There were no apologies.

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

No declarations of interest were made.

To approve the minutes of

a) the Standards Committee meeting held on 11 November 2010 attached;

b) the Standards Assessment Sub-committee meeting held on 11 November 2010 attached;

d) the Standards Review Sub-Committee held on 12 January 2010;

attached.

RESOLVED:

1. That the Minutes of the meeting of the Standards Committee held on 11 November 2010 be received and approved and the Chairman be authorised to sign them, subject to the following amendments,
   1. Minute 34, resolution 3 – Delete ‘Elengorn’ and insert ‘Linnette’
   2. Minute 36, paragraph 1 – Delete ‘chaired’ and insert ‘conducted’.

2. That the Minutes of the meeting of the Standards Assessment Sub-Committee held on 11 November 2010 be received and approved and the Chairman be authorised to sign them.

3. That the Minutes of the meeting of the Standards Review Sub-Committee held on 12 January 2011 be received and approved and the Chairman be authorised to sign them

In relation to a query on the content of the Decision notice, the Monitoring Officer explained that this was based on guidance from Standards for England. 

There were none.

The Monitoring Officer will provide a verbal update on any developments relating to the future of the Standards Regime.

The Monitoring Officer advised the Committee that the Localism Bill had been published.  Although there was no requirement to have a committee to monitor conduct, there would be a duty on an authority to maintain good conduct.  The mechanics of how a council achieved this aim would be an internal matter.  Failure to declare interests would become a criminal offence.  It was unlikely that an Act would be in place before 2012.  In the meantime this committee maintained its current duties.  However the Secretary of State had indicated that he did not expect to see the sanction of suspension used as under any new regime the only power would be to censure a councillor.

In response to questions the Monitoring Officer highlighted the following points,

Ø      Suspension was still an option for this committee as the law had not changed.  The Secretary of State had indicated that he did not expect this sanction to be used.

Ø      A reference to Standards for England could only be considered if the Committee was conflicted.  Standards for England would refer matters back to the local committee if it felt that it was being used inappropriately.

Ø      When the Bill passed into Law, there would be a period to allow councils to develop what would work best in their Authority.

This report provides further guidance in relation to personal and personal and prejudicial interests.

Report of the Monitoring Officer attached.

The Monitoring Officer introduced her report.  In discussion, the Committee indicated that the flowchart was a useful tool and suggested minor amendments.  Further training for planning committee members on the issue of interests and pre-determination were considered to be a valuable refresh as members of that committee came to the end of their first year of working together.

RESOLVED:

1. That the additional guidance provided in the report be noted.

2. That the Monitoring Officer update the flowchart in the light of the Committee’s comments.

3. That a copy of the updated flowchart be sent to Members of the Planning Committee.

4. That training be provided for members of the Planning Committee on the issues of interests and pre-determination.

This report gives details of proposed improvements to the website pages relating to the standards process.

Report of the Monitoring Officer attached.

The Committee considered the example webpages and made a number of suggestions and amendments.  While the Committee was mindful of the costs in time spent, Officers were asked to incorporate these changes where possible.

RESOLVED:

1. That the suggested amendments be incorporated into the example webpages, where possible, and that these be published on the Council’s website.

This report provides a review of the Member Development programme for 2010.

Report of the Head of Democratic Services attached.

RESOLVED:

1. That the report be noted.

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.

There were no reports from committee members.

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

Report of the Head of Democratic Services attached.

The Chairman informed the Committee that in the light of the proposed national referendum on the alternative vote system expected to be held on 5^th May 2011, the scheduled meeting of the Standards Committee for that date would be cancelled.  The committee would next meet in the new municipal year.

The Committee discussed its work programme and considered that the review of the planning protocol was of particular interest.

RESOLVED:

1. That the work programme be noted.
2. That the next meeting of the Standards Committee would take place after the Annual Meeting of Council on a date to be agreed.