Local Government and Housing Act 1989

13 Voting rights of members of certain committees: England and Wales.

(1) Subject to the following provisions of this section, a person who— (a) is a member of a committee appointed under a power to which this section applies by a relevant authority and is not a member of that authority; (b) is a member of a joint committee appointed under such a power by two or more relevant authorities and is not a member of any of those authorities; or (c) is a member of a sub-committee appointed under such a power by such a committee as is mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b) above and is not a member of the relevant authority, or one of the relevant authorities, which appointed that committee, shall for all purposes be treated as a non-voting member of that committee, joint committee or, as the case may be, sub-committee. (2) The powers to which this section applies are— (a) the powers conferred on any relevant authority by subsection (1) of section 102 of the Local Government Act 1972 (ordinary committees, joint committees and sub-committees); (b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (c) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (3) Nothing in subsection (1) above shall require a person to be treated as a non-voting member of a committee or sub-committee falling within subsection (4) below; but, except— (a) in the case of a sub-committee appointed by a committee falling within paragraph (e) of that subsection; and (b) in such cases as may be prescribed by regulations made by the Secretary of State, a person who is a member of a sub-committee falling within that subsection shall for all purposes be treated as a non-voting member of that sub-committee unless he is a member of the committee which appointed the sub-committee. (4) A committee or sub-committee falls within this subsection if it is— (a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (c) a committee established in accordance with any regulations made by virtue of section 7 of the Superannuation Act 1972 (regulations making provision for the superannuation of persons employed in local government service etc.); (d) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (e) a committee appointed under section 102(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 (appointment of advisory committees by local authorities); (f) a committee constituted in accordance with Part I of Schedule 33 to the Education Act 1996 (constitution of appeal committees for admission appeals etc.); (fa) an inshore fisheries and conservation authority for a district established under section 149 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009; (fb) a committee of a relevant authority which is the scheme manager (or scheme manager and pension board) of a scheme under section 1 of the Public Service Pensions Act 2013; (g) a committee established exclusively for the purpose of discharging such functions of a relevant authority as may be prescribed by regulations made by the Secretary of State; (h) a sub-committee appointed by a committee falling within any of paragraphs (b) to (g) above or such a sub-committee as is so prescribed. (5) Nothing in this section shall prevent the appointment of a person who is not a member of a local authority as a voting member of— (a) any committee or sub-committee appointed by the local authority wholly or partly for the purpose of discharging any education functions of the authority, (b) any joint committee appointed by two or more local authorities wholly or partly for the purpose of discharging any education functions of the authorities, or (c) any sub-committee appointed by any such committee or joint committee wholly or partly for the purpose of discharging any of that committee’s functions with respect to education, where that appointment is required either by directions given by the Secretary of State under section 499 of the Education Act 1996 (power of Secretary of State to direct appointment of members of committees) or pursuant to regulations under subsection (6) of that section. (5ZA) Nothing in this section shall prevent the appointment of a police and crime commissioner as a voting member of— (a) any committee or sub-committee appointed by a local authority in England wholly or partly for the purposes of discharging functions of a fire and rescue authority, (b) any joint committee appointed by two or more local authorities in England wholly or partly for the purposes of discharging such functions, or (c) any sub-committee appointed by any such committee or joint committee wholly or partly for the purposes of discharging such functions. (5ZB) In subsection (5ZA) “local authority” does not include— (a) a fire and rescue authority constituted by a scheme under section 2 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 or a scheme to which section 4 of that Act applies, (b) a joint authority which is a metropolitan county fire and rescue authority, or (c) the London Fire Commissioner. (5A) Nothing in this section shall prevent the appointment of a council manager of a local authority, or one other officer of that local authority in his place, as a voting member of a joint committee, or a sub-committee of such a committee, where— (a) that local authority have a mayor and council manager executive ; and (b) the joint committee or the sub-committee has been appointed for the purpose of discharging functions which, as respects that local authority, are the responsibility of that executive. (5B) Nothing in this section prevents the appointment of any of the following as a voting member of a committee or sub-committee of a combined authority or combined county authority— (a) a person who is a member of a constituent council of that authority; (b) a person who is a non-constituent member of that authority, if that authority has resolved that that person is to be a voting member of that committee or sub-committee. (5C) In subsection (5B)— “combined authority” has the same meaning as in section 21(1)(jb); “combined county authority” has the same meaning as in section 21(1)(jba); “constituent council” means— in relation to a combined authority— a county council the whole or any part of whose area is within the area of the authority, or a district council whose area is within the area of the authority; in relation to a combined county authority— a county council for an area within the area of the authority, or a unitary district council for an area within the area of the authority; and here “unitary district council” means a district council whose area does not form part of the area of a county council; “non-constituent member” has the same meaning— as in section 104A of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 in relation to a combined authority; as in section 11 of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 in relation to a combined county authority; “resolved” means— in relation to a combined authority, resolved under section 104A(4) of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009; in relation to a combined county authority, resolved under section 11(4) of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023. (6) The Secretary of State may, if it appears to him appropriate to do so inconsequence of the preceding provisions of this section, withdraw any approval given before the coming into force of this section in relation to any arrangements for the purposes of paragraph 1 of Part II of Schedule 1 to the said Act of 1944. (7) Where a person is treated by virtue of this section as a non-voting member of any committee, joint committee or sub-committee, he shall not be entitled to vote at any meeting of the committee, joint committee or sub-committee on any question which falls to be decided at that meeting; and the reference in subsection (5) above to a voting member, in relation to any committee, joint committee or sub-committee appointed for the purpose mentioned in that subsection, is a reference to a person who is entitled to vote at any meeting of that committee or sub-committee on any question which falls to be decided at that meeting. (8) In subsection (3) of section 102 of the Local Government Act 1972, the words from “but at least” onwards (which require at least two-thirds of certain committees to be members of the appointing authority or authorities) shall be omitted. (9) In this section— “council manager”, “executive” and “mayor and council manager executive” have the same meaning as in Part II of the Local Government Act 2000 (arrangements with respect to executives etc.); ... “education functions” has the meaning given by section 579(1) of the Education Act 1996; and ... “relevant authority” means a local authority of any of the descriptions specified in paragraphs (a) to (f) , (h) to (jc) or (n) of section 21(1) below or any parish or community council; and references in this section to voting include references to making use of a casting vote.