Tower Hamlets Constitution

The following rules (Paragraphs 49 to 62) will apply to all meetings of Cabinet and Cabinet Committees/Sub-Committees

(a) Meetings dates and locations will be determined by the Mayor or Chief Executive. Meetings shall normally take place at the Council’s main offices (Whitechapel Town Hall, 160 Whitechapel Road, E1 1BJ) or at another location if so determined by the Mayor or Chief Executive.

(b) Meetings will be subject to the Access to Information Procedure Rules and any other relevant procedure rules in this Constitution.

The quorum for a meeting of the Executive shall be three Members of the Cabinet/Sub-Committee including the Executive Mayor, or where notified in advance to the Monitoring Officer, the Statutory Deputy Mayor.

If the Mayor is present they will preside. In their absence, then the Deputy Mayor shall preside. In the absence of both the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor then the meeting is not quorate and may not meet unless different arrangements are set out in the Terms of Reference of a specific Cabinet Committee/Sub-Committee.

Meetings will normally be open to the public unless confidential or exempt information is to be discussed.

Subject to the Access to Information Procedure Rules in Part B Section 27 of this Constitution, meetings may occasionally be private.

The Chair (or Vice-Chair) of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, or their nominee, and the Leaders of any Opposition Groups have a standing invitation to observe meetings.

At each meeting of the Cabinet/Committee/Sub-Committee the following business will be conducted:

(a) consideration of the minutes of the last meeting;

(b) declarations of disclosable pecuniary interest, if any;

(c) a verbal update (of no more than ten minutes) by the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (or nominated deputy) on the work of the Committee and also on any issues or Pre-Decision Scrutiny Questions relevant to the reports for consideration on the agenda and an opportunity for the Mayor and Cabinet Members to respond to that presentation.

(d) matters set out in the agenda for the meeting. The agenda will set out which items are key decisions and which are not, in accordance with the Access to Information Procedure Rules set out in Part B Section 27 of this Constitution.

(e) consideration of reports from Overview and Scrutiny;

(f) matters referred to the Cabinet Committee/Sub-Committee (whether by Overview and Scrutiny or by the Council) for reconsideration by the Executive in accordance with the provisions contained in the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules or the Budget and Policy Framework Procedure Rules set out in Part B Section 28 of this Constitution;

All reports to the Executive from any Member of the Executive or an officer on proposals relating to the Budget and Policy Framework must contain details of the nature and extent of community engagement or consultation with stakeholders, Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the outcome of that consultation. Reports about other matters will set out the details and outcome of consultation as appropriate. The level of community engagement or consultation required will be appropriate to the nature of the matter under consideration having due regard to the Council’s Community Engagement Strategy.

The Mayor and Chief Executive may put on the agenda of any meeting any executive matter which they wish, whether or not authority has been delegated to the Cabinet, a Committee/Sub Committee of it, any Cabinet Member, the Chief Executive, a Chief Officer or officer in respect of that matter. The Monitoring Officer will comply with their requests in this respect.

The Monitoring Officer and/or the Chief Finance Officer may include an item for consideration on the agenda of a meeting and may require the Chief Executive to call such a meeting in pursuance of their statutory duties. In other circumstances, where any two (2) of the Head of Paid Service, Chief Finance Officer and Monitoring Officer are of the opinion that a meeting needs to be called to consider a matter that requires a decision, they may jointly call a meeting and include an item on the agenda of that meeting or of a meeting which has already been called. If there is no meeting soon enough to deal with the issue in question, then the person(s) entitled to include an item on the agenda may also require that a meeting be convened at an earlier date at which the matter will be considered.

Whilst the main focus of these meetings is as decision-making bodies, there is an opportunity for the public to contribute through making submissions that specifically relate to the reports that are set out on the agenda. Members of the public may therefore make written submissions in any form (for example; Petitions, letters, written questions) which must be submitted to the Clerk to the meeting (whose details are on the agenda front sheet) by 5 pm the day before the meeting. The consideration of such written submissions will be at the discretion of whosoever presides at the meeting.

