Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Bridgett, Clark, A. Scott and Towns.

Minutes of the meeting of County Council held on Wednesday 1 September 2021 as circulated, to be confirmed as a true record, signed by the Business Chair and sealed with the Common Seal of the Council

With regard to Minute No. 29 (Motion), Councillor Reid queried whether notification had been made to the LGA Labour Group as per Council’s decision. This would be checked.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of County Council held on Wednesday 1 September 2021 as circulated, be confirmed as a true record, signed by the Business Chair and sealed with the Common Seal of the Council.

Unless already entered in the Council’s Register of Members’ interests, members are required to disclose any personal interest (which includes any disclosable pecuniary interest) they may have in any of the items included on the agenda for the meeting in accordance with the Code of Conduct adopted by the Council on 4 July 2012, and are reminded that if they have any personal interests of a prejudicial nature (as defined under paragraph 17 of the Code Conduct) they must not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must leave the room

NB Any member needing clarification must contact monitoringofficer@northumberland.gov.uk. Please refer to the guidance on disclosures at the rear of this agenda letter.

With regard to Minute No. 23 of the CSEG OSC minutes, Councillor Grimshaw declared an interest as an Advance Board member and advised she would not participate in any discussion.

With regard to item 9 on the agenda (Motion), Councillor Wearmouth advised that he did not believe he had a conflict of interest but he would not take part in the discussion.

The Leader declared an interest as a farmer with regard to member question No. 11 on farming.

by the Business Chair, Leader or Head of Paid Service. 

The Business Chair was sad to report the death of former County Councillor Terry Robson on 9 October at the age of 78. Terry represented the Hexham Central with Acomb Ward from 1984-1989 and 2008-2017.  He had also been a member of Hexham Town Council where he became Mayor twice, and of Tynedale District Council.

The Business Chair also reminded members of all former councillor and honorary aldermen colleagues who had passed away during the pandemic. These had previously been reported to Council but members were now able to stand for a minute’s silence in their memory.

Members were then reminded about the remembrance service being held at St. Mary's Church, Morpeth on Thursday 11 November from around 10:30 am Covid precautions would be in place.? The event would also be live streamed.

The Leader updated members on the discussions regarding the wider combined authority area. The provisional offer was that if agreement was reached on an LA7 area with a mayor, then the authority might be eligible to get extra transport funding. He was happy with the existing arrangements and did not see the need to commit to a larger authority unless Northumberland would benefit from it. Discussions were continuing and he would report back to members on it in due course.

He had had a meeting this morning with MPs and the rail operators regarding the east coast main line. He had acknowledged the work done by Northern on the Northumberland Line but had stressed that the next time there was consultation on potential reductions to rail services, that all the operators should do it at the same time, and that they take note of what the Council said regarding the reduction of services for commuters. 

(if any) to date of meeting. 

to be put to the Business Chair, a member of the Cabinet or the Chair of any Committee or Sub Committee, in accordance with the Constitution’s Rules of Procedure No.10. 

Question 1 from Councillor Hardy to Councillor Pattison

In 2019/20, the council had a budget of £2,086,884 for Disabled Facilities Grants.  Only 85% of the council’s DFG budget was spent. While people living with life limiting illnesses like MND struggled to get the Home Adaptations they needed. Will you work with me and support MNDA “Act to Adapt Campaign” to ensure that any Northumberland resident diagnosed with a terminal illness such as Motor Neurone Disease will be given priority access to DFG and Home Adaptations.

Councillor Pattison thanked Councillor Hardy for all?his work to support the MND Association, which played a vital role in supporting people?who suffered from it.?MND was a terrible disease and was the focus of the Civic Head’s charity this year.

She did agree that supporting people with MND was one of the most essential responsibilities of the Council. The financial information in?Councillor Hardy’s?question, while?technically?correct, gave a?rather?misleading picture.??The figure described as the “DFG budget”?represented the amount which the?Council received?from?the?Government?for DFGs and related purposes.? The?Government changed the rules?a number of?years ago?to make it clear that?this?funding?could be used flexibly to support?any?capital expenditure which?enabled disabled people to live in their own homes.? While the largest element of spending was grants paid out?under the statutory Disabled Facilities Grant scheme,?the level of the funding?received?from?the?Government had in recent years been higher than was required to meet all eligible applications under that scheme, and?the surplus funding had been used to support other capital expenditure?outside the DFG scheme,?such as providing adapted accommodation to enable people with a learning disability and associated physical disabilities to live?in independent supported accommodation.? Because the timing of such schemes?might not align neatly with local authority financial years, funding was carried forward as necessary to ensure that it remained available to support disabled people, so underspends in one year did not mean that the money was lost.?

