The City of York Council constitution sets out:
- how the council operates
- how decisions are made
- the procedures which are followed to ensure decisions are efficient, transparent, and accountable to local people.
Some of these processes are required by the law, while others are a matter for the Council to choose.
Read City of York Council's constitution
Find out more about:
Decision making
Our constitution describes how the council makes decisions. It sets out rules for who can make what types of decision, and how. Those rules are important to ensure that the decisions made are good, balanced, and evidence based, and the process by which they are made is transparent.
City of York Council operates on a Leader and Executive model of governance. This means that all decisions not prescribed by law as being decisions for the full council of 47 members, can be made by the Executive, a smaller group of councillors. The Executive can make decisions as a group or as individuals. The constitution also allows both executive and non-executive decisions to be delegated to officers (employees).
Roles and relations
City of York Council has 47 elected members, known as councillors. They're elected to represent York’s citizens and take strategic decisions about how public money is spent in the city. The council’s staff are known as officers. Officers implement those strategic decisions. Many officers have operational decision making authority which is delegated to them.
Good local government depends on members and officers working effectively together; it's a relationship founded on mutual respect. The member-officer relations protocol explains members’ and officers’ roles and responsibilities and defines how they should interact. There are also Codes of Conduct for members and officers. The primary role of officers is to advise, inform and support all members and to implement the lawfully agreed policies of the council. They must do so impartially and with political neutrality. Officers work to the instructions of their senior officers and not to individual members or political groups.
Financial and contract procedures
The Finance Procedure Rules (FPRs) govern the council’s financial affairs, setting out standards and procedures for the council’s income, expenditure and accounting arrangements.
The FPRs also cover budget, audit and risk processes, and apply to certain external arrangements, such as grant funding, partnerships, and work for third parties.
The Chief Finance Officer (CFO) has overall responsibility for council finances and the FPRs. Corporate directors are responsible for day-to-day financial control and administration. The FPRs apply to every Member and officer, as well as anyone acting on the council’s behalf.
The Contract Procedure Rules (CPRs) apply to officers, directors and maintained schools, in relation to any procurements and contracts. All arrangements must comply with the CPRs, unless a waiver ground or exemption applies.
Scrutiny
The aim of scrutiny is to provide a 'critical friend' to the council’s Executive. Councillors who are members of the scrutiny committees can propose policy changes, suggest improvements, commend good practice and take a leadership role on issues of concern in local communities.
Overview and scrutiny is an essential part of governance in local authorities.
The council has a Corporate Services, Climate Change and Scrutiny Management Committee (CSCCSMC) which co-ordinates the work of 3 standing policy committees covering Economy, Place, Access and Transport, Children, Culture and Communities, Health, Housing and Adult Social Care. CSCCSMC also considers call-in requests where it reviews evidence relating to decisions made by the Executive but not yet implemented.
The standing policy scrutiny committees assist in developing policy by undertaking pre-decision scrutiny. This involves selecting topics for the committee’s work plan and carrying out reviews of those topics. All scrutiny committees can seek the advice of expert advisers, conduct public surveys, commission research and do all things reasonably necessary to inform their deliberations subject to budget availability.