This meeting of the Council included the scheduled discussion of a new Gambling Policy, and a report on the recommendations made by the Independent Remuneration Panel on Members' Allowances. The Council was also scheduled to receive a report from the Licensing and Regulatory Committee on a review of the Council's Gambling Policy, and a report from the Joint Independent Remuneration Panel on Members' Allowances.

Please note that this article only describes what was scheduled to be discussed in the meeting. It is not possible to know what was actually said, or whether any of the items on the agenda were approved or rejected without access to the meeting's minutes or transcripts.

Proposed changes to the Council's Gambling Policy

The Council was scheduled to discuss a report on a review of its Gambling Policy¹. The report described a public consultation process, which received two responses, one from GamCare², the leading provider of information, advice and support for anyone affected by gambling, and one from Councillor Steve Williams.

GamCare welcomed the position that Waverley Borough Council was taking to go beyond the mandatory and default conditions of the Gambling Act 2005, and encouraged the council to develop a local picture of the level of gambling harms.

Councillor Williams asked the Council to consider engaging with the NHS on the policy, a request which the report suggested had already been fulfilled.

The report also noted that Waverley currently has 5 betting shops, and usually receives one Temporary Use Notice³ per year for a 'Point to Point' horse race at Peper Harow. Waverley issues small society lottery licences, but it does not have any casinos, tracks, bingo halls, or family entertainment centres.

The Council was scheduled to discuss whether to approve the revised Statement of Gambling Policy.

Proposed changes to Members' Allowances

The Council was scheduled to discuss the recommendations from the Joint Independent Remuneration Panel on Members' Allowances⁴.

The panel recommended that the basic allowance for Councillors should be increased from £5,844.84 to £6,200.06. It recommended removing the current tax-free status of the first £633 of the Basic Allowance. It also recommended that the roles of Chair of Scrutiny Committees, Chair of Planning Committee and the Principal Opposition Leader be enhanced to 100% of the Basic Allowance.

The panel recommended introducing a new allowance for Political Group Leaders set at Tier 6, but suggested that this would only be payable if the Group Leader was not undertaking another Special Responsibility Allowance⁵ role.

The panel suggested that a new Dependents' Carers' Allowance be included in the scheme of allowances for those councillors who necessarily incur expense in arranging for the care of (i) their children, aged 13 or under, or (ii) one or more persons that normally reside in their household and for whom they are a registered carer, to enable them to undertake any approved duty, up to a maximum of £600 per annum per councillor. They suggested that the allowance be paid as a re-imbursement of incurred expenditure against receipts. The panel also recommended a second level of Dependents' Carers Allowance for specialist care provided at cost and that this be paid without limit upon production of receipts and requiring medical evidence that this type of care is required. They suggested that this allowance would not be taxable and would apply for councillors with caring responsibility for persons of any age.

Finally, the panel suggested that co-optees to the Council receive 5% of the Basic Allowance for their duties.

The report asked the Council to approve a new scheme of councillors' allowances that took into account the Independent Remuneration Panel’s recommendations.