Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence and notices of appointment of Substitute Members (if any).

Apologies were received from Cllrs: L D Taylor, A White, A Wilce and A Wyer

Cllr A White was substituted by Cllr L J Cruwys, Cllr A Wilce was substituted by Cllr R M Deed and Cllr Wyer was substituted by Cllr Mrs I Hill.

To receive any questions relating to items on the Agenda from members of the public and replies thereto.

Note:   A maximum of 30 minutes is allowed for this item.

There were no members of the public present.

Councillors are reminded of the requirement to declare any interest, including the type of interest, and reason for that interest, either at this stage of the meeting or as soon as they become aware of that interest.

Members were reminded of the need to make declarations of interest when necessary.

Members to consider whether to approve the minutes as a correct record of the meeting held on 9 October 2019.

The minutes of the last meeting were approved as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any announcements the Chairman of the Committee may wish to make.

The Chairman reminded members that at the last meeting the committee had resolved that the Monitoring Officer issue a final warning to those councillors who had not returned their Register of Interest forms and that if they failed to comply then the police would be informed. He informed those present that the majority of those contacted had rectified the situation with the exception of 2 who were being investigated by the police.

To consider the following recommendation from the Cabinet:

The Standards Committee be asked to recommend to Council that the changes to the current arrangements set out in part 3 of this report be agreed and the Constitution amended accordingly and the Monitoring Officer be asked to draft the changes to the Constitution required to implement those changes for consideration by the Standards Committee. (Original report to Cabinet attached)

The Committee had been requested to consider the following recommendation from the Cabinet:

The Standards Committee be asked to recommend to Council that the changes to the current arrangements set out in part 3 of the report be agreed and the Constitution amended accordingly and that the Monitoring Officer be asked to draft the changes to the Constitution required to implement those changes for consideration by the Standards Committee.

The Committee had before it the original report* of the Head of Legal (Monitoring Officer) to the Cabinet meeting (19 December 2019), a **paper outlining proposed changes to Cabinet Procedure Rules and Access to Information Rules.

The Head of Legal (Monitoring Officer) highlighted the options within the Cabinet report and the tracked changes documents which identified how those changes would translate into the constitution.

Consideration was given to:

·         The Governance review taking place

·         The option for the Cabinet to self-refer to the Council for a view on an issue before a decision was taken by the Cabinet

·         Pre-decision scrutiny

·         Whether reports to Cabinet should include a section setting out whether the decision was in the Budget and the Policy Framework which would clearly identify whether a decision was one to be made by the Cabinet or to be taken by Full Council

It was therefore

To consider the notes from the Standards Working Group meeting held on 21 January 2020.

The Committee had before it and NOTED the * notes of the recent Standards Working Group.

The Chairman informed the meeting that the working group had met on 21 January to consider whether there was a need for a policy on the use of social media by members at the current time. It had been agreed that no further action be taken at the current time due to actions being taken nationally with regard to a proposed new model code of conduct.

Note:  *Notes previously circulated copy attached to minutes.

To receive an update from the Monitoring Officer with regard to any on-going complaints being dealt with.  During the discussion it may be necessary to consider passing the following resolution to protect the Members of District, Town and Parish Council’s being discussed.

During discussion of this item it may be necessary to pass the following resolution to exclude the press and public having reflected on Article 12 12.02(d) (a presumption in favour of openness) of the Constitution. This decision may be required because consideration of this matter in public may disclose information falling within one of the descriptions of exempt information in Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972. The Committee will need to decide whether, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption, outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION ACT – EXCLUSION OF THE PRESS AND PUBLIC

RECOMMENDED that under section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the next item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, namely information relating to an individual

The Head of Legal (Monitoring Officer) provided an update regarding the number of complaints received since the previous meeting.

Members to consider items for the next meeting.

It was AGREED that the following be considered at a future meeting of the committee:

·         Update from the Governance Working Group

·         Complaints update

·         The LGA were preparing a draft model Code of Conduct which would be considered when it was available

·         Update on the outcome of the Register of Interests issue.