Delegation Arrangements of Cabinet

Speech by Cllr Zoé Patrick delivered to The Cabinet on Tue 6th Jun 2006

My first reaction was that after just 6 weeks of seeing me at Cabinet as Leader of the Opposition you have had to go to these drastic measures to get rid of me! However, I am hoping that this is not the case and you will be able to explain more fully the implications and the reasoning behind this proposal.

I have read this report many times and find that there are still many aspects of it which are so far unclear to me, so if you don't mind Chairman - I would like to go through it page by page (if time permits).

When this idea was first raised at our Political Leaders Briefing, I remember you gave us the example of how delegation works well in the form of the TIC. This committee was set up under the previous administration, and as far as I and many others are concerned, this has been a great success. Ward members and the public are able to come along to put forward their views on issues within their area, and they have been able to hear the reasoning and debate behind those decisions - many could be controversial (ie. traffic calming schemes), and this is a democratic and accountable delegated decision making committee - so my first concern is that this committee is proposed to be wound up (p1)

On p2 under 6 there is reference to 'material departure' and 'major implication' and there does seem to be some ambiguity around this paragraph and it would be helpful to have some clarity on this and even better - how this will be decided.

I have some concerns regarding the call-in process and how this will take effect. In 8 - this is not really covered, and it is not clear how this will work especially regarding the scrutiny committee functions.

Process on p 3 is again not particularly helpful. For example under 12 - it would be useful to know how the individual Members' decision sessions are organised. Would Shadow Cabinet members be automatically included and how will these sessions be timetable to give due advance notice? Again, in the recommendations under (b) no reference is made of the Shadow Cabinet members being notified, and indeed what about issues which affect individual members' wards - how will this work? My concern is that on Annex 1 under 5) there is reference to the Shadow Cabinet being able to make a statement if the decision is taken at 'a meeting'. However, nothing is said about what the alternative could be.

Finally, it must be said that with the current system one has in one's diary all the Cabinet dates, and the Forward Plan giving due notice of what is going to come up and when - with this new system I am not clear what would happen in place of this - organising individual meetings with various cabinet members and relevant officers sounds like an awful lot of organisation and planning, and could be a recipe for decisions being taken without due process.

Would the 'formal decision request' with reports be public documents available on the website or for the press in the usual manner, or will this be just an internal mechanism. Personally, I have reservations about how this is going to work in practice and have concerns that it will erode some of the transparent and open democratic process which is important for this Council.