local Government Association be exercised by the Leader of the Council (5 votes, or his respective nominee in the event he is unable to vote in person).

Report attached.

Officers advised that a comprehensive Mayoral procedures manual had been developed to support and guide the Mayor. This followed the guidelines of the National Association of Civic Officers as well best practice in neighbouring boroughs.

The Monitoring Officer recommended that a clause should be inserted that the Constitution would prevail should any areas of the handbook clash with the requirements of the Constitution. Issues around Mayoral powers would be included in the ongoing Constitution review.

It was agreed that the detailed duties of Mayoral support staff should not be included in the handbook. Any future changes to the handbook could be agreed at Governance Committee and would not need to go back to full Council. It was suggested that the handbook could be reviewed at the end of each Mayoral term.

Councillor Nunn had made suggestions on areas such as personal safety of the Mayor. She felt that the Mayor should see all incoming correspondence and officers agreed that this could be added. It was confirmed that the Mayor did have to the Mayor in-box. Councillor Nunn did not though feel it was necessary for a panel to screen Mayoral invitations. It was agreed that the reference to the panel should be removed but that any invitations outside the normal criteria should be referred to the Leader, in consultation with the Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer. It was also agreed that a list of events attended by the Mayor (though not invitations turned down) should be published on the Council’s website in order that the type of events attended by the Mayor was transparent to all parties.

It was noted that a panel had been proposed to lead on criteria for the Mayor’s civic awards. Scoring criteria was included in the handbook but this area could be looked at in more detail at the Constitution Working Party if necessary.

Officers would investigate with audit colleagues if the time taken to obtain the total of monies raised for the Mayor’s Charity. It was noted however that part of the delay was due to the need to obtain clearance from the Charity Commission and this could be made clearer in the handbook. The Monitoring Officer would check with the Strategic Director for Resources if guidance rules put any limit on the timetable for disclosure.

It was AGREED that the above changes should be added to the handbook and a revised version be circulated to the Committee via e-mail. Subject to this being done, the Committee approved the Mayoral Handbook.

Report attached.

In the interests of transparency, the Monitoring Officer had brought to the Committee a report on recent complaints made about Councillors. This included anonymised details of complaints.

There had been sixteen about Councillors received in the period 31 December 2022 to 31 March 2024. Eight of these had been made by residents and eight by other Councillors. The Monitoring Officer felt that this total was slightly more than would be expected.

The Monitoring Officer and colleagues sought to be objective and apolitical when dealing with complaint investigations. It was noted that the complaint made on 11 July 2023 was against a Political Group rather than an individual Councillor.

It was suggested that training could be offered to Councillors to clarify the threshold for complaints and what could be considered vexatious. This could be carried out as a Member Briefing.

The Monitoring Officer advised that the Member Social Media Protocol was due to be considered by Council in July. This would be followed up with Member training on this area. Members felt this important training to attend. There had been little issue with staff complaints about Members with staff being open about any concerns about Member behaviour and often still wanting to show good faith in Councillors. The Monitoring Officer would also discuss this area with HR and Trade Union representatives. The Cabinet did also meet privately with Trade Unions.  

Group Leaders would be advised in some cases if one of their Members was complained about, particularly if this was a regular occurrence.

The Committee noted the report.

Report attached.

The Monitoring Officer confirmed that an update report on this area would come to Governance Committee on a regular basis. The Constitution was now being reviewed and minor changes tidied up from page 1. In the current year the contract procurement and planning procedure rules would be reviewed.

It was noted that section 2.01 (page 65) needed to reflect that there were now only 2 Councillors in some wards and that there were other criteria to hold the office of Councillor, in addition to those listed. Additionally, on page 70, section 4.03 c needed to reflect that the Mayor was not the returning officer for all parliamentary constituencies. The Monitoring Officer would clarify the wording on when the Mayor was to act as returning officer. References to the Leader’s Forward Plan and the capitalisation in the Constitution would also be reviewed.

The Committee noted the report.