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 to be discussed and/or indicate that Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applied to them.

No declarations were made.

The minutes of  the meeting of the Standards Committee held on 23 June 2003 are attached and the Committee is asked to approve them as a correct record.

RESOLVED:

that the Minutes of the meeting held on 23 June 2003, as entered in the Minute Book on pages 1 to 5 inclusive, copies of which had been circulated to Members, be received, taken as read and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

The Service Director (Democratic Services) submits a report that sets out a procedure for adoption for dealing with completed Ethical Standards officer investigation reports which have been referred to the Monitoring Officer for Standards Committee consideration.

The Corporate Director of Resources, Access and Diversity submitted a revised report that set out a replacement procedure for dealing with completed Ethical Standards officer investigation reports that were referred to the Monitoring Officer for Standards Committee consideration. It was reported that, at present, we did not have the powers to deal with investigations locally but that legislation was expected to be in place later in the year.

Members gave consideration to the procedure appended to the report and concerns were expressed regarding the process whereby referrals might be heard in public when there was a need to protect privacy. Rule 14 should be amended to clarify that it was necessary to strike a balance.

Members drew attention to Rule 7 of the procedure and sought assurances that, should another officer, other than the Town Clerk, be appointed to undertake the role of the Standards Committee Advisor and when the Committee is considering a complaint against a Council member, that consideration may need to be given to the separate appointment of a legal adviser.

RESOLVED:

i)                    that the guidance produced by the Standards Board for England, titled “ Standards Committee determinations – Guidance for monitoring officers and Standards Committees”, be noted.

ii)                  that, subject to the amendment of Rules 7 and 14, referred to above, that the detailed procedure for dealing with completed Ethical Standards Officers investigations reports, which have been referred to the Monitoring Officer for Standards Committee consideration, circulated at the meeting as the replacement Appendix A to the Supporting Information to the report, be adopted.

(Note: A copy of the revised report is appended to the Minutes.)                                                                                                                              

The Town Clerk to brief Members on the current number and nature of complaints against Elected Members.

The Town Clerk submitted a table, setting out chronologically the number and nature of complaints received against Elected Members.

The Committee noted that no new cases had been reported since the last meeting of the Committee and, regarding the one current case, reported at the last meeting, there was still no Final Report from the Standards Board.

RESOLVED:

                        that the report be noted.

The Chair declared the meeting closed at 6.13 pm.