West Lothian Council Committee Information

DATA LABEL: PUBLIC WEST LOTHIAN COUNCIL APPOINTMENTS TO OUTSIDE BODIES REPORT BY THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE A. PURPOSE OF REPORT To make appointments to boards, statutory organisations and other outside bodies. B. RECOMMENDATIONS 1. To appoint members at this meeting to the bodies listed in Appendix 1 to ensure compliance with legal requirements and that the council can do its business effectively 2. To appoint members at this meeting to the bodies listed in Appendix 2, or to agree a process for those appointments to be made later 3. In relation to all outside body appointments, in particular appointments to West Lothian Leisure, to note the summary in paragraph D.3 of the Standards Commission’s Advice for Councillors on Arm's Length External Organisations 4. To appoint the non-councillor members listed in Appendix 3 to the Education Executive and Education (Quality Assurance) Committee, or to any other committees the council may appoint to deal with its education business 5. To appoint the members to the Placing in Schools (Appeals) Committee, as listed in Appendix 4 6. To appoint the members of the West Lothian Local Licensing Forum listed in Appendix 5 7. To note that:- (a) The list in Appendix 6 shows bodies which no longer exist, those which no longer require or desire members to be appointed, and those which have asked for appointments to be deferred (b) Some members are automatically appointed to local trusts and similar bodies, and those are shown in Appendix 7 (c) All members serve ex officio on community councils and community education centre management committees for their ward areas (d) Members are not ex officio members of Parent Councils for schools within their wards, but Parent Councils may choose to co-opt them or invite them to participate in other ways 1 8. To note that, subject to a small number of exceptions, the Councillors’ Code of Conduct and statutory Guidance require members to include appointments to outside bodies in their register of interests C. SUMMARY OF IMPLICATIONS I Council Values Being honest, open and accountable; working in partnership II Policy and Legal Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973; the (including Strategic council’s Standing Orders; Councillors’ Code of Environmental Conduct and related Standards Commission Assessment, Equality Guidance and Advice. The voting procedure for Issues, Health or Risk appointments is in Standing Order 3. The Assessment) requirement that there is no casting vote is in the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. III Implications for Scheme None of Delegations to Officers IV Impact on performance None and Performance Indicators V Relevance to Single None Outcome Agreement VI Resources - (Financial, None Staffing and Property) VII Consideration at PDSP None VIII Other consultations The outside bodies listed and relevant services D. TERMS OF REPORT 1 Background 1.1 The council is required to appoint members to various statutory boards, committees and other organisations. It may also choose to appoint members as representatives to other outside bodies. These appointments are designed to meet legal requirements, to further the corporate aims of the council and of the bodies concerned, and to contribute towards partnership working. They may have important consequences for elected members both in terms of workload and potential legal responsibilities and liabilities. 1.2 The organisations with previous member appointments were contacted to confirm what future member involvement was called for. Some no longer exist. Some indicated that they no longer wished to have appointments made. Others have not responded, and it has been assumed that the same number of appointments will be required as before. The lists in the first two appendices show the bodies to which appointments should be considered. 2 1.3 Appendix 1 shows the more significant of those, and it is recommended that those appointments are made as soon as possible. Appendix 2 shows the bodies for which appointments may be safely postponed or delegated to a committee. For those not covered by legal requirements, council could choose not to make appointments at all. 1.4 Appendix 6 shows the bodies for which appointments are no longer needed for the reasons shown there. 1.5 Attendance at meetings of these outside bodies is classed as “approved duties” for which elected members may recover expenses in accordance with the council’s Scheme of Members’ Remuneration and Reimbursement of Expenses. 1.6 The council has a procedure in place whereby the business of the more significant of these outside bodies is regularly reported to the council and its members through an appropriate committee or PDSP. 1.7 So long as it is allowed by the rules of the outside body concerned, the council’s Standing Orders allow a substitute to be arranged by a member who is unable to attend a meeting. 