Agenda and minutes

Councillor Fowler read out a prepared statement regarding the public perception of the Standards Committee. Recent high profile cases were seen to have left the Committee – and the Council – with a tarnished reputation and a resultant diminished level of respect, which he felt was both important and worrying. There was seen to be a lack transparency when dealing with standards-related matters. During his years of service on this Committee, proceedings seemed to have degenerated from open discussion of any issues to the current situation where the Committee appeared to simply rubber-stamp decisions which had already been taken by the Monitoring Officer and Independent Person (MO & IP). The fact that the Parish Representatives and Independent Members no longer had a vote on the Committee was also seen as a retrograde step and Councillor Fowler now considered the Standards Committee to be ‘not fit for purpose’.

Meeting held on Friday 1^st July 2016

RESOLVED – That the Minutes of the Meeting held on 1^st July 2016 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

·         Disclosable Pecuniary Interest;

·         Other interests.

There were no declarations made.

Linden Vernon introduced the report to members which gave an overview of the issues considered by the Standards Committee during 2015/16 which included:-

·         An introductory Bite-size Briefing;

·         Monitoring complaints received regarding alleged breaches of the Code of Conduct;

·         The Annual Letter received from the Local Government Ombudsman;

·         An annual review of Councillor development;

·         A review of the Monitoring Officer Protocol.

The report also confirmed the role of the Committee under the Council’s Constitution (attached as Appendix A to the report) and the membership of the Committee.

RESOLVED – That the report be NOTED.

Mark Trillo addressed the Committee, confirming that 13 new enquiries or complaints had been received by the Ombudsman regarding the Council. Of these, 2 were investigated but not upheld, 5 were closed after initial enquiries and 6 were referred back to the District Council for local resolution. This compared to 10 new enquiries or complaints having been received in 2014/15.

The Ombudsman’s letter was attached to the report, together with further details of the 13 instances referred to above. It was notable that the small number of complaints reaching the Ombudsman was set against the background of 258 complaints having been received by the Council in the same period, illustrating the strength of the process which was in place to deal with complaints promptly and appropriately.

RESOLVED – That the content of the Ombudsman’s Annual Letter be NOTED.

The Chair to move:-

"That pursuant to Section 100A(2) and (4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or nature of the proceedings whereby it is likely that exempt information as defined in Section 100A (3) of the Act would be disclosed to the public in breach of the obligation of confidence or exempt information as defined in Section 100I (1) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act would be disclosed to the public by virtue of the paragraphs indicated."

RESOLVED – That pursuant to Section 100A (2) and (4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings whereby it is likely that confidential information as defined in Section 100A (3) of the Act would be disclosed to the public in breach of the obligation of confidence or exempt information as defined in Section 100i (1) of Part 1 of Schedule 12AA of the Act would be disclosed to the public by virtue of the Paragraphs indicated.

(Paragraph 2 – Information likely to reveal the identity of an individual and Paragraph 5 – Maintenance of legal professional Privilege)

Meeting held on Friday 1^st July 2016

(Paragraph 2 – Information likely to reveal the identity of an individual and Paragraph 5 – Maintenance of legal professional privilege.)

The Committee approved the Exempt Minutes of the meeting held on 1^st July 2016.

(Paragraph 2 – Information likely to reveal the identity of an individual and Paragraph 5 – Maintenance of legal professional Privilege)

(Paragraph 2 – Information likely to reveal the identity of an individual and Paragraph 5 – Maintenance of legal professional privilege)

Members noted the contents of a report regarding complaints made under the Code of Conduct.