Agenda item

To approve the public minutes of the last meeting of the General Purposes Committee of Aldermen held on 14^th September 2021.

The Committee considered the public minutes of the last meeting of the General Purposes Committee of Aldermen held on 14 September 2021.

Alderman Goyal referred to his previous enquiry about access to the papers/minutes related to meetings of the Competitiveness Advisory Board notes and the Chairman advised that the matter would be raised, on his behalf, with the Chair of the Board.

With regards to item 3: Election Engagement Activities Update, the Chairman advised that the Policy and Resources Committee had been advised, last week, that the number of voters registering and the number of businesses registering to appoint voters were not as hoped. Work was underway to address this, but all Common Councillors and Aldermen were also encouraged to support the final push on registration, noting that the deadline for registration was 16 December 2021.

In response to a query about when a further update on registration data in individual Wards would be provided so Aldermen could support registration activities, the Town Clerk confirmed that he had asked that an update be provided to Members sooner rather than later. As to whether it would be possible to see a draft provisional Ward List before November, the Town Clerk undertook to take this back to the Electoral Services Team and confirmation be provided as soon as possible. It was acknowledged that whilst consideration of statutory requirements was important, there was a necessity to provide data to existing Common Councillors and Aldermen in good time ahead of the registration deadline.

In response to a query about GDPR, it was noted that a paper on the use of data provided for electoral services purposes had been drafted by the Elections Campaign Manager. The Town Clerk undertook to circulate this following the meeting.

RESOLVED: - That the public minutes of the last meeting of the General Purposes Committee of Aldermen held on 14 September 2021 be approved as an accurate record of the meeting.

MATTERS ARISING

Aldermanic Impact Report

The Chairman advised that following the discussion at the last meeting, the Aldermanic Impact Report would not be progressed at this stage, but it was noted that there was a need to draft a document that provided clarity about the role of Aldermen and the collective impact of the Court of Aldermen, including the work undertaken by the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs. Members agreed that there was a need to explain the roles and the level of commitment from Aldermen, Sheriffs and the Lord Mayor in order to provide transparency internally and externally.

Legal Work Commissioned by the Court of Aldermen (cost implications)

It was noted that this matter would be addressed under item 14 of the non-public agenda.