General Purposes Committee - Thursday 4 December 2025, 6:30pm - Tower Hamlets Council webcasts

General Purposes Committee
Thursday, 4th December 2025 at 6:30pm 

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Good evening and welcome to the
general purpose committee meeting.
My name is
and I will be chairing this meeting
today.
This meeting and bring help
person, committee member and key
participant are present at this
meeting.
Only the committee member
present at the meeting room will be
able to vote.
Other person may
also be attending remotely, committee
members and others who have chosen to attend remotely have been advised by the committee
officer that should technical difficulty prevent their full participant in this meeting, it
may proceed with other absence if I feel it necessary.
There are no fire alarm test plan to take place during this meeting.
Should the fire alarm sound, please calmly follow the signage and nearest fire exit.
Please do not use the lift.
This meeting is being filmed for the Council website to the published viewing.
Cameras are focused on those participating in this meeting, but anyone in this room may
be caught behind the camera background.
I would remind the member of that meeting to only speak on my direction, to speak clearly
into this microphone and ensure that their contribution can be properly recorded.
Is there any apologies Matthew?
Thank you chair.
Yes indeed.
So we have apologies from Councillor Abu Chowdhury who is sadly unwell and Councillor Guillaume
Kiberi Chowdhury I think is stepping in for him.
and
Councillor Waheed is also unable to attend and Councillor Mayim Tullukta is deputising for him
I've also had apologies from I think from Shubho Hussain as well
Thank you, Chair
Thank you, Mathieu. Thank you for your update
Can I ask all the member and the guests please introduce yourself and if there any DPI
Declared of interest, please
Good evening everyone, nothing to declare. My name is Councillor Mayim Talagta.
Good evening Councillor Shafi Ahmed. Other items will be discussed on school governors.
I am a school governor but my school has not been discussed today. Thank you.
Good evening all. I am Councillor Gulam Kibriya Choudhury and I am representing as a Councillor
I will start with the local if you have any
Please use the microphone.
Good evening.
Good evening.
I am Salma Siddi and I will be presenting the
Oploading moment national .
of bipindo.
Thank you very much any
else?
I don't have any interests.
I'm Trinity as operations manager trader services. I work with governance with Salma. I don't have any interests
Yeah, good evening everybody, my name is Robert Curtis and I'm the head of electoral services. I have no interest
Counsellor safe within Khalid nothing to declare
I'm counsellor Peter gold nothing to declare
Matthew Mannion, head of Democratic Services. I'm clerking and I've just noticed that I think
Councillor Rebecca Sultana is trying to join us online as well. Hello I'm Jill Bailey. I'm
the, I'm from legal and I don't have any interest to declare. Thank you everyone. Can I ask the
online participant Rebecca Sultana.
Please introduce yourself.
agenda item 2.
Are there minutes from previous meeting?
Can we approve the meeting from 2025, September 2025 meeting?
Everyone agreed?
Thank you.
Agenda item 3 in the work plan, do members wish to add anything to this work plan?
Thank you, chair.
So the work plan for the next meeting, which is the last one of the municipal cycle, we
We have the usual local authority government applications if there are any.
We will have the usual constitution update which hopefully there will be some and we'll
talk about that later.
We will have the member induction plan coming back.
It came to the last meeting and we'll look at that in more detail at the next one following
discussion at the member steering group in the interim.
Rob, is there anything on the elections you'd want to do at the next meeting in March?
to be honest it all depends on what happens over the next three months Matthew to be honest
we will be heading towards the commencement of the nominations so can we sort of discuss
that at a later date and add it on as an agenda item if we need to.
The polling districts, polling was on the work plan, wasn't it?
There was a paper, there was something that Rob said that we will be looking at in the
future before the May 2026.
Yes, that's correct.
The polling places and polling districts review was reviewed in line with the statutory timetable
but since the last meeting and beyond that we've had the
GLA and then we had the snap general election and then we had the bow east by election and as a consequence of that the polling
places that we have used
We are proposing to use those again
I think there's one amendment following one polling place that we haven't been able to use so the with the
the borough ward election is only five months away.
It seems logical to have familiarisation for the electorate
and to use the polling stations that we had
for the general election.
And then if we need to review beyond that date,
then we will go ahead and further review at that point.
Sorry, Chair.
Thank you. Any member?
Councillor Shafi Ahmed.
So just to query on one of the polling stations,
which is in the Whitechapel Ward, which is the former primary school,
Shapela Primary School, is no longer now a site that is used for school,
but it's used by occupiers of the council, the transport team,
whether that will be one of the options going forward.
I'd like to see that, if not now, but maybe in the near future,
to see whether we are still going to use the same space.
Yes, thank you, Councillor.
Yes, the new poll in place that will be replacing chapter is the ensign youth club
for the elections and that's a well close square
I'm sure you know it so that's the proposal and they have confirmed that booking for us for next year
So but absolutely we can review that
Once the elections are out of the way in May
Thank you really appreciate it
Thank you.
Thank you all.
Preparation for the 2026 election.
Now I would like to report as consideration agenda item 4 .1.
Robert Cruticks, head of the election, will give a speech about the preparation for this
2026 election.
Robert to you.
Thank you, Chair.
Um, um as stated this is the verbal update on where we are with the borough election preparation
For the borough ward elections and the executive mayor poll to be held on the 7th of may 2026
This is a verbal update
And is an information item
And yes, we are only five months away
it does seem
Next year is a long way, but it's only five months and preparations are well underway as we speak
As we all know, the responsibility for the running of these elections falls on the returning officer,
Stephen Halsey, who is also the Chief Executive.
That is an independent statutory position and he is personally responsible for the running of the polls.
It's not a council function, but down to Stephen Halsey personally.
We will be reporting and we will be appointing several directors who will be
appointed as deputy returning officers and Matthew will be one of those and
Jill as well who are both in the meeting today. Now that's fine whilst the tasks
can be delegated the responsibility cannot be delegated so irrespective of
who the deputy returning officers are,
the responsibility still lies with Stephen Halsey
in a personal capacity.
As we know, 20 wards, 45 councillors,
and the executive mayor need to be elected on that day.
Now, I will say that in terms of the preparation,
Chair, we are ahead of where we were in 2018,
and we are also ahead of where we were in 2022
in terms of the preparation. A small point and that is that the mayor count
will be first past the post. There was a rumour going around that there was a
continuation of the first preference second preference vote which people are
familiar with. That is not the case but after next year there will there will be
it will revert back to first preference and second preference vote at the next
occasion but next year is first possible place very exactly the same as a general
election count so basically whoever wins the majority is elected. We have 76
polling places 76 and within those 76 polling places is 110 polling stations
I'm pleased to say that of the 76 polling places 75 have been booked and
We have one to to book and that is to replace Exmouth Hall, which is being demolished
so a
plea here if anybody is aware of anything that's local to that area
Then please give us a shout so that we can make some inquiries and see if we can do that now
I've given Matthew a statutory timetable
There's some copies there. So if anybody wants the here's one I prepared earlier as Matthew does his a presentation
So if anybody wants a statutory timetable that will go on the website in the new year
And it gives you all the key dates that you will need to look at the election as it progresses
so all of the project planning will be based on that statutory timetable as you would expect and we have a
Project planning board that is being held every month and as we go into the new year that will then be held every two weeks
We've had the first meeting already and in attendance was chaired by the TV ZEC
and that's ourselves as the electoral services, IT, comms, facilities, logistics,
legal are represented, finance are represented and the electoral commission
and the police all attend that board and we have action plans based on those so
very comprehensive, all minuted,
so that the planning is as it should be.
All of those are headed by senior officers,
and each of those departments has its own plan
for which they are empowered and responsible to produce
and to be questioned on at those project boards.
So the preparation for those is very good.
Also, all of the known political parties,
and anybody who has expressed an interest
in standing next year, was given the opportunity
to come into the office and have an informal one hour discussion on any concerns that anybody had
with the election and the preparations and I'm pleased to say that everybody took that opportunity
over the last two or three months so people have been in we've had lengthy chats with them in
relation to the preparations. There was a candidates and agents briefing held on Wednesday here at the
and the electoral commission also attended that presentation. Of course we
don't know who the candidates will be and we don't know who will be nominated.
That won't start until the 30th of March. That's the publication date for the
notice of election and the nominations have to be received by the 9th of April
and that would be the close of nominations at 4 p .m. and at that point
We will know who will be contesting the elections.
Staffing will commence in January.
An interesting point is that staffing is done
by the electoral services team, not by HR,
not by Tower Hamlets Council.
It's an independent process done independent of influence
and it is done by us and not by HR.
So, and that links to the independent statutory position
of the chief executive.
So all of the staffing is completely independent
of the council.
I'm nearly there, Chair, sorry.
The verification and the count will take place
at the Platinum Suite in the Excel Centre,
Exhibition Centre, and at the close of poll,
all the ballot boxes will go to the Excel,
they will be secured, and then we will start
the verification on the Friday morning,
and then the Mayor count will start immediately
after the verification we anticipate round about the 1 .30 mark and then the
mayor count will take place on the Friday to a result and then the borough
ward counts will take place on the Saturday at the same location commencing
at half past eight in the morning. On Monday we have a site visit taking place
with all of the stakeholders that's the police the Commission and all of those
the directors and all the people that are involved in running this thing. We
also have a digital polling register for the first time here at Town of Hamlets.
That means that when the electorate go into the polling stations they will scan
in their poll cards and it will record their voter ID which is a requirement
now. That voter ID has to be produced and ticked off off the system before anybody
is given a ballot paper. So that's very secure. It's the market leader and that's being introduced
for the first time. Now, just very quickly, I've got two more points if I may, Chair.
One is that the Electoral Register has now been published, the revised register for the
1st of December this year. That register will underpin the elections, subject to any monthly
updates that occur as we approach the election. If councillors or elected
members wish to have registers they must do so and request it in writing and we
have a form for people to use so they can send it to us. So just drop us a line
and we'll send a form if you wish to have your electoral registers for your
registered to be a member of
But finally,
postal votes.
Postal votes
can only be kept now for
three years.
It's a very
important point.
We have 26 ,000
postal voters in Hamlets.
Of that
22 ,000 are required
to reapply for their
postal votes.
To date,
we have had
8 ,000 of
that 22 reapply, we still have 14 ,000 outstanding.
We've sent about four communications to them so far.
And they have to do so by the 31st of January.
If they don't do so by the 31st of January,
their postal vote will expire,
and they'll have to go to the polling station
unless they reapply after that date
as a brand new application.
So that's a lot, 14 ,000 postal voters that could,
if it goes down to 10 ,000,
would still be a lot of people to be told
that they've got no postal vote when they think they have.
So if members are out and about,
knocking on doors, campaigning,
and somebody's got a postal vote,
it's very important that we make sure that they are aware
that potentially they could lose their postal vote
and they'd have to reapply.
I think that's where I am, Chair.
One thing I will say is I've got a
Presentation that we did on Wednesday to agents and candidates. I can distribute that digitally to anybody that wishes to see it
So if members wish to have that presentation as a guide, please
Drop me a line
That's it. So any questions?
Thank you for your verbal updates do member have any question
Councillor Shafiya met, please
Thank you, Mr. Curtis, for delivering a quick update and it's really good and informative.
Two things I want to build up on this is the postal vote as well as the venue for the count.
So the postal vote, you've mentioned the stats and it's really worrying because many residents probably don't even know
or the letters have gone out, the communications have gone out,
and I know because as my family member is a postal voter,
so we've got the re -register of that.
But there are many.
I was just wondering whether you've done communication.
Is there anything either from your directorate,
whether there can some communication go out
in terms of social media, in terms of the three -monthly, quarterly, Eastern news,
something that we could reignite that worry about the election.
And a lot of people still don't know there's an election in May.
You know, we're knocking on doors and as members, people are not aware,
oh, is it in May? You know.
So is there something we can do, number one, in that thing?
The second question I have sounds very nice, Platinum Suite or the Excel.
I know it's not in the borough, as well as a borough.
The last count we did was within the borough and it was very successful, may I say, to you and your team.
whether it's an option that we as a as a council have looked into options whether
We are still able to find a venue within the borough that will help us
Thank You counsellor so two things one is that I
Produced the reports which went to the returning officer on alternative venues of the counts here within Tower Hamlets
I think there were six different locations that we considered even considered here in the town hall
The floor plans the movement the police advice
Was that none of the venues were suitable to run a modern -day count and the requirements that are?
Necessary now for a modern -day count into our hamlets as a consequence the returning officer and it's his decision
It's his personal decision. It's his next on the line
Is was that we go back to the Excel given that we've used the Excel now for all of the major polls
Probably for the last eight nine ten years, maybe maybe a bit longer
So that was a decision on that. So there was due consideration given for that in terms of the engagement
the
Knowledge of the election tends to happen as we get closer to polling day, which is logical
we will be delivering a what is known as a household notification letter in
that will tell them who is registered to vote and who is
eligible to vote in that household and they can make
amendments to that letter and contact us, adding people,
taking people away. There will also be the poll cards, the
old incip it poll card that we remember, the little card,
that's out the window now. It's an enveloped letter, it
has more details about voter ID, it's more clear to the
comprehensive, more detailed and we will be sending that out in sort of March time,
maybe a bit earlier end of February so that everybody is at note. In terms of
the engagement programme Andreas and his team the director of comms we've had the
meeting there is a comms plan in place. Our East End you mentioned that there is
an article going in there about the postal votes that's all in there and
social media I could go on I won't but there is a huge engagement plan going on
to make sure that as many people,
or that we can engage with the elections, are contacted.
Thank you, Robert.
Councillor Mayuntal is there.
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, Rob.
Thank you to you and your team for the briefing.
I think things have started quite early,
so thank you for that.
I think the political parties, we appreciate that.
I've missed the second half of the meeting,
briefing because I had to go
So maybe it would have been relevant for me to ask question then but while you're here
Muslim box questions, so
Obviously, I had a question about comms which consider Shafi already asked
My second one was around
So May 2022 there was some kind of confusion during the count
Regarding recounts so I wanted to understand the threshold
or what's the position regarding recount?
Because I think still there's confusion among agents
and so on.
So if we're clear, then that way, when we're challenging,
we know what we're doing.
And if that can be also communicated
to all the agents and so on.
And my second question was around the project planning board.
I mean, it's fantastic.
You've got all the key stakeholders around you.
But is there any opportunities for observers?
Thank you
Yeah
Okay. Thank you very much counsellor. So the first one is about recounts
There is no threshold. There is no threshold in legislation at all
It is a decision made by the returning officer at the time subject to the circumstances of each count that is undertaken
So we will look at the circumstances and if the returning officer is happy that the result is
As it should be and robust
then
Whilst recounts can be asked for the returning officer can say that in his opinion that that recount request is
Unreasonable and the result stands and then if anybody wants to challenge that decision then they have to do so through the courts
That's the way the legislation sits at the moment. We don't take it lightly. You know that we do it very
Sympathetically we understand the emotions when it comes to recounts particularly if it's very very close
And that decision will be made at the time and I think quite rightly that's the way that it should be done
But you're absolutely right when we have the nominations
We know who's nominated all of this will be in the guidance that we provide
The second bit about observers at the project board
I will raise that with the returning officer.
We have had observers in the project boards before,
but they have been government observers.
So the best value inspection team have been in
and sat with us.
I think an expansion of that is highly unlikely
because there will be sensitive issues
relating to police action and police policy
and the plans that the police are putting in place as well.
So I think that's probably highly unlikely,
but there are, as you know, very reputable people on that board and it will be done absolutely as it should be.
Thank you, Robert.
Councillor, Gudalp Kiberi Chaudhry.
Thank you, Chair. Thank you for your nice presentation, informative presentation. My question is,
last year, sorry, not last year, in last election we saw that some people appointed
to communicate some resident, for example, either postal register or normal register.
We saw some people there just going some places and some people. Do you have any plan this year
to employ some people for this, to register some people for good or cheque? Yes, so in terms of
engagement programmes in terms to identify as many people
who are entitled to be on the electoral register
so they can vote and canvassing out
and about knocking on doors.
So increasingly this is done digitally
and done by methods that don't involve people
in November or December walking around in darkness
knocking on doors and this is across the whole of the UK,
this is not unique to Town Hamlets.
There is a full engagement programme.
Of course, the difference being this now compared to 2022 is that to apply to register to vote
is done electronically and digitally.
We have an incredibly high uptake of emails in Tower Hamlets.
We have an electorate of 211 ,000.
154 ,000 people have provided us with their email.
So we can contact them really quickly.
We use a thing called the government notify system. I don't know if you're it's a free service where we can send out
154 ,000 emails in sort of two hours
And we repeatedly use that on a monthly basis as we approach the polling day in May
it's it's an amazing system and
Anybody who's not got an email then we will use our other avenues
Of course the H &L which I previously mentioned, whole cards and then of course there's canvassing
by the candidates and everybody else.
So there's a lot going on and we have a proper engagement plan with Andreas pushing our comms
team on social media and everything else.
So yeah, huge exercise to cancel it.
Thank you, Robert.
Peter Gold, Councillor Peter Gold.
I think as members who weren't there should understand that the law has quite
dramatically changed over postal votes and the handling of postal votes and
what candidates and political parties can do with postal votes and electors
having them. The days are now long past of anybody walking down the
street with a bundle of postal votes collecting them from a house or anything.
and if you're caught doing that,
you're gonna potentially end up spending election day
sitting in a police cell waiting to go somewhere else.
So I think people have to understand
it is as brutal as this.
And looking at how the current government
are looking at things, I would not be surprised
if very quickly they're going to tighten up
the dealing with postal votes even tighter.
The issue of the venue of account again is now
it's in the hands of the returning officer.
So it's nothing to do with elected members.
And they have to take advice from higher authorities.
And if you look roundabout the country now,
they consolidate counts.
You go to all sorts of places and they're everywhere.
You go to the West Midlands and many,
you go to Birmingham, Solihull and nearby councils,
which is, we're talking of millions of voters
are all counted at the gigantic,
that gigantic centre that's by Birmingham Airport.
They're all brought in there.
So it can be under police supervision.
So we're long past the idea if you go to the local church hall
and everybody stands outside and you have to take advice.
We can't do any more and I think again the regulations are going to be tightened up.
Is there an interest to serve on the board of the local government association
that receives reports on that?
So what I'm saying is pretty close to the horse's mouth.
Yeah, Robert.
Just to reiterate Council goals this point the elections act 2022 introduced really seriously
Increases in the undue influence offences
handling of postal votes
And it is now criminal offence and campaigners political campaigners and political parties cannot handle postal votes
It is it's now illegal. So in 2022
That wasn't the case
But then the legislation came in and that is now the case again all of the candidates and all of political parties will be informed
So that they are very aware of what the restrictions are in relation to the handling of postal votes
In fact very quickly
I think one thing people should know if anybody turns up in a polling station with an armful of postal votes. They're invalidated
That's the law now the actual votes. They hand over are invalidated
They'll be and they'd be out and also the person turning up with armfuls of postal votes will be
Having a mature discussion with any with the authorities
yeah, I sorry council got so but
There is a limit there is the it's a little bit so they can come in with six
Their own and five of people who are close relatives or people that they care for
So there is that small window but council goals is absolutely right
somebody walks in with 20 into the town hall or walked into account into a
polling station not only is it will they take them but every single postal vote
is rejected apart from the person who brought their own in so by handling them
you're disenfranchising those people who you're trying to help yeah so it's that
that's where we are it will all be explained when the candidates and agents
come in.
Thank you.
Just a quick one.
You mentioned there will be
directors who are
deputy returning
officers.
Just elaborate on
their role.
What will their role be?
I know you mentioned the
returning officer being the
main guy in charge.
What is their role?
Deputy returning officers.
The returning officer is
He's a very ludicrous for him to try and do everything himself.
So he appoints these deputies to do things like, you'll see at the count venue, for example,
for the first time in Tower Hamlets, there will be directors and people with a little
bit of gravitas who will be appointed in the count venue to keep order, make sure that
everything is run properly.
But it's wider than that.
They will be able to go to polling stations.
They will be able to go to the post of our opening sessions.
You know, they'll be at the county as I said, so it's this
Delegation of tasks, which is fine. It could be anything
But the delegation of task does not take away the responsibility from the returning officer
Julia Matthew are both deputy returning officers and they do a fantastic job for us, but that's with that's been expanded
Now we do have now senior management who will be involved in the management of the polls here at town
Thank you, Robert. Council Member, Kibbeach Audrey.
Sorry, sorry. My last question is regarding the postal booth.
For example, in last few election we saw in town hall, we have the opportunity, for example, is postal booth.
For example, I have postal booth. I can drop it in the town hall directly if I don't increase the postal, for example,
and post -tobias or any other year.
Is it the same thing will be happen same thing
this year or not?
For example, we have any opportunity for this
for postal vote, like the town hall yet?
Do you have any?
Yes, so the situation with postal votes
is when you hand them in now,
in a polling station or even here in the town hall,
you have to fill a form out to say who you are,
the fact that you're dropping it off,
and you have to sign to say
that you are not a political campaigner,
and you have to fill a form out.
That form is then retained with the postal vote pack so that it's not rejected.
That facility is available.
We will have, from the day the postal votes go out, we will have a table in the grand
foyer at the front of the town hall here with one of our staff who is a Bangladeshi speaker,
and he will sit there on a stall from every office day until the close of poll at 10 o 'clock
on polling day.
and he will receipt anybody that comes in with their own postal boat
and he will make sure that they then get taken up into our office
so that they are opened and counted correctly.
It's not a day, you can't put it in the post box,
you can't give it to the post room,
you can't just drop it off because that will invalidate it.
You have to fill a form out now if you're going to drop them in.
So a little bit more convoluted,
far more secure than it has been in the past.
the
Thank you.
Any other questions from the member?
Thank you.
Now agenda item 4 .2, local authority governor application.
Our next item is 4 .2.
Before we consider this report, can I
ask member to agree the reason for
Thank you.
Thank you.
appointments of which two are new appointments. So we have the Head Teacher and Chair of Oaklands
supporting the appointment of Ian Munro and the Head Teacher and Chair of Beatrice Tate
School supporting the appointment of Kamal Adid.
