Purpose

This is a decision taken under the Scheme of Delegation to Officers, as outlined in section 9.52 to make consequential amendments to the Constitution to correct an error or resolve an inconsistency.

Decision

Heloise Macandrew, Director of Law and Governance took a decision to make the following changes to the Constitution of the county council to correct errors or resolve inconsistencies:

Full Council, section 3.4 – for clarity, add wording "Public Questions, Councillor Questions and Notices of Motion may only be submitted for Ordinary meetings"

Executive, section 5.22 – for clarity, add wording "with the following exceptions" before (i), and then add wording "(ii) Decisions to appoint, dismiss, or change the responsibilities of Cabinet members, Lead Members and Champions, which shall be approved by the Leader"

Councillors, section 8.3 (i) – to resolve an inconsistency, amend wording to "Undergo an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring (DBS) Check if required in accordance with agreed arrangements"

Code of Member Conduct, section 8.36 – to resolve an inconsistency, amend wording to "You must also have due regard to the council's protocols and policies. In cases of uncertainty, you should seek advice from the Monitoring Officer."

Officers, section 9.23 – to resolve an inconsistency, remove the word "Commerce" from the Chief Financial Officer's job title

Officers, section 9.33 – for clarity and to resolve an inconsistency, to make any and all consequential changes to the list of Proper Officers following changes to the council's officer management structure.

Scheme of Delegation to Officers, section 9.42 – to resolve an inconsistency, amend the job title of the Chief Financial Officer to "Director of Finance"

Scheme of Delegation to Officer, sections 9.51 – to make any and all amendments for clarity, and to resolve inconsistencies, in the Scheme of Delegation to Officers, to align with recent changes to the council's officer management structure and responsibilities.

Section 10, Standing Orders

Section B – Full Council Procedural Standing Orders

1. 2 – for clarity, add wording "who is not a member of a political group" after "any political group or member"
2. 4 – for clarity, amend wording of final sentence to "each alternative Budget or list of proposed amendments shall be proposed, seconded, debated  and voted on as if they were a single amendment"
3. 6 – to resolve an inconsistency, amend the wording "above" to "below"
4. 9(e) – for clarity, add wording "and any member who is not a member of a political group" after "the Administration, or their nominees,"
5. 9(e) – to resolve an inconsistency, amend the wording "three" to "five"
6. 9(f) – for clarity, add wording "or a member who is not a part of a political group" after "the Administration"

21 – to resolve an inconsistency and for clarity, amend order of proceedings as follows:

"a) Appoint a person to preside if the Chair and Vice-Chair are absent;

b) Receive apologies for absence;

c) Receive any announcements from the Chair or the Chief Executive;

d) Receive any declarations of interest from members;

e) Public Question Time;

f) Councillor Question Time;

g) Confirm the minutes of the last meeting(s) of the Full Council;

h) Deal with reports of the Cabinet, committees and Officers for decision

i) Receive reports  of the Cabinet, committees and Officers for information

j) Consider Notices of Motion; and

k) Other business, if any, specified in the agenda."

1. 1 – for clarity, add the following wording "(for the purpose of this Standing Order, this includes the Annual Meeting)" after "The minutes of each meeting shall be presented to the next Ordinary Meeting of the Full Council"
2. 1 – for clarity, add the following wording "and questions may not be submitted by representatives of political parties represented on the council" after "members of the public".
3. 7 – for clarity, amend wording to "In the event that a political group does not submit a question for a Full Council meeting, the question slot will be allocated to any additional question(s) submitted on a first come first served basis, provided the question has been received in accordance with Standing Order 30.4 above"
4. 1 for clarity, add wording "Ordinary" before each instance of "Full Council"

Section C – Cabinet and Cabinet Committees Procedural Standing Orders

1. 1 – for clarity, amend wording to "Any Lead Member may, in the absence of any Cabinet Member, attend Cabinet meetings with the agreement of the Leader of the Council, and participate fully in discussion on all agenda items, but cannot vote

Financial Rules

To resolve an inconsistency, amend wording to remove references to obsolete officer boards under 2.16, 2.23, 2.26, 2.40 (b) and 2.40 (c) and insert wording to reflect the relevant strategic officer board.

Procurement Rules

1. 3 – To resolve an inconsistency, amend wording under 2.3 from "Save for the exceptions listed at 2.10" to "Save as provided at paragraph 2.10"
2. 10 – To make a correction in accordance with legislation, add a new section 2.10.7: "The direct award of any contract not exceeding the relevant UK Procurement Threshold which would otherwise satisfy one or more Direct Award justification set out in Schedule 5 of the Procurement Act 2023."
3. 1 – To make a correction in accordance with legislation, update each instance of £214,904 within the threshold tables to £207,720 to reflect changes as made in a Procurement Policy Notice issued by Government in November 2025.

Section 4, Committees

1. 1 – To resolve an inconsistency, to amend the Committee Structure Chart to reflect the recent addition of the Cabinet Working Group for Culture, and the Efficiency Review Cabinet Member Working Group.
2. 1 – To resolve an inconsistency, update the terms of reference for the Standing Advisory Committee on Religious Education (SACRE) to reflect the most recent version approved by the committee.
3. 1 – To resolve an inconsistency, amend the Conduct Committee Terms of Reference (d) to include wording "in the absence of the Monitoring Officer or where it would be inappropriate for the Monitoring Officer to take such a decision under the Scheme of Delegation to Officers"