Agenda item

The covering report and an appendix listing the outside bodies requiring Council appointments have been attached to this agenda.  The list of nominations will follow in a supplementary pack for the meeting.

The Leader presented a report detailing proposed Council appointments to outside bodies for the 2026/27 municipal year.

Members were informed that the Council considered appointments to a number of outside bodies each year.  Some of these appointments were made by full Council.  Other appointments were made in an ex officio capacity, which meant that specific Cabinet members or other Councillors needed to be appointed.  Council was advised that the Cabinet appointments would be considered at the June meeting of the Cabinet.

Group leaders had been consulted in advance of the Annual Council meeting regarding their nominations to the list of outside bodies.  The Leader thanked all group leaders for confirming their nominations in advance of the meeting. 

Following the presentation of the report, reference was made to the potential for Members appointed to outside bodies to update Council on the work of these external Committees, organisations and groups.  Concerns were raised that updates were received from Members infrequently and the suggestion was made that, due to the importance of some of these groups, particularly the West Mercia Police and Crime Panel and the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care Partnership, reporting arrangements should be formalised. 

In response to these concerns, the following points were raised:

·             Amphlett Hall Management Committee met regularly and reference had been made to the Committee’s work in the previous Portfolio Holder Annual Report to Council received from the then Portfolio Holder for Strategic Housing and Health and Well-Being.

·             Two Members had been appointed to serve on the Bromsgrove and Redditch branch of the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) and updates on the CAB’s work had been received during the year.

·             The suggestion was made that the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care Partnership might be in the process of reviewing arrangements.

·             The Midlands Joint Council for Environmental Protection had not held any meetings and therefore no updates were available to provide to Members.

·             The Overview and Scrutiny Board had already requested the attendance of the Council’s representative on the West Mercia Police and Crime Panel to provide updates during the year on the work of the Panel.

·             The Council’s representative on the Worcestershire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) was required to provide updates on the work of the Committee at every meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Board and did so. 

·             The work of the Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS) Board had been and would continue to be addressed in the Portfolio Holder Annual Reports from the relevant lead Cabinet Member for WRS.

·             The WMTemps Partnership Board had not held a meeting and therefore no updates were available.

·             The work of Worcestershire County Council’s Corporate Parenting Board was very complex.  The minutes of meetings of the Board were in the public domain and could be accessed on Worcestershire County Council’s website.  Members were asked to note that the Council’s representative had been liaising with Bromsgrove District Council’s HR department about the potential to ensure that young people seeking employment could secure an interview, subject to compliance with employment law requirements and Council policies.

Following these comments, questions were raised about the potential for all of these updates to be appended to the Outside Bodies report when it was considered at the Annual Council meeting.  However, Members were asked to note that the purpose of the report was supposed to be to appoint Members to serve on the outside bodies for the forthcoming municipal year, not to focus on updates from the representatives who had served on those outside bodies in the previous municipal year.

The nominations were proposed by Councillor K. May and seconded by Councillor S. Baxter.

RESOLVED that the nominations for Council appointments to outside bodies for the 2026/27 municipal year be approved.