General Power of Competence clarification please

Question

‘2.—(1) At the time a resolution under paragraph 1 is passed —
(a)the number of members of the council that have been declared to be elected(1), whether at ordinary elections or at a by-election, is equal to or greater than two-thirds of the total number of members of the council;’

Does this mean that two thirds of the total number of potential councillors? Or two thirds of actual people in councillor positions? EG on a council which has 9 potential councillors, 6 must be elected? OR on a council which has 9 potential councillor posts, and 3 are elected and 3 are co opted, 4 must be elected?

and if the council finds that it doesn’t qualify for GPoC must it minute that at the relevant AGM after the election?

Answer 1

Its two thirds of the total potential councillors.

Answer 2

On the final point, it is only necessary to minute non-qualification if the council was previously qualified and is therefore changing its status in this regard.

Comments

Thank you, Dave. Try as I might, I cannot find the relevant paperwork to confirm this. Can you point me to it, please?

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I'm not aware of any specific reference to this in the legislation, but GPoC is an opt-in for eligible councils, but of no relevance otherwise. Having said that, there is a vague item in the model standing orders list of agenda items for the annual meeting, numbered 5(j)(xii) "In an election year, to make arrangements with a view to the Council becoming eligible to exercise the general power of competence in the future;" but if you don't meet the eligibility criteria now it is not something that would normally be resolved within a short timescale and may have to wait four years until your next elections. If your only reason for non-qualification now is that the Clerk doesn't hold a relevant qualification, the Council could resolve to pay for this, but it wouldn't be in this year's budget if you're only considering it now.

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Thanks Dave, that’s so brilliant, our standing orders follow the NALC model so we do have that, along with several other things that are not appearing on the annual meeting’s agenda. There are also too many cooptions for us to retain GPoC.