To consider the report of the Senior Manager (Democracy and Delivery).
Minutes:
Submitted
– the report of the Senior Manager - Democracy and Delivery seeking the
committee’s opinion on options regarding financial remuneration for elected
members.
The
Senior Manager - Democracy and Delivery explained that the Independent
Remuneration Panel’s final proposals for the next year noted that every
individual council would decide:-
·
To
set Cabinet Members on one of two levels, Level 1, £29,000 (as at present) or
Level 2 (£26,000);
·
To
set Committee Chairs on of two levels, Level 1, £22,000 (as at present) or
Level 2 (£20,000).
The
committee was also asked to consider if there was a difference in the
responsibilities shouldered by the committee chairs who received special
remuneration at present, namely the Scrutiny Committees (x3), Audit Committee,
Planning Committee, Licensing Committee and the Employment Appeals Committee,
and the chairs of some of the other committees, which did not receive special
remuneration, such as the Pensions Committee, the Language Committee and this
committee.
The
Senior Manager – Democracy and Delivery noted that the Head of Finance
Department had drawn attention to the fact that there had been a substantial
increase in the Pensions Committee Chair’s work as a result of the establishment
of the Pensions Board (which held the Pensions Committee to account). Also,
over time, there would be some more work happening in the pensions field on a
regional level.
The
Head of Democratic Services noted that the Employment Appeals Committee’s workload
had decreased during the last few months and the number of appeals would be
likely to decrease further in the future as more of the work would be done by
officers and the trade unions.
The
Senior Manager – Democracy and Delivery further explained that a cap was set on
the number of chairs who could receive special remuneration, and by adding one
chair to the list, another would need to be removed.
Observations
arising from the discussion:-
·
The
Cabinet members’ duties had been allocated to ensure consistency and a balanced
workload and putting Cabinet members on different pay levels could lead to some
complexity, meaning that shifting duties from one Cabinet member to another
would become more difficult.
·
The
geographical nature of the county and the challenge of providing services
across the second largest county in Wales was a factor that should be
considered for the Cabinet members and the committee chairs.
·
Members
were required to travel across Gwynedd, bearing in mind that it could take
approximately two hours to travel from the North of the county to the South.
·
As
it appeared that the workload of some chairs was larger than others, a small
group should be established to look into this further.
·
Needed
to see if using some elements of the job evaluation procedure would be helpful
for this further work.
·
The
importance of considering elements other than the number of meetings, e.g. the
length of meetings and demands outside the meetings.
RESOLVED
(a) To recommend to the Council that the salary levels of
Cabinet Members should remain at Level 1 (based on consideration of the
workload and equal responsibilities in the work fields) and the salary levels
of Committee Chairs should remain at Level 1 (based on consideration of the
workload, the geographical nature of the county and the requirement to attend
meetings, etc.).
(b) Establish a small group made up of the Chair of this committee, and
Councillors Charles Wyn Jones, Anne
Lloyd Jones and Dilwyn Morgan to re-examine the responsibilities attached to
different chairmanships, and reporting their recommendation to the Full Council
via the Business Group.
Supporting documents: