Agenda, decisions and minutes

The Chair welcomed the new Head of Democratic Services, Carol Russell.  

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Mrs Joan Geddes (Parish Council Member) and Reverend John Cree (Independent Member).  The Committee sent their best wishes to Reverend Cree.

Members are reminded of their responsibility to declare any personal interest in respect of matters contained in this agenda. If the interest arises only as result of your membership of another public body or one to which you have been appointed by the Council then you only need to declare it if you intend to speak.

If the personal interest is a prejudicial interest, you must withdraw from the meeting. Normally you should leave the room before the business starts to be discussed. You do, however, have the same right to speak as a member of the public and may remain in the room to enable you to exercise that right and then leave immediately. In either case you must not seek to improperly influence a decision on the matter.

There were no declarations of interest by Members relating to the items on the agenda.

To confirm as a correct the minutes of the meeting of the Standards Committee held on 30 November 2007 (enclosed). 

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meetings of the Standards Committee held on 30 November 2007 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Committee noted that the two Parish Council’s discussed at the last meeting had now confirmed their adoption of the revised code of conduct. 

To consider and give comments on the enclosed consultation paper from the Department for Communities and Local Government. 

The paper seeks views on the detailed arrangements for putting into effect the orders and regulations to provide a revised more locally-based ethical regime for the conduct of local councillors in England.

Particular questions to be considered are summarised at Annex A to the paper and comments are to be submitted to the Department for Communities and Local Government by Friday 15 February 2008.

To feed the comments made by the Committee to DCLG by Friday 15 February 2008.

The Committee considered the consultation paper from the Department for Communities and Local Government enclosed with the agenda.  The paper sought views on the detailed arrangements for putting into effect the orders and regulations to provide a revised more locally-based ethical regime for the conduct of local Councillors in England.

Q1. Does our proposal to prohibit a member who has been involved in a decision on the assessment of an allegation from reviewing any subsequent request to review that decision to take no action (but for such a member not to be prohibited necessarily from taking part in any subsequent determination hearing), provide an appropriate balance between the need to avoid conflicts of interest and ensure a proportionate approach?  Would a requirement to perform the functions of initial assessment, review of a decision to take no action, and subsequent hearing, by sub-committees be workable?

Yes, it provides an appropriate balance.  The three sub-committees would be workable on that basis.  The Committee though was strongly of the view that the Guidance should support Monitoring Officers taking a proactive approach to liaising with complainants and Members to see whether complaints can, in appropriate cases, be resolved without being referred to the Committee.

Q2. Where an allegation is made to more than one standards committee, is it appropriate for decisions on which standards committee should deal with it to be a matter for agreement between standards committees?  Do you agree that it is neither necessary nor desirable to provide for any adjudication role for the Standards Board?

It is not clear how practically two standards committees would go about reaching such an agreement - particularly in a more difficult case.  Inevitably there would be delay if each Committee has to meet to consider the view of the other.  The alternative would be to attempt to hold separate meetings simultaneously in a single venue. It may well be more practical for the decision to be delegated to the Monitoring Officers involved.  Alternatively it might be that cases involving dual hatted Members would be best retained by the Standards Board for filter and allocation.

Q3. Are you content with our proposal that the timescale for making initial decisions should be a matter for guidance by the Standards Board, rather than for the imposition of a statutory time limit?

The Committee agreed that this should be a matter for guidance and agreed that the aim should be to make decisions as quickly as possible with 20 working days generally being a reasonable target.  However at certain times, e.g. elections it would be difficult to meet this target and that should be acknowledged in the Guidance.  It would be preferable not to have a statutory time limit. 

Q4.  Do you agree that the sort of circumstances we have identified would justify a standards committee being relieved of the obligation to provide a summary of the allegation at the time the initial assessment is made?  Are there any other circumstances which you think would also justify the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To consider the arrangements for Chorley arising from the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007. 

That the number of independent and parish members on the Committee be increased. 

The Committee considered the arrangements for Chorley arising from the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007. 

RESOLVED – That the number of independent and parish members on the Committee be increased. 

To consider the enclosed invitation to the Lancashire Standards Conference.  

That members of the Committee and relevant officers attend the Conference and feed back to the next meeting. 

The Committee noted that the Lancashire Standards Conference would be held on 31 March at Woodlands Conference Centre, Chorley.  All members of the Committee were invited to the event with the main issue on the agenda being the potential for joint working across the authorities in Lancashire.  Members would confirm their attendance to the Democratic Services Officer. 

RESOLVED – That members of the Committee and relevant officers attend the Conference and feed back to the next meeting. 

Members of the Committee will give feedback on their visits to Parish Councils. 

That the update be noted. 

Members updated the Committee on visits to Parish Councils and noted that most of the visits were planned for the next few months.  There was a query in relation to Anglezarke Parish Council that would be investigated by the Monitoring Officer.  

RESOLVED – That the update be noted. 

The Monitoring Officer will present a verbal update.

1.             That the update be noted,

2.             That copies of the flow chart on interests from the “ethical decision-making” be sent to the Standards Committee mentors to be distributed to their respective Parish Councils. 

Officers advised that the two Parish Council’s who hadn’t notified the Council that the revised code of conduct had been adopted had been chased up, along with outstanding financial and other interests forms and confirmation of the names of parish councillors. 

A training session was held on 14 January entitled “ethical decision making”.  The handouts were sent to Members who didn’t attend and the presentation had been uploaded to the loop and sent to all Parish Council clerks.  Several clerks have been in contact since to request the presentation electronically. 

RESOLVED –

1.             That the update be noted,

2.             That copies of the flow chart on interests from the “ethical decision-making” be sent to the Standards Committee mentors to be distributed to their respective Parish Councils. 

The Monitoring Officer will present a verbal update.

2. 

2. 

The Monitoring Officer will present a verbal update.

1.  

1.

The Monitoring Officer will present a verbal update.

The Standards Board were satisfied with the training undertaken in respect of the determination hearing held in March 2007. 

The Standards Board were satisfied with the training undertaken in respect of the determination hearing held in March 2007. 

The Monitoring Officer will present a verbal update.

This was taken as item five on the agenda. 

This was taken as item five on the agenda. 

The Committee will consider the Work Programme for 2008 (enclosed). 

That the work programme be noted.

The Committee considered the work programme and noted there was a need to be flexible with the work programme until the Regulations were published. 

RESOLVED – That the work programme be noted.

To confirm the date of the next meeting.   

The meeting scheduled for 6 March 2008 had been cancelled.  The meeting would be held on 28 March 2008 at 10.00am.