Officers were not aware of people living with life limiting illnesses like MND who had struggled to get the Home Adaptations they needed.? As?the Council told the MND Association in response to the Freedom of Information request that the question was based on, there was a process already in place for ensuring that?urgent applications, such as those from people with rapidly deteriorating progressive conditions, were prioritised.? If Councillor Hardy, or any other members, knew of cases in which the?Council had not responded?as urgently as it should have done, she urged them to contact her to make sure they were?looked into.?

She had a few?reservations about the MND Association’s campaign, which asked specifically for a fast-track process for people with MND, and more favourable?financial rules for people?with the condition.? Priorities needed to be based on the urgency of people’s need rather than on?their specific diagnosis, and MND was not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

(1)      Wednesday 25 August 2021 (see pages 33-36)

(2)      Tuesday  7 September 2021 (see pages 37-46)

(3)      Tuesday 12 October 2021 (see pages 47-62)

(1)      Wednesday 25 August 2021

(2)      Tuesday  7 September 2021

(3)      Tuesday 12 October 2021

With regard to Minute No. 43 of the 12 October meeting, Council Tax had the power to put increasing numbers of families into debt and she asked if the delivery plan for the household support fund include earmarking any funding as top up support for the hardship fund or other mechanisms aimed specifically for council tax support. Scrutiny Committee had raised several concerns and she needed to be assured that they had been addressed in the Cabinet meeting. The hardship fund was a discretionary scheme and there would always be people who slipped through the net.

Councillor Wearmouth asked if this could be dealt with under the substantive matter on the agenda.

Councillor Robinson asked for an update on Minute No. 48(2) which Councillor Wearmouth agreed would be provided.

RESOLVED that the minutes of Cabinet detailed above be received.

(1)      Corporate Services and Economic Growth OSC          (see pages 63-74)

(2)      Family and Children’s Services OSC                           (see pages 75-86)

(3)      Communities and Place OSC                                     (see pages 87-94)

(4)      Health and Wellbeing OSC                                         (see pages 95-108) 

 (5)     Health and Wellbeing Board                                       (see pages 109-116)

(6)      Audit Committee                                                         (see pages 117-142)                                        

(1)      Corporate Services and Economic Growth OSC

These were presented by Councillor Bawn.

RESOLVED that the minutes of Corporate Services and Economic Growth OSC be received.  

(2)      Family and Children’s Services OSC  

These were presented by Councillor Daley who thanked Councillor Stewart for this work as Vice Chair of FACS.

With regard to Minute No. 25, Councillor Wallace asked whether a response had yet been received from the Chancellor and Education Secretary regarding heating and fuel costs for schools and he referred to Cambois Primary School where the electricity budget for the year had been set at £12,000. By September, £11,000 of this budget had been spent. This would directly impact teaching and learning. He urged the Leader to get an answer to the question being asked, as the situation was very worrying and could end in schools being closed.

The Leader replied that he had written to the Schools Minister and the Chancellor and he understood that a reply was on its way. He was confident that the issue would be taken on board but was not sure how much help they could provide. The Council felt as strongly about this issue as the local MPs.

RESOLVED that the minutes of Family and Children’s Services OSC be received.

(3)      Communities and Place OSC

These were presented by Councillor Oliver.

With regard to Minute No. 16, Councillor Morphet wished to make it clear that he had raised the point at the meeting so he could understand the pros and cons of alternative fuel sources and he strongly supported the idea of an HVO trial.     

With regard to the resolution to acquire more gulley wagons, Councillor Gallacher supported this. This was a major problem in the south east and he asked that Ashington take priority. He also felt that staff should be trained in advance of the vehicles being delivered.  

In response to some comments from members about the gulley wagons and blocked drains, Councillor Riddle advised that there were now 4 wagons which were all equipped with jetters. However, the waste water had to be disposed of at a waste transfer station. He acknowledged that there were some problems in Ashington and these were being addressed.

