Minutes - 4th March, 2010 - Meetings, agendas, and minutes

REPORT 4
STANDARDS COMMITTEE
4 th March, 2010
Members Present:-
City Council Members
Councillor D. Arrowsmith
Councillor J. Gazey
Councillor Mulhall
Independent Members
G. Allen
D. Delieu
D. Jackson
A. Patel
B. Ray (Deputy Chair)
J. Willetts (Chair)
Parish Councillors
D. Lilly
B. Shakespeare
Employees Present:-
Apologies:-
H. Abraham (Assistant Director (Democratic Services))
C. Forde (Council Solicitor/Assistant Director (Legal Services))
C. Goodwin (Finance and Legal Services Directorate)
J. McLellan (Customer and Workforce Services Directorate)
C. Edden
As this was the last meeting of the current municipal year, the Chair took the
opportunity to thank Members of the Committee and officers for their support and
commitment during the last year.
Christine Goodwin
The Chair welcomed Christine Goodwin, Senior Lawyer, to her first meeting of the
Committee.
44. Minutes
record.
The Minutes of the meeting held on the 4 th February, 2010, were signed as a true
45. Declarations of Interest
Bill Shakespeare declared a personal interest in the matter the subject of Minute
51/09 below, headed "Member training", he remained in the meeting during the
consideration of this issue.
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46. Exclusion of Press and Public
RESOLVED that, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972,
the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the item of business referred
to in Minute 51/09 below relating to "Member Training" on the grounds that that item
involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1, 2
and 7C of Part 1 of Schedule 12a to that Act.
47. Standards for England – Annual Return 2010
The Committee considered a report of the Monitoring Officer which informed
Members of the requirement to submit an Annual Return to Standards for England for
2010. This would be the second year that Standards for England had required an Annual
Return to be submitted.
The purpose of the Annual Return was to provide Standards for England with
sufficient information that will enable them to ascertain the level of effectiveness of each
local authority's Standards Committee. The proposed sections of the Annual Return are
divided into 5 parts and cover the subjects of communication, influence, training and
support, investigations and relationships with Parish and Town Councils.
In addition, the responses to questions would provide Standards for England with
an indication as to the Committee's pro-activeness in relation to promoting and supporting
ethical governance and a wider understanding of what that entails in addition to the
Member Code of Conduct Framework.
It was expected that Standards for England would produce statistics and
information following the collation of all local authority responses to the Annual Return for
wider dissemination in due course.
It was noted that the questions in the Annual Return attached to the report were
proposed and may vary slightly to the actual questions that would be required to be
completed by the Council. However, in the main, the questions were expected to be the
same or very similar.
The Committee discussed the various parts and questions within the Annual
Return. Some issues had already been identified within the future work programme. It
was anticipated that formal notification would be received by the Monitoring Officer around
the second week of March 2010 and that the Annual Return was to be completed and
submitted to Standards for England. A final copy of the Annual Return would be circulated
to the Committee.
RESOLVED that authority be delegated to the Chair (or in their absence the
Deputy Chair) of Standards Committee in liaison with the Monitoring Officer to
finalise the responses to the questions for the Annual Return 2010.
48. Breach of Member Code of Conduct – A. Matchet
Further to Minute 32/09, the Committee considered a report of the Monitoring
Officer which provided an update on action undertaken following the last Committee
meeting held on the 4 th February, 2010.
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The Committee were asked to consider the position to date and to delegate
authority to the Monitoring Officer to write to the complainant to confirm that no apology
had been received. In addition the Committee were invited to discuss any potential future
options available.
The Committee noted that should a complaint be received that A. Matchet had not
provided a letter of apology then that would need to be considered afresh by Standards
Committee.
RESOLVED that authority be delegated to the Monitoring Officer to write to
the complainant to confirm that no letter of apology had been received.
49. 2009 Annual Assembly of Standards Committees - 12 th -13 th October
The Committee considered a report by Anil Patel, Independent Member which
provided details of the above conference which he attended with Bill Shakespeare, David
Lilly and Christine Forde (Monitoring Officer).
The assembly comprised various discussion forums, plenary sessions, workshops
and fringe events which covered the following topics:
Strategic issues for ethical governance
Building effective Standards Committees
Getting to grips with political parties
The Assembly was an opportunity for delegates to share good practice examples
and to talk through experiences of managing the practicalities of the local standards
framework. Examples were also given as to how to raise the profile of the Standards
Committee within a local authority.
RESOLVED:-
(1) that the report be noted and that the Committee record their thanks
and appreciation for the comprehensive report.
(2) that Anil Patel and David Jackson be authorised on behalf of the
Committee to meet with the Assistant Director (Democratic Services),
to consider how to raise the profile of the Standards Committee.
50. Work Programme
Further to Minute 23/09, the Committee considered a joint report detailing a formal
work programme for the forthcoming 2010/2011 municipal year. The appendix to the
report detailed a proposed work programme. It was anticipated that the work programme
would be implemented from June 2010 and a full timetable/forward programme issued and
updated as a standing item for each meeting.
The Committee noted that any outstanding issues would be incorporated in the
work programme.
RESOLVED:-
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(1) that the proposed work programme be approved
(2) that the Assistant Director (Democratic Services) be requested to
programme 7 meetings of the Committee for the next municipal year,
and that 2 of those meetings be included as "if necessary".
(3) that the programme be monitored and reviewed as necessary.
51. Member Training
The Committee considered a report of the Monitoring Officer which provided
details of the action taken in response to a direction received from the Assessment Sub-
Committee of the Standards Committee.
RESOLVED:-
(1) That the Committee agreed that the action specified in the report was
satisfactory to comply with the Assessment Sub-Committee's
direction.
(2) That the Monitoring Officer be authorised to provide written notice to
the Member the subject of the direction and the complainant that the
Standards Committee was satisfied with the action taken.
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