Agenda and minutes

Members are asked to declare any interests they may have in the business to be discussed and/or indicate that Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applies to them.

Members were requested to declare any interests they may have in the business on the agenda and/or indicate if Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applied to them.

No declarations were made.

The Minutes of the ordinary meeting of the Committee held on 9 January 2002 and the special meeting of the Committee held on 29 July 2002, are attached and the Committee is asked to confirm them as a correct record.

RESOLVED:

                        That the Minutes of the ordinary meeting of the Committee held on 9 January 2002 and the special meeting of the Committee held on 29 July 2002, having been circulated, be received, taken as read and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

Under this item, the Committee expressed its disappointment that Councillor Simons had yet to comply with Resolution (4) of the Minutes of 29 July, with regard to offering an apology and an undertaking to future behaviour.

The Town Clerk submits a report which reviews the approach to complaints against Members, in the light of the Standards Board’s procedures.  The Committee is asked to give guidance on the preferred approach, so far as imminent Regulations permit.

The Town Clerk submitted a report which updated the Committee on the position with regard to dealing with complaints against Members.  It was noted that Regulations had now established the Standards Board for England and most of its procedures.  The national provisions for dealing with Complaints against Members now replaced the procedure formerly agreed by the Committee.  It was noted that the Regulations concerning arrangements for complaints to be referred back by the Standards Board for England to a Local Authority were still awaited.

It was noted that representations had been made to the Standards Board, expressing concern that  no provision was made in the new framework for local input or ‘filtering’ at the local level where some complaints could be speedily addressed to the satisfaction of the complainant.  Under the new arrangements, there was no regard for what the complainant was looking for as an outcome and all complaints, no matter what scale, would potentially take some time to be dealt with, which was not considered in the interests of the complainant or the Member being complained about.

The report suggested an approach to dealing with complaints received, so far as Regulations and Guidance may allowed.

Members raised the following issues:-

-     provision of legal representation for Councillors complained about

-     time it may take to deal with a relatively trivial matter

-     the person complained about wouldn’t necessarily know

-     no time limits for determination of complaints

RESOLVED:

                        That, as far as Regulations and Guidance allow, the proposals detailed in paragraph 2.9 of the report, for dealing with complaints, be supported.

The Town Clerk submits a report informing the Committee of its power to grant Dispensations with regard to interests both to Members of the Council and voting co-opted members.  The report also details the arrangements to ensure adherence to this process.  The Committee is asked to note the Regulations, endorse the need for all Members to review their potential need for dispensation, particularly well in advance of the budget consideration; and note that consideration of dispensation requests will in future appear as a Standard item on the Committee’s agenda and is likely to form a significant part of the next two agendas.  The Committee is also asked to note the likelihood of the need for urgent meetings to consider dispensation applications should there be a change in Members’ circumstances.

AGENDA

MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC TO NOTE

Under the law, the Cabinet is entitled to consider certain items in private.  Members of the public will be asked to leave the meeting when such items are discussed.

The Cabinet is recommended to consider the following reports in private on the grounds that they contain ‘exempt’ information as defined by the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985, as amended and consequently that the Cabinet makes the following resolution:-

“that the press and public be excluded during consideration of the following reports in accordance with the provisions of Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended, because they involve 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.<span lang=EN-GB style='q-size:10.0pt;mso

The Town Clerk submits a report proposing a forward programme of training and development for Members of the Standards Committee, Elected Members and officers of the Council to ensure that matters of probity and Standards of Conduct are embedded within the organisation.  The Committee is asked to comment on the proposed programme.

The Town Clerk submitted a report proposing a forward programme of training and development for Members of the Standards Committee, Elected Members and officers of the Council, to ensure that matters of probity and standards of conduct were embedded within the organisation.

Members agreed that the declaration of acceptance of office should not be done on election night but should be incorporated in the induction process for new Councillors.

It was suggested that the induction pack should include a list of forms that Councillors were allowed to sign, as a result of their office eg. passport applications.

RESOLVED:

That, including the comments above, the proposed programme of training and development as detailed in the report, be approved.

The Town Clerk submits a report which reviews the current role of the Standards Committee and the way in which its profile can be raised.  The Committee is asked to comment on the proposals in the report.

The Town Clerk submitted a report which reviewed the current role of the Standards Committee and ways in which its profile could be raised.  Members made the following comments:-

Agreed in principle with the idea of an Annual report to Council but noting that individual cases could not be discussed.

Further clarification was requested on the Audit role, as proposed, before a decision was taken on this.

The idea of a Standards Bulletin in a ‘question and answer’ format was supported.

Agreed that the Monitoring Officer’s report be submitted for information and comment.

RESOLVED:

                        That the Town Clerk take on board the above comments.

The Town Clerk will brief Members regarding the numbers and nature of complaints against Elected Members received since the adoption by the Council of the new National Code of Conduct and revised Political Conventions in November 2001.

It was agreed to take this item in the public session.  The Town Clerk tabled a suggested method for the recording of complaints.

RESOLVED:

                        That the proposals for the recording of complaints be approved.

The meeting ended at 7pm.

The meeting ended at 7pm.