Councillor Ball asked when the vehicles were going to get to North Seaton Road in Ashington as this had been promised in July. The Leader advised that he and Councillor Riddle would visit to see the issue first hand. Councillor Gallacher referred to the visit with Cabinet Members and officers to Ashington in the summer. A report back from the Cabinet Member on that was still awaited and nothing had been heard from officers either. He asked that Ashington Councillors be kept updated. 

(4)      Health and Wellbeing OSC

These were presented by Councillor Reid.

Councillor Flux thanked him for his work as Chair of this Committee.

RESOLVED that the minutes of Health and Wellbeing OSC be received.

(5)      Health and Wellbeing Board

These were presented by Councillor Flux.

RESOLVED that the minutes of Health  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Motion No. 1

In accordance with Council Rules of Procedure No.10, Councillor G. Sanderson to move the following motion, received by the Head of Democratic and Electoral Services on 27 September 2021:-

“That Northumberland County Council 

(i) Acknowledges the efforts that this Council has made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote renewable energy;  

(ii) Further recognises   

that very large financial setup and running costs involved in selling locally generated renewable electricity to local customers result in it being impossible for local renewable electricity generators to do so,  

that making these financial costs proportionate to the scale of a renewable electricity supplier’s operation would create significant opportunities for local companies and community groups to be providers of locally generated renewable electricity directly to local people, businesses and organisations, if they wished, and 

that revenues received by such local companies or community groups that chose to become local renewable electricity providers could be used to help improve the local economy, local services and facilities and to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions; 

(iii) Notes that the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, as a result of its 2021 Technological Innovations and Climate Change inquiry, recommended that a Right to Local Supply for local energy suppliers be established to address this; 

(iv) Accordingly resolves to support the Local Electricity Bill, currently supported by a cross-party group of 266 MPs and which, if made law, would establish a Right to Local Supply which would promote local renewable electricity supply by making the setup and running costs of selling renewable electricity to local customers proportionate to the size of the supply company; and 

(v) Further resolves to   

inform the local media of this decision, 

write to local MPs, asking them to support the Bill, and 

write to the organisers of the campaign for the Bill, Power for People, (at Camden Collective, 5-7 Buck Street, London NW1 8NJ or info@powerforpeople.org.uk) expressing its support”.

Motion No. 1

In accordance with Council Rules of Procedure No.10, Councillor G. Sanderson moved the following motion, received by the Head of Democratic and Electoral Services on 27 September 2021:-

“That Northumberland County Council

(i) Acknowledges the efforts that this Council has made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote renewable energy; 

(ii) Further recognises  

that very large financial setup and running costs involved in selling locally generated renewable electricity to local customers result in it being impossible for local renewable electricity generators to do so, 

that making these financial costs proportionate to the scale of a renewable electricity supplier’s operation would create significant opportunities for local companies and community groups to be providers of locally generated renewable electricity directly to local people, businesses and organisations, if they wished, and

that revenues received by such local companies or community groups that chose to become local renewable electricity providers could be used to help improve the local economy, local services and facilities and to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions;

(iii) Notes that the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, as a result of its 2021 Technological Innovations and Climate Change inquiry, recommended that a Right to Local Supply for local energy suppliers be established to address this;

(iv) Accordingly resolves to support the Local Electricity Bill, currently supported by a cross-party group of 266 MPs and which, if made law, would establish a Right to Local Supply which would promote local renewable electricity supply by making the setup and running costs of selling renewable electricity to local customers proportionate to the size of the supply company; and

(v) Further resolves to  

inform the local media of this decision,

write to local MPs, asking them to support the Bill, and

write to the organisers of the campaign for the Bill, Power for People, (at Camden Collective, 5-7 Buck Street, London NW1 8NJ or info@powerforpeople.org.uk) expressing its support”.

In introducing the motion the Leader commented that it was essential to decarbonise the electricity supply if climate change targets were to be met and Northumberland was well placed to do that. If the Bill became law, it would be applicable to both commercial and community organisations, and was especially relevant for those communities who relied on alternative sources of power. The Council’s role would be to work with residents, businesses and communities. The capacity was already there to do that through the climate change team and an update on progress with the climate change agenda would be sent to all members. 

