Tower Hamlets Constitution

Timing and Business.In a year when there is an ordinary election of Councillors, the annual meeting will take place within 21 days of the retirement of the outgoing councillors. In any other year, the annual meeting will take place in March, April or May.

1. elect a person to preside if either the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker are not present;
2. elect the Speaker of the Council;elect the Deputy Speaker of the Council;
3. receive any declarations of interest;
4. approve the minutes of the last meeting which will then be signed by the Speaker;
5. receive any announcements/updates from the Speaker of the Council and/or the Chief Executive and/or the Young Mayor;
6. note the Executive Procedure Rules (Part F Section xxx of the Constitution) and any amendments made by the Mayor;
7. appoint at least 1 Overview and Scrutiny Committee and such other Committees as the Council considers appropriate to deal with matters which are neither reserved to the Council nor are executive functions;
8. agree the Scheme of Delegation or such part of it as the Constitution determines it is for the Council to agree;
9. approve a programme of Ordinary Meetings of the Council for the year (if not already agreed). In an election year the schedule of meetings may be reviewed at the Annual Meeting if it has already been agreed at Council prior to the first meeting in May;
10. the Mayor shall report on any appointments of outside bodies;
11. the Mayor shall report on circumstances where the Special Urgency provisions have been used during the year preceding the Annual Meeting;receive a report on any changes made to the Council’s Constitution since the last Annual Meeting; and consider any business set out in the notice convening the meeting

The annual meeting will:

elect a person to preside if either the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker are not present;

elect the Speaker of the Council;

elect the Deputy Speaker of the Council; receive any declarations of interest;approve the minutes of the last meeting which will then be signed by the Speaker;

receive any announcements/updates from the Speaker of the Council and/or the Chief Executive and/or the Young Mayor;

note the Executive Procedure Rules (Part F Section xxx of the Constitution) and any amendments made by the Mayor;

appoint at least 1 Overview and Scrutiny Committee and such other Committees as the Council considers appropriate to deal with matters which are neither reserved to the Council nor are executive functions;

[TL1] agree the Scheme of Delegation or such part of it as the Constitution determines it is for the Council to agree;

approve a programme of Ordinary Meetings of the Council for the year (if not already agreed). In an election year the schedule of meetings may be reviewed at the Annual Meeting if it has already been agreed at Council prior to the first meeting in May;

the Mayor shall report on any appointments of outside bodies;

the Mayor shall report on circumstances where the Special Urgency provisions have been used during the year preceding the Annual Meeting;

receive a report on any changes made to the Council’s Constitution since the last Annual Meeting; and

consider any business set out in the notice convening the meeting

including the Annual State of the Borough Debate at 1.3.[TL1]Can we juts take this bit out now as it is becoming complex where these are split up

Selection of Councillors on Committees

At the Annual Meeting, the Council will:

1. decide which Committees to establish for the municipal year;
2. decide the size and terms of reference for those Committees;
3. decide the allocation of seats to political groups in accordance with the political proportionality rules;
4. receive nominations of Councillors to serve on each Committee; and
5. appoint to those Committees except where appointments have been delegated by the Council or are exercisable only by the Mayor or Executive;
6. Elect Chairs to those Committees except where appointments have been delegated by the Council or are exercisable only by the Mayor or Executive.
7. but this is without prejudice to the right of the Council at any time to establish or dissolve any non-Executive Committee or to review its size and terms of reference.

A meeting will take place on a date decided by Council or the Chief Executive. The purpose of this meeting will be to determine the Council’s budget and set the Council Tax for the following financial year. The Budget Meeting will be conducted in accordance with the provisions of this rule.

The order of business at the Budget Meeting will be as follows:-

1. As per Rules 1.1(a), (d) and (f);
2. to receive any petitions which only relate to the Council’s budget or to the setting of the Council Tax in line with the procedures set out in the Council’s Petition scheme;
3. to consider the report from the Mayor and Executive upon the Council’s budget and setting of the Council Tax for the following year and any associated business; and
4. any other business which by statute or in the opinion of the Chief Executive after consultation with the Speaker of the Council requires to be transacted at the meeting;

Rules 10 and 11 of these Rules shall not apply to the Budget Meeting.

Motions proposing amendments to the proposals shall be submitted in writing to the Monitoring Officer by no later than 5.00 p.m. on the Friday before the Budget Meeting to enable the preparation of the advice of the Chief Finance Officer and any amendments shall be circulated to the Mayor and Councillors, with any officer comments, at least 24 hours, before the meeting.

Other than amendments notified in advance as above, any Member must state the reason for urgency for their amendment and in particular why the need for the amendment could not reasonably have been foreseen prior to the deadline for submission of amendments set out in Paragraph 2.4 above and, when introducing the topic, the Speaker will remind Members of this provision. Following the above statement, the advice of the Monitoring Officer, Section 151 Officer and Chief Executive must be sought should Council wish to debate any further substantial amendment without notice.

The Speaker will remind the Councillors at the start of the meeting of the importance, where possible, of all amendments being moved at the beginning of the debate or as soon as the need for the amendment is identified; and before moving to the ‘right of reply’ and voting stage of the meeting, the Speaker will give a final invitation for any further amendments. No new amendment may be proposed once the call for the vote has commenced.

When moving the budget proposals of the Mayor and Executive, the Mayor and/or another Executive Councillor may speak for up to 10 minutes.

Once the proposals of the Executive have been moved and seconded the other Political Group Leaders (or their nominee) shall then be invited to speak for up to 5 minutes. The order of speaking shall be commensurate with the number of Councillors in each group from the Leader of the largest group to the Leader of the smallest group. Where groups are of equal size, the order of speaking shall be at the Speaker of the Council’s discretion.

During the course of their speeches Group Leaders (or their nominees) shall move any amendments they have notified prior to the deadline.

Once each Group Leader (or their nominee) has been invited to speak the Speaker of the Council shall invite any other Councillor who has notified an amendment prior to the deadline to speak for up to 3 minutes and during the course of their speech that Councillor shall move their amendment.

The Council will then debate the matters before it for consideration. The order of speakers shall be at the discretion of the Speaker of the Council. Subject to Rules 2.12 and 2.13 below, a Councillor may speak only once during the debate and in the course of their speech may address the proposals of the Executive and/or any amendment(s) that may be moved. All speeches shall be limited to a maximum of 3 minutes.

At the discretion of the Speaker of the Council a Group Leader (or their nominee) who has previously spoken in accordance with Rule 2.8 of these Procedure Rules may speak again during the general debate and any such further speech by a Group Leader (or their nominee) or any other Councillor shall be in accordance with the time limits and procedural requirements of Rule 13 of these Rules.

At the conclusion of the general debate the Mayor or on his behalf any other Executive Councillor who may have moved the proposals of the Executive may exercise a right of reply for up to 3 minutes.

The Council will then vote on any amendments that have been moved and seconded and not withdrawn, in the order in which they were moved. Each amendment shall be disposed of in turn and in its entirety.

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