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A resolution may be passed at meetings which authorises an officer to take action between meetings after consultation with the Chair/ Lead Member/ Portfolio Member etc. It is the officer, not the Chair etc., who takes the action and is responsible for it. The Chair etc. does not himself/ herself have the power between meetings to make decisions.

Relevant legislation including the Local Government Act 1972; the Data Protection Act 1998; the General Data Protection Regulations; the Freedom of Information Act 2000; and the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012 (SI 2012/2089)

Access to Committee Papers for Forthcoming Meetings

Equally, any Council information provided to a Member on the basis of a ‘Need to Know’ must only be used by the Member for the purpose for which it was provided, i.e. in connection with the proper performance of the Member’s duties as an elected representative of the Council. Confidential or exempt information provided to Members may be discussed in Part II Committee meetings or in private meetings of appropriate Members and Officers. However, it should not be discussed with, or released to, any other persons. Any information provided should be clearly marked as confidential before it is released to Members.

Any request from a Member for information will be treated in confidence by Officers and will not be made known to any other Member or political group. Officers are also under a duty not to relate any information disclosed privately by a Member(s) (e.g. during Part II discussions at Committee, etc., informal briefings, private conversations or Group meetings) to another Member, Officer or person not already privy to that information.

Unless otherwise agreed in advance with the Chief Executive, officers will not attend political group meetings that include persons who are not Members. However, where the Chief Executive has authorised such attendance special care needs to be exercised by officers involved in providing information and advice to such political group meetings. Persons who are not elected Members will not be bound by the Code of Conduct for Members (in particular, the provisions concerning the declaration of interests and confidentiality) and for this and other reasons officers may not be able to provide the same level of information and advice as they would to a Members only meeting.

Officer support (whether in the form of a written report or otherwise) must not extend beyond providing information and advice in relation to matters of Council business. Officer support will be limited to a statement of material facts and identification of options and the merits and demerits of such options for the Authority. Reports or other support will not deal with any political implications of the matter or any option, and officers will not make any recommendations to a political group. Officers (with the exception of Political Group/ Mayor’s Assistants) are not expected to be present at meetings or part of meetings when matters of party business are to be discussed.

Political group meetings, whilst they form part of the preliminaries to Council decision making are not empowered to make decisions on behalf of the Council. Conclusions reached at such meetings do not therefore rank as Council decisions and it is essential that they are not interpreted or acted upon as such.

Both Mayor’s Office staff and the Members’ Support Team provide assistance to Members in their role as Council Members. Staff in these sections may, therefore, be used, as appropriate, to help with work such as diary management, meetings and correspondence to do with Council matters.