The motion was seconded by Councillor Plozsaj, who felt this was a great opportunity to diversify the suppliers’ market and to support local economies and communities by keeping money in the local area.  The Bill had been supported by 80 local authorities around the country.

The majority of members spoke in support of the motion. A number of additional points were made around:-

•         Increasing the number of meetings held remotely where possible and paperless meetings introduced.

•         Further investigation of hydro-electric  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Council is asked to approve the changes to committee places and outside bodies detailed at pages 181- 186), and to elect the Deputy Business Chair and Chairs/Vice Chairs to the Committees as indicated therein. 

Council was asked to approve the changes to committee places and outside bodies detailed at pages 181- 186 of the agenda, and to elect the Deputy Business Chair and Chairs/Vice Chairs to the Committees as indicated therein. An updated document had been circulated to members.

It was noted that Councillor Seymour was to remain as Deputy Cabinet member for Corporate Services, not as detailed in the agenda, which was a typo. It was also noted that Councillor Robinson would remain on CSEG OSC as a minority place.

Councillor Daley asked for clarification of the position regarding the age restriction on the Governing Body of Netherton Park. The Business Chair and Councillor Pattison agreed this would be investigated.

The Leader nominated Councillor Paul Scott for the position of Deputy Business Chair, this was seconded by the Business Chair.

Councillor Dickinson asked why a Deputy Business Chair was being elected now and expressed disappointment that Councillor Dunbar had left the Cabinet. He also asked for a named vote on the election of Deputy Business Chair, which was supported by the required number of members.

In response to a question from Councillor Purvis regarding the composition of the JCC, Councillor Reid advised that it was about the Administration dealing with the trade unions regarding the management of the workforce and how this was dealt with. This had been the position prior to local government reorganisation. The Leader agreed that this could be looked at and had no issue with the body being cross party.

Councillor Hill thanked Councillor Reid for his chairmanship of the Health and Wellbeing OSC.

On the nomination of Councillor P. Scott being put to a named voted, the votes were cast as follows:-

FOR: 36

 AGAINST: 25

It was therefore RESOLVED that:-

(a)        Councillor P. Scott be elected Deputy Business Chair for the remainder of the Council year;

(b)        Council note the appointment of Councillor G. Stewart as Deputy Cabinet Member for Community Services and the appointment of Councillor C. Seymour as Deputy Cabinet Member for Corporate Services. The Deputy Cabinet Member for Wellbeing position remains vacant; and

(c)        Council agree the amendments to Committee places as detailed in the document circulated at the Council meeting, and the election of Chair or Vice Chair  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

(1)      Council Tax Support Scheme for 2022-23

The report seeks approval for the Local Council Tax Support Scheme for 2022-23 to con tinue to provide support at a maximum level of 92% of Council Tax liability (see pages 143-148). Members are asked to bring their copy of the scheme previously circulated.

(1)        Council Tax Support Scheme for 2022-23

The report sought approval for the local Council Tax (CT) Support Scheme for 2022-23 to continue to provide support at a maximum level of 92% of council tax liability.  

The report was introduced by Councillor Wearmouth. The S151 Officer advised that in addition to the CT support scheme, for the last two years the Council had offered discounts which had been funded by Government grants. In the 2020-21 financial year this had been £300, and £150 in the previous year. In the current year, this funding had been used to reduce CT bills for 13,353 claimants, and 13,040 had had no CT liability at all. Officers were looking at whether a similar scheme could be offered for the next financial year using unspent grant funding, probably at around £200-£300.

£2.4m was also available from the household support fund and it was proposed to continue the winter support programme from this which included food and fuel vouchers, food assistance during school holidays and cold weather payments. With the support which was available, it was likely that a similar number of claimants would be taken out of CT liability altogether again this year. Therefore there would be three schemes running alongside each other; the main CT support scheme, a discount scheme and the continuation of the winter assistance programme.

There were a number of member comments on this which included:-

·       Councillor Grimshaw did not support the report. She asked why the different sources of support could not be combined to enable the support scheme to be dismissed. The table of illustration comparing local authorities in the region did not impress her Group and she felt that Northumberland should be one of the two authorities who chose to provide 100% support. She provided some figures for members about the effects of Government policies on working age adults and urged the Administration to scrap the proposal.

·       Councillor Bawn referred members to the concise and detailed explanation which had been provided by the S151 Officer. The vast majority of claimants were not paying any council tax and the books had to be balanced. He understood that people were upset by the table contained in the report but the two most generous local authorities listed were not Labour run. This was a very sensible scheme with real additional support and he urged members to support it.

·       Councillor Ball urged the Administration to take the stress off people to apply for support if the funding was already there.

·       Councillor Robinson felt that the number of working age claimants was likely to greatly increase and asked if members could be provided with details of the three support schemes available so these could be passed on to constituents, or details included with council tax bills. Councillor Wearmouth agreed this could be done.

·       Councillor Dickinson asked members to note that this had gone from affecting 12,000 people when first introduced to nearly 17,000 and he agreed this was the tip of the iceberg.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

(2)      Treasury Management Annual Report for the Financial Year 2020-21

 The report provides details of performance against the Treasury Management Strategy Statement (TMSS) 2020-21, approved by the County Council on 19 February 2020.  The report provides a review of borrowing and investment performance for 2020-21, set in the context of the general economic conditions prevailing during the year. It also reviews specific Treasury Management prudential indicators defined by the (CIPFA) Treasury Management Code of Practice and CIPFA Prudential Code for Capital Finance in Local Authorities, (the Prudential Code), and approved by the Authority in the TMSS (see pages 149-168). 

Treasury Management Annual Report for the Financial Year 2020-21

The report provided details of performance against the Treasury Management Strategy Statement (TMSS) 2020-21, approved by the County Council on 19 February 2020.  The report provided a review of borrowing and investment performance for 2020-21, set in the context of the general economic conditions prevailing during the year. It also reviewed specific Treasury Management prudential indicators defined by the (CIPFA) Treasury Management Code of Practice and CIPFA Prudential Code for Capital Finance in Local Authorities, (the Prudential Code), and approved by the Authority in the TMSS.

Councillor J. Watson commented on the excellent performance in the preceding year.

Councillor Oliver asked whether there were any plans to smooth out the spike in the maturity profile identified in the report in future years. The S151 Officer confirmed that as debt fell due, officers did look at the maturity profile in order to spread it out. The Council was significantly under borrowed at the present time so the markets would be monitored and when the time was right to replace internal borrowing with external, then it would be done in such a way as to smooth the maturity profile. The Strategy was being refreshed in readiness for the forthcoming year and this was one of the things which would be looked at.

Councillor Dickinson asked if a breakdown could be provided of the debts over 50-60 years old.  Councillor Wearmouth responded that the detail was about when debts were going to be mature in around 50 years’ time.

Councillor Dale felt a briefing for all members on the treasury management function would be beneficial. Councillor Wearmouth agreed this could be done.

Councillor Kennedy referred to previous financial decisions made by the Authority, some of which he felt were nonsensical and reminded members that the Council should not be acting this way. The Council was supposed to deliver services and act with caution, not invest in private enterprise.

RESOLVED that the report be received and the performance of the Treasury Management function for 2020-21 be noted.

To consider two reports recently agreed for recommendation to Council by the Constitution Working Group (see pages 169-180):-

(1)      Report of the Senior Manager and Deputy Monitoring Officer

Proposed Constitutional Changes

To review and update the Constitution and make relared appointments.

(2)      Report of the Interinm Executive Director of Planning and Local Services

Review of Planning Terms of Reference

To review the Strategic Planning Committee terms of reference and powers as set out in the Council’s Constitution. The change is proposed following a formal recommendtaion for clarification from the Local Government Ombudsman.

Council was asked to consider two reports recently agreed for recommendation to Council by the Constitution Working Group:-

(1)        Report of the Senior Manager and Deputy Monitoring Officer

Proposed Constitutional Changes 

Council was asked to review and update the Constitution and make related appointments. 

The Deputy Monitoring Officer proposed that, with regard to recommendation 4, the words “and the constitution amended accordingly” be deleted and insert “for information” instead.

Councillor Dickinson supported the recommendations with the exception of the increased numbers on Committees to provide any Group with a better position.

RESOLVED that:-

(a)       Part 3 of the Constitution – Membership of Committees 2020/21 be amended in the following respect:

·       Amendment of the table of committees on page 45 of the Constitution, to reflect the size of the Petitions Committee, Standards Committee and Staff and Appointments Committees is now 9 members, following the decision of full council on the 26^th May 2021

·       Amendment of the year specified in the table of committees on page 45 of the Constitution from 2020/21 to 2021/22;

(b)        Council agree that references to the Chief Executive also being a Director of the NHS Foundation Trust and the Executive Director of HR/OD and Deputy CEO being seconded from the NHS Foundation Trust are removed from the relevant sections of the Constitution, as set out in paragraph 6 of the report;

(c )      Council note that the functions of the Executive Director of HR/OD and Deputy Chief Executive are currently being exercised by the Chief Executive as Head of Paid Service in accordance with Part 4.1 para 5.9 of the constitution, except in matters where there is a conflict of interest, whereby those matters will be delegated to the         appropriate Executive Director; and

(d)        Council note that following the current Management Review, the revised structure will be reported to a future meeting of Constitution Working Group for information.

(2)        Report of the Interim Executive Director of Planning & Local Services

Review of Planning Terms of Reference 

The report reviewed the Strategic Planning Committee Terms of Reference and Powers as set out in the Councils Constitution.  The change was proposed following a formal recommendation for clarification from the Local Government Ombudsman.  

RESOLVED that the Strategic Planning Committee Terms of Reference be  amended, as detailed below in bold and italics, to ensure clarity on whether an application is to be considered at Strategic Planning Committee, or at the Local Area Council Planning Committee:-

            STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE

            Terms of Reference and Powers

      (a)  To exercise the powers and duties of the Council as Planning Authority in relation to development management under the Town and Country Planning Acts and other associated/related legislation and in particular, but not limited to, those functions listed in Schedule1 to the Local Authorities (Functions and Responsibilities) (England) Regulations 2000, including the following matters which specifically require a decision by the Strategic Planning Committee:

·       minerals and waste planning

·       development concerning major energy and physical infrastructure proposals such as wind farms

·       planning applications involving more than 100  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

Council has previously agreed a change in the deadlines for submission of motions and questions to allow for the Christmas holidays and the despatch of the Council agenda. Council is RECOMMENDED to again agree that the deadline for submission of motions, public questions and member questions for 5 January 2022 Council in noon on Monday 20 December 2021.

RESOLVED that the deadline for submission of motions, public questions and member questions for 5 January 2022 Council is noon on Monday 20 December 2021.

Council is invited to consider passing the following resolution: 

(a) That under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item on the Agenda as it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the 1972 Act, and  

(b) That the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure for the following reasons:- 

RESOLVED  

(a) That under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item on the Agenda as it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the 1972 Act, and  

(b) That the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure for the following reasons:-  

To receive an update on the ongoing review from the Chief Executive.

Executive Management Structure Review 

All officers with the exception of the Chief Executive, the Deputy Monitoring Officer and the Democratic and Electoral Services Manager left the meeting at this point.

The Chief Executive advised that this matter had been withdrawn from the agenda.

Appointment of Interim Monitoring Officer 

The purpose of this report is to seek approval of the appointment of a Monitoring Officer on an interim basis, Suki Binjal, for Northumberland County Council due to the substantive post of Legal Services Manager and Monitoring Officer becoming vacant.

It is proposed that the interim appointment of Suki Binjal remains in place until a substantive appointment is made to the post of Monitoring Officer.  At present the Legal Services Manager/Monitoring Officer and Director of Corporate Assurance are vacant and this interim post holder will cover the key required elements of those two roles (see pages 187-193).

Appointment of Interim Monitoring Officer

The report sought approval of the appointment of a Monitoring Officer on an interim basis, Suki Binjal, for Northumberland County Council due to the substantive post of Legal Services Manager and Monitoring Officer becoming vacant.

It was proposed that the interim appointment of Suki Binjal remained in place until a substantive appointment was made to the post of Monitoring Officer.  At present the Legal Services Manager/Monitoring Officer and Director of Corporate Assurance posts were vacant and this interim post holder would cover the key required elements of those two roles.

A number of questions were raised by members which the Chief Executive answered. She thanked the three deputy monitoring officers for their work during a very difficult year.

RESOLVED that recommendations 1-3, as detailed in the report, be agreed.