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

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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. -2-
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:- -3-
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Minutes - 4th March, 2010 - Meetings, agendas, and minutes

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