Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Lewis (for whom Councillor Graham was substituting) and Councillor Riley.

To approve the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 2 June 2010 (attached)

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 2 June 2010 be taken as a true record.

To note any declarations of interest in any matter before the Committee

There were no declarations of interest

To consider and update the Committee’s Work Programme

The Committee’s Work Programme for the remainder of 2010/11 was noted.

To note a letter from the Chairman of Standards for England (attached)

The contents of the letter from the Chair of Standards for Standards for England, Dr Robert Chilton, sent to all Standards Committee Chairmen detailing the Government’s proposals for the abolition of the Standards Board regime was noted. As yet detailed proposals were still awaited but it was noted that the latest edition of ‘The Bulletin’ gave an indicative timetable for final closure of Standards for England of between December 2011 and March 2012.

To note the latest publication from Standards for England (none published since the last meeting)

The latest edition of ‘The Bulletin’ was noted.

To review the process for the initial assessment of complaints against Members.

The Committee reviewed the process for the initial assessment of complaints against Members by the Assessment and Review Sub-Committees. The guidance contained in the Constitution was noted and Members were reminded that, once the sub-committee had determined that, if proven, a complaint would be a breach of the Code of Conduct, it then would apply a number of further tests to the complaint which ultimately would result in one of three options:

Ø      referral of the complaint to the Monitoring Officer of the authority concerned, which under section 57A(3) of the Local Government Act 2000, as amended, might be another authority;

Ø      referral of the complaint to the Standards for England (SE) where issues in a case, or public interest considerations, made it difficult for the Council to deal with the case fairly and speedily;

Ø      no action should be taken in respect of the complaint.

To note the summary of complaints (attached)

This item was discussed in Part II without the press or public present as it contained confidential information as defined in the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985.

The Committee noted details of all the complaints made against Members to date. The two most recent complaints were highlighted and it was agreed that future reports to the Committee would only include the last six months statistics.