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Guide to Council and Other Meetings

• What is Havant Borough Council?
• What do these bodies do? - The Executive, Overview & Scrutiny Boards, and Committees 
• Council Meetings 
• Other Meetings - The Executive, Overview & Scrutiny Boards, and Committees
• What is discussed - Council Meetings 
• What is discussed - Other Meetings
• How Council and other Meetings work 
• Voting
• Confidential Matters
• Records of Meetings
• Contacts

• Members (or Councillors), who are elected by the residents of the Borough. There are 38 of these. The members are usually organised into various political groups.

• Officers, who are employees of the Council, and who either run the services the Council provides or arrange for them to be carried out and supervised. There are some 302 officers, and 130 other staff.

The Council decides upon its policy in respect of a particular matter by means of meetings of:

• The Council
• The Executive
• Overview and Scrutiny Boards;
• Committees

What do these bodies do?

The Executive, made up of seven members of the Council, each of whom is responsible for a "portfolio" of the Council's work, debates and recommends to the Council the policy for the coming year(s) in relation to the provision of the various services the Council is responsible for providing to the people of Havant. It is also responsible for taking the day to day decisions to implement these policies.

The Overview and Scrutiny Boards hold the Executive to account for its decisions throughout the year. They can "call-in" decisions taken by the Executive and ask for them to be reconsidered. The Boards can also undertake research on behalf of the Executive on any policy matters as well as initiating such research themselves. The Boards can also initiate debates with the community on any matters coming within its terms of reference or responsibilities.

 

Committees have been set up principally to deal with development control ("planning applications"), licensing matters, and staffing matters. There is also a Standards Committee.

 

Council Meetings

The 38 members of the Council meet together in the Council Chamber at approximately six weekly intervals. The Council meets under the Chairmanship of the Mayor.

 

The Mayor controls the debates and makes rulings on any matters that cause dispute during the meetings. The words "Mayor" or Chairman" are formal names and do not change to match the sex of the postholder.

 

The Mayor sits at the centre of the raised dais facing the rows of seated Councillors. To the right of the Mayor will normally be the seven members of the Executive. To his or her left will be the Democratic Services Team Leader, the Solicitor to the Council and the Managing Director.

 

Also present on the raised dais facing Councillors may be Honorary Aldermen (who play no part in formal Council meetings).  The officers Management Team sit at the table, below the dias, immediately in front of the Mayor.

 

There are also facilities available for the press.

 

The Councillors sit in the body of the Chamber. As the Council is divided into political groups, the members of each group will sit together in agreed sections of the Chamber.

 

Meetings of the Executive, Overview and Scrutiny Boards, and Other Committees

The Chairman will be sitting at the centre of the table at the far end of the room from you. He or she will be flanked on both left and right by various officers of the Council, who are there to advise the Chairman and the meeting on all sorts of matters. Unlike Council meetings, at these meetings officers can and do speak.

 

The members (members can vary from seven to fifteen depending on which meeting it is) will be sitting at the tables in front of and to the side of the Chairman.

 

Also present at the meeting will be a Democratic Services Officer, usually sitting on the right of the Chairman, who records the decisions made.

 

What is discussed?

The Council has the task of taking decisions where responsibility for a particular matter has not been delegated to the Executive, the Overview and Scrutiny Boards or a Committee, Sub-Committees or officer.

 

The documents you will be looking at, which the members of the Council also have, are known as the "Council Papers". They consist of a summons (agenda) which sets out what has to be considered, the minutes of the last meeting, and finally the minutes of the meetings of the Executive, Overview and Scrutiny or Committees that require a decision from the Council.

 

The Council also allows deputations, of up to two persons, who can briefly address the Council on any matter in which the Council has an interest or on which it is taking action. One hope of the deputation is that they can influence the decision-making of the Council. If there are any deputations they appear close to the start of the meeting.

 

It is also possible for members of the public to ask questions of the Executive members under rules which quite tightly control the time allowed for such questions, and the subject matter.

 

All the items to be discussed at the meeting are set out on what is called an agenda. Copies will have been provided to you. Agenda items, accompanied by a brief report usually written by an officer of the Council, explain what is wanted and ends with one or more recommendations. Some items include confidential information in a separate report, so little or no detail is included on an agenda.

 

Deputations are also allowed at Committee meetings but must relate to a matter being discussed at that meeting.

 

Occasionally items of urgent business arise after the agenda has been produced, and if the Chairman agrees these are also dealt with at the meeting.

 

How Council and Other Meetings Work

The Mayor is responsible for orderly conduct at Council meetings, and uses Standing Orders as an aid to achieving this. These set out the procedure for conducting meetings, including, most importantly, the rules of debate. Some Standing Orders are required by law. Very often, Standing Orders can make parts of the proceedings very formal. If there is a lengthy debate on any matter, you will observe how members talk and behave.

 

At other meetings, the Chairman is responsible for orderly conduct. Some, but not all, of the Standing Orders apply to such meetings; however, in general, the procedure and rules of debate at these meetings are more relaxed and less formal than they are at Council meetings.

 

To reach a decision on any matter being discussed, the members have to vote on a proposition (to do something) which has to be proposed and seconded before the debate commences. A majority of those present have to vote in favour for it to be passed.

 

Sometimes items are dealt with without any debate. This does not mean they have not received careful consideration; it means that no-one wants to disagree with the recommendations being made. Nevertheless, a formal vote is always taken at Council meetings.

 

Unlike Council meetings, a formal vote will not always be taken at other meetings on a particular matter if there is general consensus on a suggested course of action. It is not always the case that the members voting agree to what is being proposed by the officers; sometimes they will put forward their own proposals to be voted upon; sometimes, the voting will just be in the negative, ie deciding to take no action on the matter at all.

 

Voting

Voting sometimes seems a bit confusing because amendments have to be voted on first. If an amendment is passed, the amendment then becomes the proposition and must be voted on again. The way in which voting is taken, in relation to amendments and propositions is the same at both Council and Committee meetings.

 

Confidential Matters

All meetings may have to consider confidential items. Confidential business includes such matters as personal details of members of the public, financial information about private sector firms which could benefit their competitors, certain legal and personal matters and so on. Before confidential matters are discussed, a resolution will be passed which excludes the public. This means that when those matters are discussed, you will have to leave the meeting. Usually, such items are kept to the end, which means you can stay until the end of the normal business of the meeting is concluded.

 

Records of Meetings

The record of what goes on at all the meetings described in this leaflet are called minutes. The Democratic Services Officers write these shortly after the meeting and when their contents are agreed, they can normally be read at most Council offices and public libraries in the Borough as well as the Council's website: http://www4.havant.gov.uk/council/orion/minutes1.asp.  As the first business at the next meeting, these minutes have to be approved as a correct record, or have inaccuracies corrected, before being signed by the Chairman. In this way a permanent, accurate record is kept of all the business dealt with by the Council.

STAFF TO CONTACT ON DEPUTATIONS