Issue - meetings

Report attached.

It was moved by Councillor O’Brien and seconded by Councillor N Jones, and;

It was agreed:

That consideration of the report from the Independent Remuneration Panel will be deferred to the next meeting of Full Council.

Report attached.

Jacqui Dennis, Council Monitoring Officer, provided Members with regards to recommendations from the Independent Remuneration Panel in relation to the Members’ Allowances scheme. The Panel reviewed all aspects of the scheme and the recommendations brought a number of payments in line with other Greater Manchester Boroughs and ensured consistency. Members noted that the basic allowance was recommended to increase to £10,791 (inclusive of all travel, subsidence and phone allowance).

The Mayor as Chair reported that prior to this meeting, the Group Leaders had met at the Democratic Arrangements Forum (DAF) to discuss the content of the report.  The Chair reported that the Members had discussed the allowances for Leaders and Deputy Leaders of Other Opposition Parties. It was agreed that the workload for Leaders did not diminish with a smaller Group membership and the expectations of the post were being reinforced through the Constitution, and it would therefore be unreasonable to share the Leader’s allowance.

The Chair report that the DAF had proposed the following recommendations:

1. That DAF propose the Leader of Other Opposition Party SRA be £5,352 each; and
2. That DAF propose the Deputy Leader of other Opposition Party SRA be removed.

Members discussed the report, noting and agreeing with the proposed changes as discussed at the Democratic Arrangements Forum.

It was agreed:

An amended Independent Remuneration Panel Report will be considered at Council on 24^th November 2021.