Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Palmer (Deputy City Mayor).

Members are asked to declare any interests they may have in the business to be discussed.

Members were asked to declare any interests they might have in the business to be discussed.  No such declarations were made.

To note the attached Terms of Reference for the Committee and Standards Advisory Board.

The Terms of Reference for the Committee and Standards Advisory Board. were noted.

To note the current membership of the Committee:-

The Monitoring Officer to report that the current membership of the Committee is as follows:-

Councillors:

Chair: Councillor Senior

Vice Chair: Councillor Shelton

Councillor Palmer

Councillor Sood

Independent Members:

Ms Fiona Barber

Mr Mike Galvin

Ms Jayne Kelly

Ms Alison Lockley

Mr Simon Smith

Standing Invitees:

Mr Michael Edwards (Independent Person)

Mr David Lindley (Independent Person)

The current membership of the Committee was noted as follows:-

Councillors:

Chair: Councillor Senior

Vice Chair: Councillor Shelton

Councillor Palmer

Councillor Sood

Independent Members:

Ms Fiona Barber

Mr Mike Galvin

Ms Jayne Kelly

Ms Alison Lockley

Mr Simon Smith

Standing Invitees:

Mr Michael Edwards (Independent Person)

Mr David Lindley (Independent Person)

The Monitoring Officer to report, that following the meeting of Council on 19  May 2016, the date of the next Committee meeting will be Tuesday 21 March 2017.

The Monitoring Officer reported that the Annual Meeting of Council on 19 May 2016, had agreed that the date of the next Committee meeting would be Tuesday 21 March 2017.

The minutes of the meeting of the Standards Committee, held on 14 October 2015, are attached and Members are asked to confirm them as a correct record.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting of the Standards Committee, held on 14 October 2015 be confirmed as a correct record.

The Monitoring Officer submits the Draft Annual Report of the Standards Committee July 2015 - June 2016 which provides an analysis of cases referred.

Members are asked to note the report and make any amendments.

The Monitoring Officer submitted the Draft Annual Report of the Standards Committee July 2015 - June 2016 which provided an analysis of cases referred.

Members were asked to note the report and make any amendments prior to it being submitted to the Council.

The Monitoring Officer commented that the report followed the format of previous reports.  He stated that none of the complaints received during the period of the report had been referred for an independent investigation.  It was noted that nine of the thirteen complaints were not treated as valid complaints for the reasons stated in the report.

Following a question from a member of the Committee, the Monitoring Officer commented that none of the complaints received had given rise to any organisational learning issues that needed to be brought to the attention of members or officers.

Mr Lindley, Independent Person, referred to the time taken to deal with the complaints and commented how speedily complaints were now being considered under the current arrangements compared to the previous standards’ regime.

The Chair asked that where an offer of reparation was made, then this should be recorded in the report.

RESOLVED:

That the report be received and noted and that the Monitoring Officer include commentary in the report in instances where an offer of reparation is offered and subsequently made.

The Monitoring Officer submits a report giving feedback on complaints against Councillors reviewed and/or determined from 18 June 2016 to 14 November 2016 and updating the Committee on progress with outstanding complaints against Councillors.  The Committee is recommended to receive and note the report.

MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC TO NOTE

This report is a public document but during its consideration, Members may wish to discuss some of the issues in more detail. Under the law, the Committee is entitled to consider certain items in private.  In this event, the Committee will make the following resolution and the press and members of the public will be asked to leave the meeting when such items are discussed.

“that the press and public be excluded during consideration of the following report in accordance with the provisions of Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended, because it involves the likely disclosure of 'exempt' information, as defined in the Paragraphs detailed below of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act and taking all the circumstances into account, it is considered that the public interest in maintaining the information as exempt outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Paragraph 1

Information relating to any individual.

Paragraph 2

Information which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual.

Paragraph 7c

The deliberations of a standards committee or of a sub-committee of a standards committee established under the provisions of Part 3 of the Local Government Act 2000 in reaching any finding on a matter referred under the provisions of section 60(2) or (3), 64(2), 70(4) or (5) or 71(2) of that Act.

The Monitoring Officer submitted a report giving feedback on complaints against Councillors reviewed and/or determined from 18 June 2016 to 14 November 2016 and updating the Committee on progress with outstanding complaints against Councillors. 

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

Members are asked to consider items which they would wish to see on the Work Programme for the Committee.

Members were asked to consider items which they would wish to see on the Work Programme for the Committee.

It was suggested that the Committee could receive a report where organisational learning issues had been identified in dealing with complaints and what action had been taken afterwards.

The Monitoring Officer offered to review the process for submitting the Annual Corporate Governance Statement to the Audit and Risk Committee to see it whether it should be considered by the Committee .

The Committee had previously considered an overview of complaints received across the Council and members asked that this be considered in the future.

The Monitoring Officer also commented that a number of minor amendments had been made to the Code of Conduct and the revised Code would be submitted to the March meeting of the Committee.

RESOLVED:

That the items discussed above be added to the Committee’s Work Programme.

The Chair will invite Members to discuss arrangements for future meetings of the Committee.

The Chair invited Members to discuss arrangements for future meetings of the Committee.  The Chair commented that whilst she was satisfied that arrangements were in place to promote and maintain standards of behaviour by Elected Members, she was conscious that a number of meetings of the Committee had been cancelled due to lack of business to be considered.  These meetings had been since the standards regime was changed in 2012, which had changed the workload of the Committee.

The Chair suggested that the time was appropriate to review the way in which the Committee met and operated and suggested that the Monitoring Officer submit a report to the next meeting of the Committee.  The Chair also questioned whether the Committee required a permanent Chair with an allowance or whether a member of the Committee could be appointed Chair at each meeting.

The Monitoring Officer commented that it would advisable to have at least one scheduled meeting per year and other meetings arranged on an ad hoc basis.  He would review the arrangements in the light of legislative changes and report back to the next meeting.

RESOLVED:

That the Monitoring Officer submit a report on future arrangements for meetings of the Committee.

There were no items of business to be considered.

The Chair declared the meeting closed at 6.13pm.