1.8 By law and under the council’s Standing Orders, an appointment ends when the member concerned ceases to be a councillor. It may come to an end sooner than that by resignation from the body concerned, or by a council decision to terminate it. 1.9 The Councillors’ Code of Conduct and statutory Guidance require members to include their appointments to all outside bodies in their register of interests. However, there is no need to register being a councillor or member of a joint board, a joint committee or of COSLA. 2 Considerations in making appointments 2.1 In making decisions about these appointments, members should bear in mind the following factors:- The appointment should be relevant to the council’s business and contribute to it The Councillors’ Code of Conduct continues to apply because the appointment is part of a councillor’s duties Other codes of conduct and regulations may apply at the same time, for example, charity regulations or directors’ duties under company law Members may be assuming legal responsibilities and, in some cases, risks in relation to the consequences of non-compliance with regulatory regimes or insolvency Under the Councillors’ Code of Conduct, the appointment may restrict members’ participation at council and committee meetings where the outside body’s interests are involved. Those rules are relaxed for certain types of outside body but not for them all and not for all types of business Members must be aware of potential conflicts of interest when accepting an appointment and then during it Members cannot act contrary to council policy when representing the council’s interests on an outside body 3 The council cannot arrange for payments to be made to councillors by an outside body subject to its control 3 Arms’ Length External Organisations (ALEOs) 3.1 The Standards Commission in 2016 issued Advice for Councillors on Arms’ Length External Organisations. West Lothian Leisure is accepted as being this council’s only ALEO. The advice was intended expressly for ALEOs, but it is relevant and helpful in relation to all outside body appointments. In summary:- Representation on ALEOs by councillors can help ensure they are being properly run and that all funds are being used appropriately and in accord with best value principles There is potential for conflicts of interest and risks to arise and councils and members should consider arrangements for funding and scrutiny that, for example, minimise potential conflicts Councils should ensure they are considering both the advantages and risks of having representatives on boards at all There can be a risk if a councillor has a role on both an ALEO Board and also on the council committee that governs or scrutinises it. Such a councillor would have an inherent conflict between the interest in how the ALEO is governed and the interest in holding it to account and potentially taking decisions over funding Councils should not entirely rely on those who sit on ALEO boards to scrutinise and monitor them Members appointed to ALEOs should be aware of the skills and abilities required of any board position, and assure themselves that they can meet that requirement. Councils should have regard to those considerations when making appointments Councils should try to ensure the right mix of skills and experience required to govern the organisation, and to ensure that councillors and officers are advised of their responsibilities Members appointed should have sufficient information, training and support to enable them to fulfil their role on the ALEO 4 COSLA 4.1 COSLA’s constitutional and operational arrangements are under review and are changing. Some new and different considerations apply to council appointments:- Leaders Meeting - the member elected as Leader of the Council will automatically become the council’s representative at the Leaders Meeting. The first meeting is on 26 May Convention - the council may appoint 4 members as its delegates to the COSLA Convention. The first meeting is on 30 June 2017. The council’s delegation must now reflect the balance of political party representation within the council. Delegates (not councils) now nominate for the posts of President and Vice-President of COSLA, and those posts must be gender-balanced. Convention delegates should be appointed by the council and notified to COSLA by 8 June to participate fully in the election to those posts 4 Spokespersons - once the political balance on Convention is clear the political groups will be notified of any spokesperson positions available to them. Those positions are filled within COSLA by nomination, and again have to be gender- balanced Boards - what are presently called “Executive Groups” are expected to be renamed as “Boards” when the COSLA review process is complete. The council is entitled to appoint a member to each of them. That can be done now, or can be deferred until after Convention and after the President, Vice-President and Spokespersons have been identified 5 Member appointments to particular bodies 5.1 Appendices 1 and 2 include information about the number of appointees required for each body, a note of its objectives, and any particular requirements.

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