Just to be clear this is public, is that okay? Is this public information that you're giving out?
So do we wouldn't normally go into the details unless people want to enclose.
My apologies. What detail do you want from me then?
Just a summary
Just a summary with our names and then if members want to discuss the individual
So we have two new appointment nominations for do you want the names of the schools
No, okay, and we have two reappointments from two schools as well
If you wish me to be
Yes.
Yes.
I'm happy to record that the documentation
was sent out to us in confidence.
I'm sure all members have read it
and I am extremely happy to endorse the,
I'm happy to propose that we endorse the recommendations
as enclosed in the confidential documents.
Yes, Shafir.
Yeah, I just wanted to bring in a question.
Two candidates who are
Realised there there's no bar. There's no
Bar connexion they don't live in the borough. Is that I just want to know if our policies whether I
Remember being in a meeting here, maybe two years ago, and we've mentioned this again
And again that we want to bring in or bring people in who are within the borough
So on the application, I'm looking at I think two candidates who are not living in the borough.
I believe it's one candidate and you are correct, they don't live in the borough.
Their appointment is a reappointment.
They have supported the school, is there a federation of schools for many years.
And in fact, they live, it's a several hours commute for them.
but despite that they've been attending meetings to support.
And sometimes when we look at reappointments,
we're looking at it based on particular skill sets as well.
Governing boards are increasingly looking for a wide and broad range of skills.
So that's also balanced by the need for governors to be local.
So you'll see that there are two new appointments,
they're both locally new appointments.
and of the two reappointments one of them is actually out of the borough but he is
is his skill set and experience that he brings to the board that supports the
needs of the board. You continue. So those are just the four
appointments that we're nominating.
Yes printed as you and I add on Salma
Thank You Salma for your updates and I'll go to the council a mime tell of their protection
Can I propose because I'm not sure I had some
I think we should receive a closed session.
Can I propose we have a closed session?
I suggest we ask the members of the public here whether they want to listen to the Constitution item,
because if they do we should probably take that first.
Or if they're happy just leaving now, they can leave now.
So would you like to hear the constitution item or are you happy to?
You would like to hear that one?
Okay, in that case, the chair suggests that we go move on to the constitution item and
then come back to this one at the end when we close session.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mathieu.
Okay, thank you, chair.
shall I just go straight into it or do you want to introduce it?
Yeah, this agenda item 4 .3, the matter will introduce the item. Matthew.
Thank you, chair. Right, so I've realised, so I suppose I should start with an
apology that I was off sick last week. And so this one didn't really come in as
it should have done. And I'm not convinced everybody's got the right bits
to paper in front of them either.
So if the chair is willing, I'm gonna go modern
and put stuff on the screen for you tonight.
So, you know, I appreciate for two of you,
that's not great, you might wanna move,
but give me two seconds and I will learn.
.
I'm afraid the camera may not quite catch me.
Oh, actually, maybe I can. There we go. All right. So, this is the usual Constitution
update report. Some of the changes are very small and I think we can get through quite
But there are a couple of significant things which I do want to make sure that members are aware of the significant stuff does go on
To council later. So there is time for members to feedback off this meeting should they wish
and
This stuff has been through other forums as well as will come to
I put the as I mentioned I put the special circumstances at the top because I basically I was ill and wasn't able to finish it
in time so
So probably one of the biggest pieces that we're proposing here is a new set of committee procedural
So this something was discussed at the Constitution working group
Up until now the committees have been working on the council procedurals. That's the basis of the of the rules
but
That doesn't work very well for committees. It doesn't really count for how we do things as committees
So we created some committee specific procedure rules, which are in here
Which hopefully as well make it a bit easier to bring in the public if they come along and they want to
Contribute to particular items or people who aren't members of the committee
and
Just generally kind of pulls everything together and this also fits with our new idea of theming the Constitution as well
So this would sit within the new part of the Constitution specifically about committees
Most of this is just really moving stuff into a different place, but there are a few bits set out
which are
potentially different to how we do them at the moment and these are bits that the constitution work group has seen but
Equally people here might have comments or groups might have comments
So this bullet point is so first one the rules now include the ability for ungrouped members of a committee to have a named substitute
Rather than the groups can have a set of people
The number of members required to call an extraordinary meeting is a third of the membership of that specific committee.
At the moment it's simply a number, which for some committees is essentially everybody and in other committees is very small.
We're looking at whether we increase the discretion period at the start of the meeting to 20 minutes from 15.
It's a suggestion.
The next one down is, now this is practise from other authorities and it might depend
on what we like or don't like as an authority, but it's often seen that two hours for committee
meetings is actually sufficient and that's what we should be thinking about in our heads
when we're kind of planning a meeting, that you should be doing two hours and not trying
to do three.
So the idea is that we would change our rules to have a two hour standard for committees,
But then with a one hour extension rather than a half hour extension, so you scan still go to three hours, but it's discouraged
It's an idea
And then at the bottom the last one is public participation is more explicitly encouraged
And it's made clear the chair can adjust procedures to allow that public participation
When obviously this doesn't apply for like strategic development or licencing where there's set rules, but it's for committees like this one
We have members of the public today.
Maybe they'd want to contribute.
Hello.
So it gives that kind of flexibility
for a chair to bring them in.
So I do encourage members to take these away, have a look.
As I say, they've been to the Constitution Working Group.
Comments today are very welcome.
If and when we're all happy,
the idea is we take them to council,
either in January or March,
and then we can sign them off at May
at the annual council after the election
and implement them from the new municipal year.
I can go on, do people have any questions or comments on that one first?
No?
Sorry, your mic isn't, oh there we go.
Any routine committee meeting should be encapsulated within two hours.
I mean, two hours is a good, good time for a meeting such as this.
But it might go on if we had the whole book before us.
We might go well beyond.
There's no need to go beyond two.
Councillor Shafiya, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Chair.
I just wanted to echo the good work that's been happening.
Obviously, you've come to this stage now after many, many meetings from the Committee
and all these give and takes here and there.
And I think it's a way forward,
going forward and doing this, it's positive.
And I want to thank everyone who's been involved.
I know Abu Talha Chaudhry takes a lot of good work on this
and I want to reach out to the whole community
who was involved in making sure
that this gets into paper today.
That's one thing.
And the one thing I just want to,
I just a little bit, maybe I didn't get it.
So you're saying the suggestion is to have a two hour meeting and then extend to one hour?
Or saying keep it at three hours and have a guillotine for one hour?
Is that what's...
Yeah, so at the moment the rules are that you get a three hour meeting and then a half hour guillotine.
So you can go to three and a half hours.
And we're suggesting that's a long time for a standard committee.
Obviously council's different.
Although if everyone wants to reduce that to two hours, then I'm listening.
So the new proposal is that it's a two hour standard and then a one hour extension.
So you can go up to three hours.
So you are losing potentially half an hour because you could at the moment go up to three and a half hours.
But that just feels like too long for something like a general purposes committee meeting.
And so, yeah, so two hours with one hour extension.
But you won't need that full hour.
Indeed, you wouldn't have to do the full hour.
You could just extend for 10 minutes or 15 minutes.
I think we're doing it.
But we know it'll never last.
It definitely will over two hours though.
Normally that's what happens, isn't it?
Well, it obviously depends a little bit on the committee meeting.
Last night's standards didn't.
I'm hoping we won't go over two hours tonight.
But we'll see how we get on.
Obviously if I bring the whole constitution I know you'll be so fascinated that we're
going to spend four hours.
Thank you Matthew, thank you for your invitation and thank you for that.
I haven't finished I'm afraid.
I'll try to use this strategy tonight, try to finish at two hours.
Thank you Matthew.
Do any other members have any question?
I do apologise, Joe, we can't finish that early.
So that was the, that's one of the biggest changes, but there's just a couple more bits
to make sure everyone's aware of as well.
So next one down is Part A, which for those who remember the Constitution's in four parts
and Part A is the section designed for the public, so it's relatively simple language,
It sets things out relatively clearly
We did take an undertake an exercise in the summer
with a teenager
Declaration of interest it was my daughter and we got her to look read through part a and identify any words
It didn't make sense to a to a teenager
And so there are a few recommendations for tweaks
Sorry, I don't think she used any apps in the in her review. I hope not
So there's enough this doesn't change anything
It just kind of simplify some of the wording and that set an appendix, but hopefully that's simple enough and that's okay
Right the next one is more complicated, but this is really for information purposes. So the
Standards Advisory Committee last night they were looking at the code of conduct procedures
And they were trying to simplify them make them make them clearer now again
And most of this isn't actual changes to process, it's just about trying to make it more understandable.
But we bring it here for you guys to be aware because it'll involve a change to the constitution
and you guys should be aware that that's what's coming.
So this is going to go to council.
There were no particular sort of problems with it last night, but again the groups are welcome to go and take this away and have a look.
there were two additional changes requested
beyond what was in the PAC, which I'll just read out.
So under paragraph 46, they're talking about
the sorts of things where members gotta be careful
about use of council resources.
