Decision details

Retrospective endorsement of decisions taken in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The City Solicitor submitted a report setting out the arrangements which had been made regarding the publication and recording of officer decisions during the Coronavirus pandemic, in order for the Council to adapt to the urgency and scale of the decision making required in response to the pandemic. In addition, the report also sought the Board’s retrospective endorsement of the officer decisions taken during the period 16^th March – 6^th April 2020, as detailed within Appendix D.

Regarding Appendix D and with the agreement of the Chair, updated information for inclusion within the appendix had been circulated to Board Members and published prior to the meeting to enable its consideration as part of this agenda item.

The Executive Member for Resources highlighted that actions were being taken with the aim of looking to enable Scrutiny Boards and potentially Community Committees to become operational on a remote basis, with an update being provided on the informal remote discussions which had been held with Community Committee Chairs and between some Community Committee Members. In addition, a suggestion was made for further consideration to be given to ways in which selected aspects of full Council meetings could become operational moving forward.

Also, it was highlighted that the collective agreement which had been made with Scrutiny Chairs for key decisions taken in relation to the emergency response to be treated under the ‘Special Urgency’ provisions was time limited and that a review date of 4^th May 2020 or before had been set, with it being noted that if circumstances required, then a further agreement for a short period was likely to be sought by that date, with such matters continuing to be reviewed on a regular basis.

In response to a Member’s comments, assurance was provided that such measures had been established to ensure that the agility required around decision making was in place, however, it was emphasised that robust governance and decision making arrangements would remain during this period.

RESOLVED

(a)  That the arrangements, as set out within the submitted report for officer decision making during the course of the coronavirus pandemic, be noted;

(b)  That the decisions taken during the period between 16th March and 6th April 2020, as set out within Appendix D to the submitted report and as included within the additional information subsequently submitted, be retrospectively endorsed;

(c)  That it be agreed that the resolutions within this minute be exempted from the Call In process for the reasons outlined within section 4.5.4 of the submitted report.

(The Council’s Executive and Decision Making Procedure Rules state that a decision may be declared as being exempt from the Call In process by the decision taker if it is considered that the matter is urgent and any delay would seriously prejudice the Council’s, or the public’s interests. In line with this, the resolutions contained within this minute were exempted from the Call In process, as per resolution (c) above, and for the reasons as detailed within sections 4.5.4 of the submitted report)