Argyll and Bute Council Constitution - Part 1 - The Constitution, The Council and the Citizen

1. The Constitution

 Exercise of powers and duties

1. The Council will exercise all its powers and duties in accordance with the law and this Constitution.

The Constitution

2. This, together with the documents that follow, is the Constitution of Argyll and Bute Council.

Purpose of the Constitution

3. The purpose of the Constitution is to –

• Enable the Council to provide clear leadership to the community in partnership with citizens, businesses and other organisations.
• Support the active involvement of citizens in the process of council decision making.
• Help councillors represent their constituents more effectively.
• Enable decisions to be taken efficiently and effectively.
• Create a powerful and effective means of holding decision makers to public account.
• Ensure that those responsible for decision making are clearly identifiable to local people and that they explain the reasons for decisions; and
• Provide a means of improving the delivery of services to the community.

Interpretation and review of the Constitution

4. Where the Constitution permits the Council to choose between different courses of action, the Council will always choose the option that it thinks is closest to the purposes set out in sub-paragraph (3).

2. Members of the Council

Composition

1. The Council comprises 36 Councillors representing 11 multi member wards of either 3 or 4 members. 

Election and term of councillors

2. The ordinary election of all councillors takes place on the first Thursday in May in years prescribed by the Scottish Parliament.
3. The term of office of councillors is prescribed by Parliament, with all Councillors retiring together.

Roles and functions of all councillors

4. All councillors –

• collectively act as ultimate policy makers and carry out a number of strategic and corporate functions;
• represent their communities and bring their views into the Council’s decision-making process, that is to say, become the advocate of and for their communities;
• deal with individual casework on behalf of constituents assisting in resolving particular concerns or grievances;
• balance different interests, representing their ward and their electorate as a whole;
• are involved in decision making;
• are available to represent the Council on other bodies; and
• maintain the highest standards of conduct and ethics.

Appendix 1 contains a detailed description of the role and duties of a Councillor.

Rights and duties

5. Councillors have an absolute right of access to meetings of the Council, and also to meetings of Committees and Sub-Committees in accordance with the detailed provisions contained elsewhere in this Constitution. They have the right of access to the documents, information, land and buildings that are owned or in the possession or control of the Council in so far as such access is necessary for the proper discharge of their duties as a Councillor and in accordance with the law.
6. Without the Council’s consent, councillors must not make public information which is confidential or exempt (as defined in Section 50 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973) or divulge information given in confidence to them as a Councillor to anyone other than another councillor, or an officer, entitled to know it.

Conduct

7. Councillors must at all times observe the Councillors’ Code of Conduct, and the provisions of this Constitution.

Remuneration and Expenses

8. Councillors are entitled to receive remuneration and expenses in accordance with regulations approved by Parliament for approved duties specified elsewhere in this Constitution.

3. The Full Council

Policy framework

1. The policy framework means the following plans, policies and strategies; 

• The Corporate Plan;
• Estimates of expenditure and income (the Budget) ;
• Corporate Improvement Plan;
• The Performance Improvement Framework
• Argyll and Bute Outcome Improvement Plan (SOA / Community Plan)
• Children and Young Peoples Plan
• The plans and strategies which together comprise the Development Plan;
• Argyll and Bute Local Development Plan
• Decarbonisation Plan
• The Carbon Management Plan;
• Argyll and Bute Council Biodiversity Duty Action Plan;
• The Asset Management Strategy
• The Treasury Management and Investment Strategy
• The Local Housing Strategy
• The Strategic Housing Investment Plan
• The People Strategy
• The Education Vision and Strategy “Our Children, Their Future”
• ICT & Digital Strategy
• Procurement Strategy
• Customer Service Strategy
• Economic Strategy
• Any other plan or strategy that the Council has decided should be part of the Policy Framework.

Budget

2. The “budget” includes –

• Annual approved Corporate Plan
• The approved estimates of revenue expenditure
• Any reserve funds;
• The council tax base and setting the council tax;
• The approved programme of the Council’s capital expenditure and decisions relating to the control of the Council’s borrowing requirement.

Functions exercised by the full Council

3. Only the full Council will exercise the functions –

• Adopting and changing the Constitution;
• Approving, adopting or amending the policy framework and any plan, policy or strategy which is contained within the Policy Framework;
• Approving the budget and expenditure not provided in the budget;
• Appointing a Councillor to any Executive position as defined elsewhere in this Constitution;
• Agreeing and amending the terms of reference for committees, deciding on their composition and making appointments to them;
• Reserved to it in terms of detailed provisions elsewhere in this Constitution;
• Making decisions about all other matters that by law must be reserved to the full Council.

Council meetings

4. A Council, Committee, Sub-committee, or Short Life Working Group meeting will be conducted in accordance with the Council’s Standing Orders for Meetings.

Responsibility for functions

5. The Council’s arrangements for the discharge of functions which are set out in the Council’s Scheme of Administration and Delegations provide for certain powers and duties of the Council to be discharged on the Council’s behalf by a Committee, Sub-Committee or an officer. 

4. Decision making

Principles of decision making

1. All decisions of the Council, or any Committee or Sub-Committee will be made in accordance with certain immutable principles, which are –

• Proportionality (that is to say, the action must be proportionate to the desired outcome);
• Due consultation with and the taking of and consideration of professional advice from officers;
• Respect for human rights (see below);
• A presumption in favour of openness; and
• Clarity of aims and desired outcomes.
• Public Sector Equality Duty Compliance to eliminate unlawful discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations, in terms of the Equality Act 2010.

Decision making by Council bodies acting as quasi-judicial bodies

2. In acting as a tribunal or in a quasi-judicial manner the Council, a councillor or an officer must follow a proper procedure which accords with the requirements of natural justice and the right to a fair and impartial hearing in accordance with article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

5. Citizens’ Rights and the Council

Information

The Council is committed to open and transparent Government and to meeting its responsibilities under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. The Council has a procedure for complying with the Act in relation to the provision of information and the conduct of reviews of decisions whenever requested.

1. Citizens have the right to –

   • Attend meetings of the Council, its Committees, Sub-Committees and Short Life Working Groups except where confidential or exempt information (as defined in Section 50 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973) is likely to be disclosed, and the meeting is therefore held with the public excluded;
   • See reports and background papers and any records of decisions made by the Council or any Committee, Sub-Committee or Short Life Working Group; in accordance with the foregoing provisions of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and otherwise in accordance with the law;
   • Inspect the Council’s accounts in accordance with the relevant statutory provisions;
   • Information held by the Council, in accordance with the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and Environmental Information (S) Regulations (EIR’S);
   • Personal information held by the Council in regard to them in terms of the Data Protection Act 2018 and General Data Protection Regulations 2016/679.

Participation

2. Citizens have the right –

• to participate in public question time arrangements made from time to time by Committees, provided the matter is not one where the Committee or other body is regulated under Paragraph 4 (2) above;
• to raise issues of their choosing with the Council, represent their views to their local Councillor(s) and the Council in writing, by telephone and email, at Councillors’ surgeries or other particular meetings; in accordance with the Community Engagement Strategy; at community forums or meetings arranged by the Council with a view to consulting communities on particular issues.

Complaints

3. Citizens have the right to complain to –

• The Council under its complaints procedure about any service failure;
• The Council’s Monitoring Officer under the Council’s Public Interest Disclosure Policy;
• The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman if they believe they have suffered injustice as a result of maladministration on the part of the Council;
• The Standards Commission for Scotland if they believe there has been a breach of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct.