Executive Summary

This Constitution reflects the Council's decision on 10 December 2018 to adopt a Leader and Cabinet form of Executive. It came into effect on 07 May 2019 and has been updated since by decisions of Council and under delegations to the Director of Governance.

This Constitution sets out how the Council operates, how decisions are made and the procedures which are followed to ensure that these are efficient, transparent and accountable to local people. Some of these processes are required by the law, while others are a matter for the Council to choose.

The Council is composed of 84 Councillors elected every four years. Councillors are democratically accountable to residents of their electoral division. The overriding duty of Councillors is to the whole community, but they have a special duty to their constituents, including those who did not vote for them.

Councillors have to agree to follow a code of conduct to ensure high standards in the way they< undertake their duties. The Standards Committee advises them on the code of conduct.

All Councillors meet together as the Council. Meetings of the Council are normally open to the public. Here Councillors decide the Council's overall policies and set the budget each year.

The Executive is part of the Council which is responsible for most day-to-day decisions. The Executive is made up of a Leader and up to nine other Councillors whom the Leader appoints. Together they are known as the Cabinet. When major decisions are to be discussed or made, these are published in the Cabinet's forward plan in so far as they can be anticipated. If these major decisions are to be discussed with Council officers at a meeting of the Cabinet, this will generally be open for the public to attend except where personal or confidential matters are being discussed. The Cabinet has to make decisions which are in line with the Council's overall budget and the policy framework. If it wishes to make a decision which is outside the budget or policy framework, this must be referred to the Council as a whole to decide.

There is a Scrutiny Committee and three Select Committees which together constitute the Council's overview and scrutiny arrangements pursuant to section 21 of the Local Government Act 2000.

The Scrutiny Committee monitors the decisions made by the Cabinet, officers making executive decisions on delegated authority and other decisions. The Scrutiny Committee can 'call-in' a decision which has been made by the Cabinet but not yet implemented.

This enables them to consider whether the decision is appropriate. They may recommend that the decision maker reconsiders the decision.

The Select Committees develop policies and advise the Council or Cabinet on forthcoming decisions. The Select Committees discharge this function through requiring reports to be produced for their consideration, commissioning further work as necessary and reporting to Cabinet and Council. The Select Committees may carry out elements of "scrutiny" in so far as it relates to developing policy, by considering what has worked well, or less well, in the past.

The Norfolk Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee includes both County and District Councillors and has powers to scrutinise National Health Service bodies in Norfolk. The role and powers exercised by the Norfolk Health and Overview Scrutiny Committee are detailed in Appendix 2A.

The Council employs officers to give advice, implement decisions and manage the day-to- day delivery of its services including making decisions delegated to them. Some officers have a specific duty to ensure that the Council acts within the law and uses its resources wisely. A protocol governs the relationship between officers and Members of the Council.

The public have a number of rights in their dealing with the Council. These are set out in more detail in Article 3. Some of these are legal rights, whilst others depend on the Council's own processes.

Members of the public have the right to:

• vote at local elections if they are registered;
• contact their local Councillor about any matters of concern to them;
• obtain a copy of the Constitution;
• attend meetings of the Council and its committees except where, for example, personal or confidential matters are being discussed;
• petition to request a referendum on different form of Executive;
• ask questions
• speak at meetings of the Planning (Regulatory) Committee
• find out, from the Cabinet's forward plan, what major decisions are to be discussed by the Cabinet or decided by the Cabinet or officers, and when;
• attend meetings of the Cabinet where key decisions are being discussed or decided;
• see reports and background papers, and any record of decisions made by the Council and Cabinet;
• complain to the Council about any dissatisfaction they have with an action or lack of action by the Council;
• complain to the Ombudsman if they think the Council has not followed its procedures properly. However, they should only do this after using the Council's own complaints process;
• complain if they have evidence which they think shows that a Councillor has not followed the Council's Code of Conduct; and
• inspect the Council's accounts and make their views known to the external auditor.

Where members of the public use specific Council services, for example as a parent of a school pupil or as a Council tenant, they have additional rights conferred on them by law.