Archived decisions

AT A MEETING of the INDEPENDENT REMUNERATION PANEL of the COUNTY COUNCIL held at The Castle, Winchester on Monday, 30 October 2006.

PRESENT

Dr E C Waterman-Roberts ( Chairman);P.J. Humphreys; F H M Quick;

Also in attendance Councillor J. Bryant

The Panel received a presentation from Councillor Bryant and gave consideration to written representations received from Mr K E Tyson and Councillors F. Allgood;

P. Chegwyn; M. Cooper; D. Harrison; R. Perry; Mrs. P. Peskett and S. Reid

Councillor J. Bryant

Councillor Bryant spoke of his recent appointment as Chairman of the River Hamble Harbour Board, a post the duties of which, in the past had been included in a post undertaken by an Executive Member. He outlined the role of the Board, its terms of reference, its jurisdiction and its funding and the Chairman's role. He said that in his opinion as a previous Policy Review Committee Chairman the work of Board Chairman was equal to if not more than the work of a Policy Review Committee Chairman and requested the Panel to consider making a special responsibility allowance for the Board Chairman. He was also aware that the Independent Members of the Board did not receive an allowance and requested that consideration be given to giving them a basic allowance in line with basic allowance paid to other independent members of the County Council. He estimated that he spent 10 to 15 hours per week carrying out his duties as Chairman of the Board.

The Panel was aware that currently there was a potential for 58% of Members of the County Council to receive a special responsibility allowance and that Government Guidance was for up to 50%. They did, however, have some sympathy with Councillor Bryant's request but sought further information as to allowances made to Chairmen and Independent members of other Municipal Harbour Boards before making a recommendation. Members also agreed that where there were changes to Councillor responsibilities it would be helpful to have the views of the Leader of the County Council on the nature of the change rather than the onus being entirely on the Councillor affected. After considering information on allowances from other Municipal Harbour Boards it was RECOMMENDED that consideration of a special responsibility allowance for the Chairman of the River Hamble Harbour Board and allowances for co-opted members of the River Hamble Harbour Board be deferred pending the review of all allowances next year.

Consideration to the written submissions made to the Panel. In making their deliberations Members noted the comments made by:

Mr Tyson - they took note of his concerns and were aware that some of his suggestions were out of the Panel's remit.

Councillor Allgood - they noted the request for an annual uplift of allowances in line with inflation.

Councillor Chegwyn - they noted his comments and RECOMMENDED that the report of the Panel should, in future, be attached to the report of the Governance Committee to the County Council ;

Councillor Cooper - they noted his comments about allowances keeping up with inflation.

Councillor Harrison - they supported his views that the recommendations of the Panel have been disregarded by the County Council.

Councillor Perry - they noted his comments on secretarial assistance and travel allowances;

Councillor Mrs. Peskett - they understood her comments on pensions but were aware that the pension scheme was in accordance with regulations

Councillor Reid - they noted his views on basic and special responsibility allowances.

In giving consideration to allowances for 2007/08 they RECOMMENDED that Basic, Special Responsibility, Childcare and Independent Carers' Allowances should be increased in line with the 2007 Local Government pay award.

Members were aware that they would need to carry out a full review of all allowances next year and to enable this to be done they sought information on the average pay for white collar workers in Hampshire and the various indices that future allowances could be linked to. They intended to investigate the possibility of the use of job descriptions as an aid to evaluating job size for special responsibility post holders and sought a meeting with the Leader of the County Council for his views on this and the way forward.

In response to a question the Chief Executive stated that the allowances for Councillors were not being included in the County Council's equal pay audit.