Agenda item

Council assembly is asked to establish committees, panels and related matters for the coming municipal year 2022-23 and to appoint up to three representatives to attend the Local Government Association General Assembly.

The nominations for chairs and vice chairs of committees and the nominations to the Local Government Association General Assembly were circulated. 

 

There were three contested positions.

 

The position of chair of overview and scrutiny committee was put to the vote, and it was agreed that Councillor Ian Wingfield be appointed chair of overview and scrutiny committee.

 

The position of community champion for North-west multi-ward area was put to the vote, and it was agreed that Councillor Joseph Vambe be appointed community champion for North-east multi-ward area.

 

The position of community champion for North-east multi-ward area was put to the vote, and it was agreed that Councillor Bethan Roberts be appointed community champion for North-east multi-ward area.

 

The substantive motion was carried.

 

RESOLVED:

 

1.  That council assembly noted the appointment of political group leaders, deputies and whips.

 

LABOUR GROUP

 

Leader  Councillor Kieron Williams

 

Deputy Leader  Councillor Jasmine Ali

 

Chief Whip  Councillor Maggie Browning

 

LIBERAL DEMOCRAT GROUP

 

Leader  Councillor Victor Chamberlain

 

Deputy Leader  Councillor Emily Tester

 

Chief Whip  Councillor Graham Neale

 

2.  That council assembly noted the political balance of the council as follows:

 

Table 1: Political balance

 

Group	Members	%
Labour	52	82.54
Liberal Democrat	11	17.46
Total	63	100.00

 

Table 1b: Political balance before the election on 5 May 2022

 

Group	Members	%
Labour	48	76.19
Liberal Democrat	14	22.22
Independent (not a group)	1	1.59
Total	63	100.00

 

3.  That council assembly noted the change to proportionality and the new allocation of seats on committees and panels as set out below.

 

Note: The political balance rules require that the political groups represented on council have proportionate representation on council committees. A political group must comprise at least two members. Councils can allocate seats on committees to members not aligned to a group, but are under no statutory obligation to do so. The below tables are based on the committees as agreed by council assembly on 24 May 2021. The allocations prior to the borough wide elections on 5 May 2022 are shown in brackets.

 

Committee	Total	Lab	Lib Dem
Committee 1 Appointments Committee	7 (7)	6 (6)	1 (1)
Committee 2 Planning Committee	8 (8)	7 (6)	1 (2)
Committee 3 Audit, Governance and Standards Committee	7 (7)	5 (5)	2 (2)
Committee 4 Corporate Parenting Committee	7 (7)	6 (6)	1 (1)
Total	29 (29)	24 (23)	5 (6)

 

Table 3: Other committees - Total number of seats 26

 

Committee	Total	Lab	Lib Dem
Overview and Scrutiny Committee	11 (11)	9 (8)	2 (3)
Licensing Committee	15 (15)	12 (12)	3 (3)
Total	26 (26)	21 (20)	5 (6)

 

Table 4: Multi-ward areas

 

1.	North-west
2.	North-east
3.	West-central
4.	East-central
5.	South

 

Note:  The composition of multi-ward areas is set out in Article 8 of the constitution(see paragraph 42 of the report).

 

Health and wellbeing board

 

4.  That the health and wellbeing board be established as a committee of the council under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 with the membership set out below: 

 

·  Leader of the Council

·  Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education

·  Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing

·  Opposition Spokesperson for Health (Southwark Councillor)

·  Chief Executive Officer of Southwark Council

·  Strategic Director of Children’s and Adults’ Services

·  Director of Public Health of Southwark Council

·  NHS South East London Clinical Commissioning Group representatives x2

·  Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust representative

·  Community Southwark representative (Voluntary Sector)

·  King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Kings Health Partners) Representative

·  Independent Chair of Partnership Southwark (Partnership Southwark representative)

·  South London and Maudsley (SLAM) NHS Foundation Trust (King’s Health Partners) Representative

·  Healthwatch Southwark Representative

·  Southwark Headteachers Representative

·  Voluntary Sector Representative

 

Note:  The health and wellbeing board membership is reviewed periodically.  This is to ensure that the right partners are represented on the board.  Any proposed change to the membership will be put forward to the health and wellbeing board for agreement.

 

Appointment of chairs and vice chairs

 

5.  That council assembly appointed chairs and vice chairs for the following committees:

 

Committees

 

·  Appointments committee

Chair: Councillor Kieron Williams

Vice-chair: Councillor Jasmine Ali

 

·  Planning committee

Chair: Councillor Richard Livingstone

Vice-chair: Councillor Kath Whittam

 

·  Audit, governance and standards committee

Chair: Councillor Barrie Hargrove

Vice-chair: Councillor Graham Neale

 

·  Corporate parenting committee [see note 1 below]

Chair: Councillor Jasmine Ali (Appointment of cabinet member with the responsibility for children and schools formally noted)

Vice-chair: Vacant

 

·  Overview and scrutiny committee

Chair: Councillor Ian Wingfield

Vice-Chair: Councillor Irina von Wiese

 

·  Licensing committee

Chair: Councillor Renata Hamvas

Vice-chair: Councillor Maria Linforth-Hall

 

Notes:

 

1.  In 2021-22, the cabinet member responsible for children’s services chaired the corporate parenting committee. Council assembly is asked to formally approve this appointment in 2022-23.

2.  All outstanding appointments will be referred to the first meeting of the respective committee in the 2022-23 municipal year.

 

Appointment of community champions

 

6.  That council assembly appointed community champions for the following multi-ward areas:

 

Multi-ward areas

 

	Councillor	Multi-ward area
1.	Joseph Vambe	North-west
2.	Bethan Roberts	North-east
3.	Naima Ali	West-central
4.	Sabina Emmanuel	East-central
5.	Andy Simmons	South

 

Multi-ward areas: Deputy Community Champions

 

	Councillor	Multi-ward area
1.	Sam Dalton	North-west
2.	Cassandra Brown	North-east
3.	Ketzia Harper	West-central
4.	Reginald Popoola	East-central
5.	Margy Newens	South

 

Establishment of the council’s panels

 

Table 5: Panels - Total number of seats 16

 

Panel	Total	Lab	Lib Dem
Council assembly business panel	4 (4)	3 (3)	1 (1)
Constitutional steering panel	4 (4)	3 (3)	1 (1)
Pensions advisory panel	3 (3)	2 (2)	1 (1)
Voluntary bodies appointments panel	5 (5)	4 (4)	1 (1)
Total	16 (16)	12 (12)	4 (4)

 

Note: This table is based on the panels established in 2021-22.

 

Appointments of chair to constitutional steering panel and voluntary bodies appointments panel

 

7.  That council assembly appointed a chair to the following panels:

 

·  Constitutional steering panel: Councillor Maggie Browning [see note 1 below]

·  Voluntary bodies appointments panel: Councillor Alice Macdonald.

 

Notes:

 

1.  The group whip of the majority group chaired the constitutional steering panel in 2021-22. Council assembly is asked to formally approve this appointment in 2022-23.

 

2.  That it be noted that the Mayor chairs the council assembly business panel.

 

Urgency committee

 

8.  That the role of the urgency committee between a municipal election and the annual meeting of council assembly, as agreed by council assembly on 26 March 2014, be noted as set out in paragraphs 55 and 56 of the report.

 

Appointments to Local Government Association (LGA) General Assembly

 

9.  That council assembly appoints up to three representatives and allocates the seven votes to representatives to attend the LGA General Assembly (see paragraphs 57 and 58 of the report).

 

Other appointments to joint committees/outside bodies

 

That council assembly notes the cabinet and other committees will make appointments to all other outside committees and bodies for the municipal year 2022-23 as required by part 3Q of the constitution.