Technical Review of the Council’s Rules and Standing Orders
As part of the wider governance review, the Executive invited the Hon. David Bleby QC to conduct a technical assessment of the Council’s Rules and Standing Orders to identify any errors, or wording which could be better expressed to achieve its intended purpose, and to recommend improved wording in each case.
The review included consideration of a list of issues raised by Council Members following a call for suggestions made by the President in March.
The Technical Review Report recommended a number of detailed improvements to individual Rules and Standing Orders, which among other things clarify:
- arrangements when Trustees retire early
- the process of notifying society membership numbers to the Secretary
- technology requirements for Council Meetings held online
- meeting rules governing the allocation of time to each business item
- the ‘call-in’ procedure for small society applications
- rules on notices sent to and from the Council
The recommendations go into some detail, but in each case do not change the intended purpose of the rules or standing orders, but merely give greater clarity about the way they should be applied. At its meeting on 22nd June the Executive resolved to recommend the implementation of the review report’s recommendations in full.
For ease of reference, the Technical Review report is organised into five parts which can be viewed or downloaded by clicking the links below:
- The Report to the Executive of the Technical Reviewer can be viewed or downloaded here.
- Annexure 1 lists each specific issue considered by the report with the detailed recommendation alongside.
- Annexure 2 sets out the rationale and conclusions which led to each recommendation.
- Annexure 3 presents a marked-up copy of the Council’s rules showing the effect of the report’s recommendations in any easy-to-read format, with a commentary.
- Annexure 4 presents a marked-up copy of the Council’s standing orders showing the effect of the report’s recommendations in an easy-to-read format, with a commentary.
The Council Motion which gives effect to the report’s recommendations will be included in the agenda papers, but can also be viewed or downloaded here.