Assembly received this report relating to the Members' Allowances Scheme for the 2014/15 municipal year introduced by the Monitoring Officer.
Councillor McCarthy referred to the debate under minute 6, specifically the Leader’s reasoning for appointing two Deputy Leaders, namely the perceived additional work load for each Deputy in relation to their portfolios of Housing and Finance. He stated that as the former Cabinet Member for Housing, he had not been consulted on his workload and could see no evidence of it having increased. On that basis he could not support the Members' Allowances Scheme as presented.
Given Councillor McCarthy's remarks, Councillor White proposed that approval of the Scheme, including the provision of two Deputy Leaders, should be conditional on no further monies being expended on Member allowances overall.
The report recommended that no increase would be applied to Members’ basic and special responsibility allowances for 2014/15, representing a freeze in allowance levels for the sixth year in succession. On that basis a vote was taken and the Assembly agreed that:
The draft Members' Allowance Scheme for 2014/15 attached at Appendix B to the report would come into effect on 12 June 2014, subject to the proviso that the overall cost of Members' basic and special responsibility allowances must not exceed the figure that had been incurred in 2013/14.
The meeting closed at 7.35 pm