Agenda item

The Monitoring Officer to submit a report on the revised ‘Code’ and ‘Arrangements’ for dealing with complaints against Members and co-opted Members under the Localism Act 2011.

Members are asked to comment on the revised version of the ‘Code’ and ‘Arrangements’, prior to them being submitted for approval to the Council Meeting on 19 September 2013.

The Monitoring Officer submitted a report on the revised ‘Code’ and ‘Arrangements’ for dealing with complaints against Members and co-opted Members under the Localism Act 2011.

Members were asked to comment on the revised version of the ‘Code’ and ‘Arrangements’, prior to them being submitted for approval to the Council Meeting on 19 September 2013.

The Monitoring Officer outlined the changes to the Leicester City Council’s Code of Conduct for Members.  The Committee supported the proposed amendments and, following questions from Members of the Committee, the Monitoring Officer stated that:-

·         The Code would apply to members whenever they were acting in official capacity and this could include when they were outside of Leicester.

·         It might be inferred that the misuse of the Authority’s equipment was not covered under the Code of Conduct when a member was not acting on Council business (i.e. downloading inappropriate images onto a Council laptop in their private life).  However, there was law that the misuse of Council equipment brought the Member within the general jurisdiction of the Code.      

The Monitoring Officer outlined the proposed changes to the Arrangements for dealing with complaints against Members and co-opted Members under the Localism Act 2011.  In doing so, the Monitoring Officer referred to the recommendation stated in Minute No. 23 of the previous meeting and confirmed that it was not possible to implement the proposal to delegate the function of removing an ungrouped member to the Standards Committee to ensure parity of treatment between grouped and non-grouped members.   The Council could not delegate that particular function to the Standards Committee.  In practice this would mean that in instances where the Committee agreed that the sanction should be the removal of a member from a Council Committee; the Committee would need to contact the Group Whips in instances where appointments were the Whips had made the made the appointments of Grouped Members to a Committee.  Where the sanction involved a non-grouped member, then a report would have to be submitted to the Council recommending that the non-grouped member be removed from a Committee.

Members also noted that the Political Conventions had now been revised and would be submitted to the Council meeting in September for approval.

RESOLVED:-

1)    that the Code of Conduct for Members be approved subject to the following amendments:-

a)    Add ‘inside and outside the City Boundary’ to the note under paragraph 1 of the Code; and

b)    Delete ‘for political purposes’ at the end of paragraph 3 (h).

2)    that the ‘Arrangements for dealing with complaints against Members and co-opted Members under the Localism Act 2011- be approved subject to the following amendments:-

a)    Add at the end of the paragraph under D(1) ‘Where the Monitoring Officer lodges a complaint, it shall be made to the Standards Committee via the Deputy Monitoring Officer.’;

b)    Add ‘Standards Committee c/o the’ after ‘Complaints must be made to the’ in the first line under D(2);

c)    Add ‘on behalf of the Standards Committee’ at the end of the first paragraph under D(2);

d)    Add a new paragraph at the end of D(2) – ‘Complaints should be lodged promptly, and normally within 3 months of the alleged breach occurring, unless there are good reasons for the Monitoring Officer or Independent Person to accept a complaint lodged outside this period.’;

e)    Amend the second paragraph under D(4) to indicate the complaint will be sent to the subject Member within 5 days of the complaint being acknowledged, and add ‘or legal’ after ‘exceptional’ and before ‘reasons’ later in the paragraph; and

f)     Amend ‘15 working days’ to ‘5 working days’ in the second sentence the paragraph headed ‘Review of a Complaint’ under D(4).