Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence had been received from David Greggains and Rev. Peggy Jackson.

Members are asked to declare any interests in matters for consideration at the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 28 February 2007.

To approve the minutes of the meetings of the Standards Sub-Committee on 28 September 2006 and 16 April 2007.

1. The minutes of the meeting held on 28 February 2007 be received and approved and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

2. The minutes of the Standards Sub-Committee held on 28 September 2006 be received and approved and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

3. The minutes of the Standards Sub-Committee held on 16 April 2007 be received and approved and the Chair be authorised to sign them, subject to Janet Fraser, Steven Gould and Councillor King being recorded as having attended.

[The Committee noted a report on the Light Touch Ethical Audit would be coming to its next meeting. Copies of the Improvement and Development Agency’s (I&DeA) presentation to Councillors on the results of the Audit would be sent to the Committee’s new Members.

One of the I&DeA’s recommendations had been for the Committee to raise its profile and as part of this, the Chair was arranging meetings with all other Committee Chairs to discuss ethical issues.

Concerns were raised at the lack of an updated Officer Code of Conduct, although it was noted the Government had still not introduced the national regulations promised in the 2000 Act. The Council’s Human Resources department was keen to update the authority’s own Code. If so, the Committee was likely to be consulted before Cabinet approved it. As not all Members were clear about the difference in the rules of conduct for officers and Councillors, it was suggested this be addressed in future training.

Officers had explored the possibility of the Council being involved in one of the Standards Board’s pilot projects, but decided not to apply due to competing priorities.]

None.

Following the Committee’s recommendation at its previous meeting, Council approved the appointment of Mr Norman Buckley and Mr Steven Gould as new Independent Members on 6 March.

This is an opportunity for Mr Buckley and Mr Gould to introduce themselves briefly to the Committee.  

[The Committee’s new Independent Members briefly introduced themselves.]

This report draws attention to the new Model Code of Conduct issued by the Secretary of State which proposes significant changes to the Code of Conduct for Councillors and Members of Committees of all local authorities.

The report comments on the new Code and invites the Committee to make recommendations to the June Council meeting for a new Members’ Code of Conduct for this authority.

Report of the Head of Legal Services attached.

1. The Council be recommended to adopt the New Model Code of Conduct (excluding the words not relating to London Boroughs), as the Members’ Code of Conduct (replacing the existing Code) to take effect on 1 July 2007.

2. The Council be recommended to include, as a preamble to the Members’ Code of Conduct, the 10 General Principles of Public Life.

3. As part of forthcoming amendments to the Members’ Protocol, clarification be included of paragraph 4(a)(iv)(bb) of the Code to include as the Council’s requirements that advice be sought in advance from Legal Services on the application of the public interest test in each case prior to a disclosure.

4. All Councillors and Committee Members be notified of the need to complete new registrations of interests once the new Code took effect.

5. A copy of the revised Members’ Code of Conduct be provided to every Member of the Council or one of its Committees.

6. The Monitoring Officer arrange for the provision of a number of training sessions on the new Members’ Code of Conduct to be made available to all Members of the Council or its Committees, with the Committee’s expectation being every such Member would have attended this training before 1 October 2007.

7. Consequent changes to the Members’ Protocol, as set out in paragraph 3.14 of the report, be added to the Committee’s work programme (as a second priority after Member training).

8. A report on revisions to the Planning Protocol be submitted to the Committee’s July meeting.

[The Committee discussed the new Code, which included several changes not in the draft it had commented on in February. A number of elements had been relaxed, which the Committee welcomed, but it agreed guidance was now needed on natural justice, particularly in the amended protocols for quasi-judicial committees.

The Committee agreed it was essential to adopt the model Code recommended by the Government, as this was simpler for Members to understand. If any rules governing Member conduct needed to be tightened, this could be done via the authority’s protocols.

It was noted there was considerable pressure from Councillors for revisions to be made to the Planning Protocol. The Committee agreed work should start immediately, with a report to be submitted to itself and the Planning Committee in July. 

The Code and the Planning Protocol might be inconsistent temporarily, whilst amendments to the latter were being made. With particular reference to the Tables at the end of the Planning Protocol, the Head of Legal Services would now write to all Councillors explaining relevant human rights issues and how to interpret those Tables until revisions of the Protocol were complete.

The Committee debated the best way to train Councillors in the Code. The Member Development Group was meeting in mid-June to discuss with new Councillors what they thought of all training provided since May 2006. As chair of the Group, Councillor Stanier suggested it could also consider what style of training on the new Code Members would find  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

As agreed at the last meeting, this item enables members of the Committee to provide any relevant feedback in relation to meetings which they have attended as observers since the last meeting.

The verbal reports be noted.

[Independent Members had attended a variety of meetings in the past few months, including an Area Consultation Meeting, Planning, Cabinet and Council. It was stressed attendance at such meetings was done as informal observers, rather than representing the Standards Committee itself.]

The Head of Legal Services will provide a verbal update to the Committee on other recent standards developments not covered elsewhere in the agenda.

The verbal update be noted.

[The Head of Legal Services informed the Committee of an important, but controversial, recent judgement regarding Members of Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council. He would send a report on the judgement to all Members of the Committee and officers involved with planning and standards issues.]