Agenda item

At the Council meeting held on 28 June 2012, approval was given to new arrangements for dealing with Standards complaints against Members and co-opted Members of the Council, (including the City Mayor), in response to changes imposed by the Localism Act 2011.

Details of these arrangements are attached.  The Committee is recommended to note the new arrangements and consider any issues arising from them.

The Committee noted that, at the Council meeting held on 28 June 2012, approval had been given to new arrangements for dealing with Standards complaints against Members and co-opted Members of the Council, (including the City Mayor), in response to changes imposed by the Localism Act 2011,  (minute 13 referred.)  Details of these arrangements were presented to the Committee. 

The City Barrister and Head of Standards advised that, although some of the core elements of the new arrangements were derived from the Localism Act 2011, councils had had some freedom to agree arrangements to meet local needs.  For example, one significant criticism of the previous system had been that there was no filtering of complaints, so they all had to be submitted to a committee meeting.  Under this Council’s new arrangements, it was recognised that the most appropriate person to filter the complaints was the Head of Standards, working with the Independent Persons.

The Committee noted that the City Barrister and Head of Standards would submit a report to each Committee meeting giving feedback on complaints against Councillors reviewed and/or determined since the previous meeting and providing an update on progress with outstanding complaints against Councillors.

The City Barrister and Head of Standards reported that a few complaints had been received and processed since the new arrangements had been introduced.  This had led to a query from an Independent Person about how complaints should be dealt with if a complainant contacted an Independent Person directly and whether this contact would compromise that Independent Person’s role.  It was noted that this was an issue that was being discussed nationally and so would be monitored.

It was questioned whether the procedures enabled relevant complaints to be referred to the Police.  In reply, the City Barrister and Head of Standards confirmed that this would happen, advising that a key part of his role would be to refer complaints to either this Committee or other agencies as needed. 

In considering the arrangements, Members expressed the view that it was unfair that a recommendation that a Councillor who was not a member of a Group on the Council be removed from a committee would have to be considered by full Council, while such a recommendation for a member of a Group would be considered by that Group.  There also was the possibility that a member of a Group could want that recommendation considered by full Council, but they did not appear to have that option under these arrangements.  The City Barrister and Head of Standards advised that this situation had arisen because of the way that the law, and therefore the Council’s Constitution, had been drawn up.

In reply to questions, the City Barrister and Head of Standards confirmed that:-

·           A hearing committee could recommend that a Councillor apologised for their actions;

·           The withdrawal of facilities provided to a Member referred to privileges beyond the facilities needed by that Member to carry out their role as a Councillor, (for example, the removal of access to office accommodation);

·           The sanction of instructing a Councillor found to have breached the Code of Conduct to undergo training was no longer available; and

·           An Independent Person would be invited to attend all meetings of the Hearings Panel to advise on how to proceed, but that Panel could accept or decline that advice. 

RESOLVED:

1)    That the City Barrister and Head of Standards be asked to consider whether:

·           the Council can delegate the power to remove a member from a Committee when that member has been found to have breached the Code of Conduct; and

·           a sanction can be added to section 5 of the arrangements for dealing with standards complaints, (“Outcomes”), of a letter being sent a Councillor found to have breached the Code of Conduct inviting them to resign a committee position; and

2)    That the City Barrister and Head of Standards be asked to amend the flowchart appended to the arrangements for dealing with standards complaints to illustrate that the Independent Person will be invited to attend all meetings of the Hearings Panel, but that Panel can accept or decline their advice.