Apologies had been received from Mr Buckley, Ms Fraser and Mr Gould.

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

a)      the Standards Committee meeting held on 30 November 2009;

attached

b)      the Standards Hearing Sub-Committee held on 23 November 2009;

c)      the Standards Hearing Sub-Committee held on 25 January 2010;

to follow

a)      The Minutes of the Standards Committee meeting held on 30 November 2010 be received and approved and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

b)      The Minutes of the Standards Hearing Sub-Committee meeting held on 23 November 2010 be received and approved and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

c)      The Minutes of the Standards Hearing Sub-Committee meeting held on 25 January 2010 be received and approved and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

In relation to minute 35 and the IT Protocol issue, the Chair reported that a new system and procedure for IT provision to Members was likely to be agreed and that Officers were making good progress on discussing this with the Group Leaders.

None.

This report seeks the views of the Standards Committee for the proposed Standards training included in the Member Development Programme 2010. 

Report of the Member Services Manager attached.

1.      That the proposed Standards training for the Member Development Programme 2010 be noted. 

The Member Services Manager introduced the report and invited comment from the Committee.  It was noted that the Member Training Steering Group had been leading on developing the programme rather than it being an officer-driven exercise.  Analysis had been undertaken of views expressed by Members of their experience of the 2006 programme and changes made in the approach for 2010.  The Committee indicated that it welcomed the potential use of other Members to assist with training new Members; that the use of an external perspective through the use of outside trainers was helpful; that integrating standards and conduct issues into other training such as for planning committees was useful.  Training of new Independent Members of the Standards Committee was raised as an issue for consideration and it was reported that online training for Members was also being examined.

This report provides the Committee with an updated version of the Licensing and Gambling Acts Protocol.

Report of the Head of Democratic Services attached.

1.      That the revised Licensing and Gambling Acts Protocol be adopted and recommended for inclusion in the Council’s Constitution.

The Licensing and Litigation Solicitor introduced the report and updated Licensing Protocol.  Amendments had been made as a result of changes in statute and case law.

Following the decision made at the November meeting of the Standards Committee, this report proposes the adoption of a checklist of criteria for the initial assessment of complaints of alleged breaches of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

1. That the report be noted.
2. That Version 2 of the proposed Criteria be amended in the light of the Committee’s discussion and a draft circulated for adoption.

The committee expressed a preference for Version 2 of the proposed criteria as it considered that additional guidance should be incorporated rather than using a simple tick-box format.  It was also considered that Version 2 would dovetail with information provided to members of the public.

In discussion, the committee agreed that further clarity was needed on jurisdiction in general and in particular in a case where a complaint was made about a councillor who was not re-elected.  Point 4 on ‘complexity’ needed elaboration to cite the appropriateness of alternative fora.  In this point, reference to the police was not needed but court proceedings should be included and another council.  Clarity was requested on whether the Committee could refuse to consider a complaint and when it was appropriate to refer to Standards for England.

Ms Fraser was thanked for her work on the criteria.

This report proposes the adoption of a Protocol on Sanctions for breach of the council’s code of conduct for members.

Report of the Head of Democratic Services attached.

1. That Appendix A be adopted for use as a checklist in determining sanctions.
2. That
   1. further guidance be produced on the criteria that might impact on making the decision for application of a particular sanction
   2. this guidance be developed in light of it being used as a training tool
   3. this guidance be circulated as a draft and authorisation to agree the final version be delegated to the Chair.

The Committee considered Appendix A as drafted to be a useful starting point but it was envisaged that this should be developed into a document to assist Members of hearing sub-committees to develop their thinking in applying appropriate sanctions.  Such an approach was expected to assist Members and complainants in their understanding of the Hearings process and possible outcomes.  The Committee also discussed making such a document or providing such information to all Members and Members of the Public so that there was a clear understanding of the potential consequences of making a complaint.

The Committee will receive an update on progress with the revisions.

1. That the Guidance be finalised by the Monitoring Officer and authority be delegated to the Chair to authorise the document for presentation to Council.

The Committee considered that Section 12 on complaints against councillors needed to be drafted and approved by the chief Executive and with the agreement of the Group Leaders.  With the previous decision to retain the Planning and Licensing Protocols it was considered that the draft on legal obligations could be incorporated into the main Guidance.  The committee considered that it would be useful if procedures for the new IT arrangements could include a warning that misuse of IT systems and resources could be considered a breach of the code.

This report proposes the terms of reference for a Protocol Complaints Sub-Committee.

Report of the Head of Democratic Services attached.

1. That, further to incorporation of the committee’s amendmentsthe Terms of Reference for the Protocol Complaints Sub-Committee be adopted, and that these be recommended for inclusion in the council’s constitution for the new municipal year.
2. That any consequential amendments be made to the Terms of Reference for Hearing Sub-committees.

The Committee discussed the proposed Terms of Reference and suggested that the following be included,

Ø      A term to clarify that the sub-committee may adopt any appropriate procedure, adjourn as it sees fit and may refer for further information.

Ø      Listing of additional sanctions – censure, reference to Leader of Political group for further action, requirement to attend on a named person for advice, note that failure to act on the sanctions prescribed might lead to other consequences

Ø      Clarity that the elected Member indicated in Terms 2 and 3 should be a Member of the Standards committee and not of the authority in general.

This report draws attention to the latest Bulletin issued by the Standards for England.

Report of the Head of Legal and Electoral Services attached.

1. That the contents of the Bulletin be noted.

The Monitoring Officer advised that the appeal body was no longer the Appeal Panel for England but the first tier Tribunal, part of the National Tribunal Service.  Although Membership was the same as before, there were regulations in place now and the power to award costs.

This item enables members of the Committee to provide any relevant

feedback in relation to the meetings that they have attended as observers

since the last meeting.

The chair reported that she and other members of the committee had attended a seminar at the Greater London Authority in which the recent experience of Standards committees was discussed.  Concerns were raised at the cost of local investigations, but change to local investigation was supported.  It was noted that some authorities were working jointly with shared training, reciprocal investigations and arrangements for assessment sub-committees.

The Committee’s work programme sets out the planned topics for the year.

Report of the Head of Democratic Services attached.

1. That the work programme be noted and updated.

The committee asked for the following items to be added to the work programme for the new municipal year,

Ø      Recruitment of new independent Members (it was noted that there would also be recruitment of co-opted Members for Scrutiny)

Ø      Plan training for new Independent Members

Ø      Webpages for all Standards Members to be investigated

Ø      Improved gateway on public website for complaints about breaches of the code of conduct.

The Monitoring Officer advised that the National Member Code of conduct and officer code of conduct would not be laid before Parliament before the end of the current session.

To decide, having regard to the particular nature of the business to be transacted, whether or not to exclude the Press and Public during consideration of the following items on the grounds that they are likely to disclose exempt information by virtue of category     , as defined in Access to Information Procedure Rule 10.4.

Having regard to the particular nature of the business to be transacted, the press and public be excluded during consideration of the following item on the grounds that they were likely to disclose exempt information by virtue of paragraph 5 as defined in Access to Information Rule 10.4.

1. That no action be taken on correspondence received from the First Tier Tribunal.

The Committee discussed a letter received from the First Tier Tribunal.