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see forward plan notices of forthcoming decisions, plus reports, background papers and any records of decisions made by the Council and the Mayor, the Executive or appropriate Member or Key Decisions taken by officers;

Note that Councillors and officers are excluded from this provision in accordance with the Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014.

Whilst officers and others taking part in a Council or Committee meeting can normally be filmed, the Chair may prevent filming of specific individuals where this is necessary. Examples could include cases such as where the individual is a child, or where revealing their identity would impact on their job or could lead to threats or abuse of such an individual.

- Petitioners are asked not to ask council officers to sign their petitions in relation to their service area. It is contrary to the Member / Officer Protocol for officers to lobby Councillors in respect of their specific service.

If your petition includes the names, addresses and signatures of at least 1,000 persons who live, work or study in the borough, you may request that a relevant senior officer give evidence at a public meeting of the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee. For example, you may request that a senior officer explain progress on an issue, or the advice given to councillors to enable them to make a particular decision. The senior officers who may be called to give evidence under this procedure include the Head of the Paid Service (Chief Executive) and any of the Council’s statutory or non-statutory Chief Officers (Corporate Directors).

Executive functions: In relation to executive functions, the Council does not have powers to override any executive decision of the Mayor or substitute its own decision. The Council may however pass a motion expressing a view on the matter or referring the matter to the Mayor, calling on him/her to take some action, or consider or reconsider a decision, with recommendations to inform that consideration. Officers will advise on the constitutional validity of any motion that may be moved.

If the Executive or one of its Committees meets to discuss a key decision to be taken collectively, with an officer other than a political assistant present, within twenty-eight days of the date by which it is to be decided, then it must also comply with Rules 1-11 unless Rule 18 (urgency - general exception) or Rule 19 (urgency - special urgency) apply. This requirement does not include meetings whose sole purpose is for officers to brief Members.

The Executive or one of its Committees may meet in private if it meets with officers for the purposes only of briefing.

Decisions made by Officers

Where officers are taking delegated key decisions, they must follow the procedure set out above for decisions taken by Individual Members of the Executive. This includes ensuring the decision is taken on the basis of a written report setting out key legal, financial and corporate implications.