Standing orders

Report: 9
Date: 27 November 2008
By: the Chief Executive

Summary

This report seeks approval to some changes to procedural Standing Orders and the Scheme of Officer Delegations to reflect the MPA’s new committee structure and other changes to the way the MPA conducts its business.

A. Recommendation

That the Authority approves the Standing Orders and Scheme of Officer Delegations attached as Appendices 1 and 2 of this report.

B. Supporting information

1. In October the Authority adopted a new committee structure. At the same time the Mayor of London became the Chairman of the MPA. These changes have had an impact on the way that the MPA conducts its business. It is intended that the full Authority focus on the high-level policing and performance issues to a greater extent than it has in the past and that the majority of business is conducted through the four main committees.

2. Although the MPA Chairman has no formal executive powers, the role is referred to throughout Standing Orders, for instance in terms of the calling and conduct of meetings and consultation as part of the urgency procedure. Because of the wide span of his Mayoral responsibilities, the Mayor will be delegating significant aspects of the MPA Chairman’s role to the Vice-Chairman.

3. For these reasons it has been necessary to review and propose some minor consequential changes to the MPA’s procedural Standing Orders (Appendix 1) and the Scheme of Officer Delegations (Appendix 2). Many of these are simply name changes to reflect where responsibilities lie in the new committee structure. The main changes proposed are summarised below.

4. Procedural Standing Orders

• On page 2 a general statement that says that any reference to the Chairman in the Standing Orders can be taken equally to apply to the Vice Chairman acting on his behalf
• Para 2.1.2 a): reflects the fact that the MPA’s Chairman and Vice Chairman are now appointed by the Mayor (who can be Chairman himself) rather than at the Annual Meeting
• Para 2.6: enables petitions to be presented direct to the appropriate committee rather than via the full Authority
• Para 2.7.2: reduces from three to two the number of questions a member of the public can ask at the full Authority in a rolling twelve month period

5. Scheme of Officer Delegations

• Para 4.7 and 6.5: increasing from £500 to £1000 the Chief Executive’s and the Treasurer’s delegated authority to approve the cost of a member’s attendance at a conference
• Para 4.12: giving the Chief Executive authority to approve restructurings of the MPA’s staff establishment (currently the level is set at changes of up to three posts)
• Paras 4.17 and 4.18 and 5: reallocating to the Chief Executive delegations formerly exercised by the post of Solicitor to the Authority and to the Head of Corporate Secretariat the role of Monitoring Officer

6. The Financial and Contract Regulations were reviewed earlier this year and changes approved by the Finance Committee and the full Authority in July. No further changes are proposed at this time.

C. Race and equality impact

None

D. Financial implications

None

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author(s): Simon Vile, Head of Corporate Secretariat, MPA

For more information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

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