In addition to rights set out in 59 above, the Chair (or Vice-Chair in their absence) of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the Leaders of any Opposition Groups can request to raise their key issues/questions in relation to the reports on the agenda. The Mayor or other person presiding at a meeting may also at their discretion allow other persons to contribute. All requests to raise issues or ask questions must be received by the clerk to the meeting (whose details are on the agenda front sheet) by 5pm the day before the meeting.

All contributions to the meeting will be taken in a 15 minute question and answer session at the start of the meeting. Each contribution will normally be limited to three minutes. The Mayor or other person presiding at a meeting has discretion to vary these procedures especially where there are large numbers of requests or submissions.

Rules 5 – 9, 17 to 24 of the Council Procedure Rules (Part B Section 26 of this Constitution) shall also apply to meetings of the Cabinet./Committees/Sub-Committees.

1. Where an Executive decision, including a Key Decision, falls to be made and either:-(a) authority to make that decision has not been delegated by the Mayor under this Executive Scheme of Delegation; or(b) authority has been delegated but the person or body with delegated powers declines to exercise those powers; or(c) authority has been delegated but the Mayor nevertheless decides to take the decision himself,the decision shall be made by the Mayor individually, after consultation with the Monitoring Officer, the Chief Finance Officer and such other Corporate Director(s), the Head of Paid Service or Cabinet Member(s) as required.

2. Executive decisions (including Key Decisions) to be taken by the Mayor in accordance with paragraph 1 above shall either be taken:-(a) at a formal meeting of the Executive, notice of which has been given in accordance with the Executive Procedure Rules (Part I Section xx) of the Constitution and to which the Access to Information Rules (Part B Section xx) of the Constitution shall apply; or(b) in accordance with the procedure at paragraph 5 below.

3. In the case of a decision taken at a formal meeting of the Executive, the Mayor will take the decision having received written and oral advice from appropriate officers and consulted those members of the Executive present. In the event that a meeting of the Executive is not quorate, the Mayor may still take any necessary decisions having consulted any Executive members present. All Mayoral decisions taken at a formal meeting of the Executive shall be recorded in the minutes of the meeting.

4. The Cabinet Meeting is not authorised to exercise the Mayor’s powers in the absence of the Mayor. If the Mayor is unable to act for any reason, and only in those circumstances, the Deputy Mayor is authorised to exercise the Mayor’s powers.

5. The Mayor may at his discretion make a decision in relation to an Executive function, including a Key Decision, alone and outside the context of a meeting of the Executive. In relation to any decision made by the Mayor under this provision:-(a) The decision may only be made following consideration by the Mayor of a full report by the relevant officer(s) containing all relevant information, options and recommendations in the same format as would be required if the decision were to be taken at a meeting of the Executive;(b) The provisions of the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules in relation to call-in, including the rules regarding urgent decisions, shall apply;(c) In the case of a Key Decision as defined in Section 3 of the Constitution, the provisions of the Access to Information Procedure Rules in relation to prior publication on the Forward Plan shall apply; and(d) The decision shall not be made until the Mayor has confirmed his agreement by signing a Mayoral Decision Proforma (example attached) which has first been completed with all relevant information and signed by the relevant Chief Officers.

6. All Mayoral decisions taken in accordance with paragraph 5 above shall be:-(a) Recorded in a log held by the Head of Democratic Services and available for public inspection; and(b) Published on the Council’s website;save that no information that in the opinion of the Director of Legal / Monitoring Offier is ‘exempt’ or ‘confidential’ as defined in the Council’s Access to Information Procedure Rules (Section 27) shall be published, included in the decision notice or available for public inspection.

7. Any decision taken by an individual Cabinet Member in relation to any matter delegated to them in accordance with paragraph 6 of the Mayor’s Executive Scheme of Delegation shall:-(a) be subject to the same process and rules as a Mayoral decision in accordance with paragraphs 5 and 6 above; and(b) not be made until the Mayor has confirmed in writing that he has no objection to the decision.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY(To be completed by Chief Officer seeking the decision)..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Full details of the decision sought, including reasons for the recommendations and (where applicable) each of the options put forward; other options considered; background information; the comments of the Chief Finance Officer; the concurrent report of the Director of Legal; implications for Equalities; Risk Assessment; Background Documents; and other relevant matters are set out in the attached report.

DECISION(Proposed decision to be entered here)…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………