So it gives examples like officer support,
stationary, phones, transport,
and it just adds sort of council branding
as an extra line.
And then also at the end, there's just a link
to the member pledge, which obviously members are aware
we're trying to build a member pledge.
It doesn't make that part of the code of conduct.
It just acknowledges that that is also a process
that we have.
So those two bits have been added in as well.
So that's that one.
Next up, we have the filming protocol.
This is something that's been requested,
particularly by facilities management,
making it clear that the filming protocol
we have around our committee meetings
only applies to committee meetings.
And some people are thinking that gives you sort of rights around the building to film random stuff
And we're just trying to make it clear that it doesn't
And so that we're adding proposing to add just a little bit about that so that there's no
No discussion
Right and then a couple of updates in the Constitution working group the first one is to report on the
The trials we've been running with council deadlines,
bringing forward the deadlines for amendments
and urgent items with the idea that we can then publish
all items the day before council meeting.
So we no longer have little surprises, nice or nasty,
depending on the point of view of people in the meeting.
And it's feel like that hopefully reduces some of the,
I don't know if the tensions are right word,
but just it can be difficult in a meeting
when you're suddenly confronted with an amendment
you weren't sure about.
And so this gives everyone a bit more notice.
We tried it at the last couple of meetings.
I think early indications are maybe that we'd want to change bits and pieces, but overall
I think people seemed happy.
But I'm happy to take feedback on that as well.
And then the other bit of constitution working group business is around the structure and
the accessibility.
So I mentioned that we're trying to re -theme the constitution so you get a section that's
on the executive, a section that's on committees and so on.
We're also trying to create a new website which will be much more accessible.
So there's a couple of screenshots of some test work we're doing.
And this is a new system as well that will automatically reformat the Constitution so it fits on mobile phones more easily,
so people can navigate through it on a mobile phone.
They will be able to track changes much more easily, so they'll be able to say how this bit changed and how that bit changed over time.
Our intention is to show the constitution working group a full, like, proper draught of this in the next couple of months.
And we'll report back to the committee on that afterwards.
We've got a meeting with somebody who's setting that up for us tomorrow, so hopefully that will go well.
A little note at the bottom about new requirements from the government.
They're obviously looking at member code of conduct, they're looking at virtual meetings, area committees and all sorts of things.
and we will obviously have to bring them to committee
as and when they come along, so we'll keep aware of those.
And then very, very briefly, a verbal update
on something else, I've just been made aware today
that the Standing Advisory Committee on Religious Education
have just made a slight change to terms of reference.
They've moved the non -religious member from group D
to group A, they have four groups of members
and they've just moved them from one to the other
to be more consistent with how other authorities do it.
So we'll look to put that into the Constitution as well.
So I think that's it.
So that's all the bits and bobs.
There's a couple of bits.
So to the part A, making those little changes
to make it clearer, that's something
we're asking for you to agree.
The committee procedurals, we're asking for you to take back,
but to agree we will take them to full council
unless we hear otherwise.
The standards advisory committee stuff
It's for your noting that it's going to Council.
The new requirements, obviously it's new requirements, and we'll see what happens.
And the constitution working group update is just to note, and we will report back to
the constitution working group.
And I think that is it, Chair.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mathij.
Do members have any questions or any suggestions?
Peter Gold, please.
I'm sorry to be the victim, Eldar, of this thing.
The issue of photographing, I think we should get a line in that when people are doing it at council meeting committee,
they cannot do the public gallery because you get, too often people want to see who's in the gallery
and that really does contravene all and also be very wary of council officers because particularly in licencing,
where you get licencing officers who have to do a lot of, and indeed planning, where they go around and visit people,
regulatory work
I don't want to be suddenly sitting there with somebody filming them and then then two weeks later turn up somewhere
I've just seen you on that things
I think we need to be very careful that we protect the public and our council officers and I think that should be written in
Yeah, Matthew, yeah, thank you, I'm pretty sure we've got something but I'll have a look and maybe we need to beef up a bit
I echo Councillor Gough's concerns here, because sometimes you are in a gallery and
someone can just take a picture.
I think there should be some warning information, signs to show that no photos.
And I think once there's a sign, it shows your gravitas on the actual situation.
Any other question, any member?
Thank you, Matthew. And do members have any other business, rather than that?
For my one, agreed the changes to Part A and the little bit on the sacre and agree the
other bits go on to Council.
And the constitution working group will also meet between now and then.
Thank you.
It's agreed.
And conclude the business.
Thank you.
Thank you Matthew.
Now we need to go to the 4 .2.
.