A report was submitted to approve appointments to the Authority’s Committees for the 2021/22 Municipal Year in line with the political balance rules applying to the Authority.

It was noted that the following Councillors had been appointed to the Authority by each of the District Councils for the 2021/22 Municipal Year.

The following members had been designated by the District Councils as the s41 members whose role was to answer questions about the work of the Authority.

Members were reminded that the Audit Committee and the Staffing, Appointments and Appeals Committee were both made up of the s41 members plus one non-Labour Councillor to reflect the political balance of the Authority.

To address the shift in the political balance of the Authority it was suggested to increase the membership of each committee to six as detailed within the report.

It was recommended that it was written into the Constitution that the Chair should not be a member of the Audit Committee to mirror arrangements in companies where those in specific roles did not sit on Audit Committees.

It was agreed that the Staffing, Appointments and Appeals Committee should consist of the s41 members but that this did not need to be the case for the Audit Committee.

Cllr A Sangar was nominated to the Staffing Appointments Committee and Cllr S Clement-Jones to the Audit Committee.

It was agreed that all other nominations would be made in writing within a week of the meeting.

RESOLVED – That Members:

i)      Note the members appointed to the Authority by the District Councils.

ii)      Note the members appointed to answer questions in the meetings of the District Councils’ Full Council.

iii)     Authorise an increase in the number of seats on each of the Authority’s Committees to six and agree to amend the Constitution accordingly.

iv)     Agree that the Constitution should be amended to provide that the Chair may not be a member of the Audit Committee.

v)     Agree that Cllr Sangar be appointed to the Staffing, Appointments and Appeals Committee and Cllr Clement-Jones to the Audit Committee.  All other nominations to the Committees to be provided in writing within a week of the meeting.

The Chair, Cllr Mounsey, thanked Cllr Stowe, the outgoing Chair, for all the hard work he had done on behalf of the Authority commenting that he would be a hard act to follow.

He also welcomed all the new members and thanked the members who were not continuing on the Authority for their contributions; Cllr J Gilliver from Doncaster MBC, Cllrs A Atkin and T Yasseen from Rotherham MBC and Cllrs A Murphy and A Teal from Sheffield CC.  He requested that the Clerk formally write to them thanking them for their service.