Agenda and minutes

Councillor John Adams- Lewis, Bryan Davies, Ceredig Davies, Gareth Davies, Endaf Edwards and Elizabeth Evans apologised for their inability to attend the meeting.

Councillor Ifan Davies and Keith Evans were unable to attend the meeting due to technical difficulties.

None.

Consideration was given to the Report upon the Political Restrictions on Local Government Employees Policy and Register. It was reported Section 2 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 (‘the 1989 Act) established the concept of restricting political activity for certain designated posts in order to ensure political impartiality of local government employees.

In accordance with the 1989 Act, the Council was required to create and    maintain a list of those posts which are politically restricted. With effect from 12 January 2010, Section 30 of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 changed the approach for identifying posts that were politically restricted under Section 2 of the 1989 Act and removed the political restriction of Staff by reference to their salary level.  

It was, therefore, considered necessary to review the Political Restrictions on Local Government Employees Policy (last updated January 2020) (‘the Policy’) due to Brexit and recent changes e.g. changes to CLO titles.

It was reported that changes to the Policy include:

·         Developing the explanation as to Specified Posts and Sensitive Posts (under ‘Who is affected?’);

·         Updating the reference to the Chief Executive and CLO titles;

·         Adding reference to the Head of Democratic Services and Monitoring Officer/CLO Legal & Governance to the list of Statutory Officers and deleting from 1(b) ‘(within the 1989 Act)’:

       1.Specified Posts

…        b) the Statutory Chief Officers (within the 1989 Act)

·         Adding in reference at 2. ‘Sensitive’ posts that these posts were also politically restricted.

Following question from the floor, it was AGREED to note and approve the changes to the Political Restrictions on Local Government Employees Policy.

Clarification would be sought from the Deputy Returning Officer if a teacher could stand as a candidate in the forthcoming elections, and if successful, were they then required to terminate their employment as a teacher.

It was AGREED to confirm the minutes of the meeting held on the 07 February and 18 February 2022

Matters Arising

None.

The Chair stated that this was his last meeting as Councillor and wished everyone the best for the future. All thanked the Chair and all the Councillors who would not be standing in the forthcoming elections.

Congratulations were extended to Councillor Rowland Rees-Evans for being appointed as the High Sheriff of Dyfed, and therefore he would not be standing as a Councillor in the forthcoming election. All wished him well.

Councillor Lyndon Lloyd MBE conveyed his thanks to all Councillors and to the Democratic Services team for their support during his time as a Councillor.