The General Purposes Committee is scheduled to meet to discuss the redrafting of the council's constitution, and to agree a new timetable for its approval. The committee, chaired by Councillor Saira Y. Jamil, will also discuss public questions.

Council Constitution Review

The committee will be asked to note the progress of Phase 2 of the review and redrafting of the council's constitution, and to agree a new timetable for its approval.

The council is undertaking a review to modernise its constitution. According to the Public reports pack 11th-Dec-2025 20.00 General Purposes Committee, the council constitution is its governing document .

The review is being carried out in two phases. Phase 1, which was reported to the committee on 3 June 2025, involved identifying areas where urgent changes were needed. Phase 2 involves a fuller review and redraft of the entire document, which is being carried out by the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny¹ under the direction of the Monitoring Officer² and members of the Constitutional Review Working Group (CRWG). A change log is included in the report pack, summarising the major proposed changes.

It had been intended that a revised version of the constitution would be presented to this meeting of the General Purposes Committee, with the committee being asked to approve the document and submit it to Full Council³ in January for adoption. However, it is now proposed that the final version of the constitution be submitted to the next General Purposes Committee meeting, with the constitution being considered by Full Council in March. According to the report pack, a delay from the previously agreed schedule is considered necessary to ensure that proposed changes have been subject to full oversight by members, and to provide the opportunity for any changes arising from the ongoing review of scrutiny and policy development committees to be reflected in the new draft.

The report pack states that the changes to the constitution involve some minor amendments to parts of the constitution recently reviewed and agreed by the committee, particularly the Executive Decision-Making Procedure Rules. Major changes include some changes to the description of public rights, and changes to the description of processes and systems around decision-making.

Some of the principal changes include:

• Changes to language around the rights of the public to ask questions in formal meetings.
• An expansion of the description of arrangements for petitions and deputations.
• The introduction of new procedures for laying amendments to the Budget at Council, in order to ensure that amendments conform with the requirement for the council to deliver a balanced budget.
• A fuller description of the principles underpinning officer decision-making, to enhance cabinet oversight of the officer decision-making process while ensuring that officers retain autonomy within their legal powers.

The report pack also states that the document will:

• Include a review of the Financial Standing Orders and Contract Standing Orders.
• Include a technical description of powers delegated to officers, reorganised to more fully describe the source and scope of powers.
• Take officers' consideration into account on how, in the sections describing decision-making arrangements, the council's commitments to values such as inclusion and diversity can be described in a way that highlights their importance and promotes cohesion.
• Undergo a final set of legal checks.
• Introduce a full set of cross-references once the text is complete.
• Include the reviewed detailed terms of reference / task descriptions for Governance and Assurance Committee (G&A) following agreement by the member working group established by G&A.
• Introduce new Employment Procedure Rules; Property Procedure Rules; and Scrutiny Procedure Rules.
• All Codes and Protocols to be complied in the final part together, will be repaginated and reorganised to bring its look and feel into line with the rest of the document, but content will not be changed.

The committee is asked to agree to the recommendations in the report, which will ensure a timely conclusion to the process in the New Year, with the committee having the opportunity to review the document again when it is formally submitted for agreement at its next meeting.

Public Question Time

The agenda includes an item for public question time, offering an opportunity for members of the public to ask questions of the committee.