7. JOINT ARRANGEMENTS

7.1       Arrangements to Promote Well-being

The Council, or the Executive, in order to promote the economic, social or environmental well-being of its area may:

(a)        enter into arrangements or agreements with any person or body;

(b)        co-operate with, or facilitate or co-ordinate the activities of, any person or body; and

(c)        exercise, on behalf of that person or body, any functions of that person or body.

7.2       Joint Arrangements

(a)        The Council may establish joint arrangements with one, or more, local authorities and/or their Executives to exercise functions, which are not Executive Functions in any of the participating authorities, or to advise the Council.  Such arrangements may involve the appointment of a joint committee with the other local Authorities.

(b)        The Executive may establish joint arrangements with one or more local authorities to exercise functions, which are executive functions.  Such arrangements may involve the appointment of joint committees with these other local authorities.

(c)        Except as set out below, the Executive may only appoint Executive Members to a joint committee and those Members need not reflect the political composition of the Local Authority as a whole.

(d)        The Executive may appoint non-Executive Members to a joint committee if the Joint Committee has functions for only part of the area of the Borough, and that area is smaller than two fifths of the Borough by area or population.  In such cases, the Executive may appoint to the Joint Committee any Councillor who is a Member for a ward, which is wholly, or partly, contained within the area.  The political balance requirements do not apply to such appointments.

(e)        Details of any joint arrangements including any delegations to joint committees will be found in the Council’s Scheme of Delegations in Part 2 of this Constitution.

7.3       Access to Information

(a)        The Access to Information Procedure Rules set out in Part 4 of this Constitution apply.

(b)        If all the Members of a joint committee are Members of the Executive in each of the participating authorities, then its access to information regime is the same as that applied to the Executive.

(c)        If the Joint Committee contains Members who are not on the Executive of any participating Authority then the access to information rules in Part V A of the Local Government Act 1972 will apply.

7.4       Delegation to and from Other Local Authorities

(a)        The Council may delegate functions to another local authority or, in certain circumstances, the Executive of another local authority.

(b)        The Executive may delegate Executive Functions to another local authority or the Executive of another local authority in certain circumstances.

(c)        The decision whether or not to accept such a delegation from another local authority shall be reserved to the Council meeting.

7.5       Contracting Out

The Executive may contract out to another body or organisation, functions which may be exercised by an Officer and which are subject to an Order under Section 70 of the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994, or under contracting arrangements where the Contractor acts as the Council’s Agent under usual contracting principles, provided there is no delegation of the Council’s discretionary decision-making.