Use of Proxy Votes by Elected Members Absent Due to Family Leave
North Lanarkshire Council · 15 December 2022
Back to Council — 15 December 2022 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
Page 1
North Lanarkshire Council Report Council Does this report require to be approved? ☐ Yes ☒ No Ref Date 15/12/22 Use of Proxy Votes by Elected Members Absent Due to Family Leave From Head of Legal and Democratic Solutions E-mail rosean@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07951 409714 1. Background 1.1 At its meeting on 29 September 2022, adjourned to 4 October 2022, the Policy and Strategy Committee considered a report from the Head of Legal and Democratic Solutions regarding guidance issued by COSLA on the subject of Family Leave for elected members. 1.2 At that meeting, and following consideration of an Amendment to the report which had been moved, the Committee agreed:- “that a report be submitted to the Council meeting in December 2022 setting out options on whether Elected Members on parental leave could be entitled to nominate one other Elected Member to act as their proxy for any vote within Council meetings to avoid pressure on parents to attend meetings during parental/family leave.” Executive Summary Following consideration of a report on Family Leave for Elected Members at the meeting of the Policy and Resources Committee, this report seeks to clarify the position regarding the use of Proxy Votes for elected members who may be absent due to family leave. Recommendations Council is asked to note that the use of Proxy votes for elected members is unavailable as this would be in conflict with the terms of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority Improve North Lanarkshire's resource base Ambition statement (24) Review and design services around people, communities, and shared resources
Page 2
Report 2. Proxy Votes 2.1 A “Proxy” vote is deemed to be where one elected member who is absent, provides authority for another elected member to vote on their behalf, thereby providing the second member with two votes at meetings of the Council or its committees. 2.2 The use of a Proxy vote is different to the process outlined in Standing Orders which permits members who may be absent from a meeting to appoint a named substitute (subject to certain restrictions as detailed in Standing Orders). Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 2.3 The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 is the primary legislation which specifies how the business of local authorities will be run. 2.4 Paragraph 5 of Schedule 7 of the Act states that “all questions coming or arising before a council shall be decided by a majority of the members of the Council present and voting thereon at a meeting of the Council.” Members are requested to note the word “present” included in the text. 2.5 Legal advice has been sought and it has been confirmed that no elected member may participate in a meeting of the Council or one of its committees unless they are present. Therefore, the use of a proxy vote is not considered permissible. 2.6 It is noted that other bodies, such as various Parliaments, may make use of Proxy votes, however, Council is asked to note that these organisations are not subject to the same legislation as local authorities and that they may, therefore, be entitled to offer their elected representatives the option to utilise proxy voting. Use of Substitute Members 2.6 Council is asked to bear in mind that the Standing Orders of the Council enables political groups to nominate three elected members per committee who may attend as a substitute should another member from that same political group be absent. This service remains unchanged and will continue to be available and can be utilised for any elected member who is absent on Family Leave. 2.7 A substitute member is not available for meetings of the Council, by virtue that all members attend these meetings, and with proxy votes being not permissible, this will mean that the elected member who is on leave would not be able to vote, or have a vote cast on their behalf, at meetings of the Council. 3. Measures of success 3.1 All elected members are aware of the consequence of being absent from meetings of the Council and its committees, and the options available to political groups to ensure that they are fully represented at committee meetings.
Page 3
4. Supporting documentation None Archie Aitken Head of Legal and Democratic Solutions
Page 4
5. Impacts ( http://connect/report-template-guidance ) 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality-and-fairer- scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts have been discussed and agreed with Financial Solutions? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts have been discussed and agreed with People and Organisational Development? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts have been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic Solutions? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? The use of proxy votes is deemed to be incompatible with the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. Therefore, proxy voting is not able to be used by elected members at meetings of the council or at any of its committees. 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐
Page 5
5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Where the impact identifies a requirement for technology, has an assessment been carried out (or scheduled) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed?