Agenda and draft minutes

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

Apologies were received from: Cllr R M Deed who was substituted by Cllr D J Knowles, Cllr L D Taylor and R Jeanes (Independent Person).

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 questions raised by members of the public present in the meeting.

To consider whether to approve the minutes as a correct record of the meeting held on 13 October 2021.

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

To record any interests on agenda matters.

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

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

The Chairman had no announcements to make.

To receive a report of the Monitoring Officer considering a review of the Council’s Procedure Rules.

The Committee had before it a *report of the District Solicitor and Monitoring Officer considering a review of the Council’s Procedure Rules.

The officer outlined the contents of the report which proposed the formation of a Task and Finish Group to consider amendments to the Procedure Rules and highlighted changes to the Standards Complaint Criteria which had previously been highlighted by the Independent Person.

Discussion took place with regard to:

·         Whether the cross party group should include members of the committee

·         How the members of the group would seek the views of all members and provide feedback

·         The need to include one other member of the Committee as well as the Chairman

·         An additional meeting of the Committee in April

RESOLVED that:

a)    A Task and Finish Group is established (consisting of the Group Leaders or their nominee, the Chairman of the Standards Committee and Cllr Mrs F J Colthorpe) to undertake a review of the Council’s Procedure Rules as outlined in Section 2 of the report;  and

b)    The Standards Complaint Criteria be amended as outlined in Section 3 of the report.

(Proposed by the Chairman)

Note:  *Report previously circulated, copy attached to minutes.

The following Motion was forwarded from Council on 15 December 2021 for consideration by the Committee:

A Motion to improve public accountability and to address the inequality of rights of Members of the Council, when compared to members of the public.

This Council resolves that:

When an enquiry is made by a Member at any formal meeting (verbally, or in writing) and a substantive answer is not given at that meeting, a written response shall be sent to the enquiring member within 10 days. 

Wherever possible, any written questions submitted in the absence of the Member shall be submitted in advance of the meeting, but a failure to do so will not invalidate that enquiry. 

A copy of the question(s) and answer(s) will be circulated to members of the committee (or Full Council) and will also attached to the minutes.

The following Motion had been forwarded from Council on 15 December 2021 for consideration by the Committee:

A Motion to improve public accountability and to address the inequality of rights of Members of the Council, when compared to members of the public.

This Council resolves that:

When an enquiry is made by a Member at any formal meeting (verbally, or in writing) and a substantive answer is not given at that meeting, a written response shall be sent to the enquiring member within 10 days. 

Wherever possible, any written questions submitted in the absence of the Member shall be submitted in advance of the meeting, but a failure to do so will not invalidate that enquiry. 

A copy of the question(s) and answer(s) will be circulated to members of the committee (or Full Council) and will also be attached to the minutes.

Cllr Wilce was invited to address the Committee: he explained that he had put forward his motion in the hope that it would provide some clarity with regard to how questions from Members were dealt with.  He requested that Members had the same rights as members of the public in that any written response to questions raised were published alongside the minutes of the meeting.  He added that the contents of the motion may fit well within the review of the procedure rules undertaken by the proposed Task and Finish Group.

It was therefore: RESOLVED that the contents of Motion 577 be considered as part of the work of the Task and Finish Group.

(Proposed by the Chairman)

To receive a report from the Monitoring Officer providing an update on conduct matters and to help identify any associated matters for the Committee’s future consideration.

The Committee had before it and noted a *report of the District Solicitor and Monitoring Officer providing an update on conduct matters and to help identify any associated matters for future consideration.

Consideration was given to the Standards Training proposed, new dates would be arranged for in person events which would include an evening session.

Note:  *Report previously circulated, copy attached to minutes.

To consider items to add to the Committee’s work programme.

It was suggested that the following items be added to the agenda for the next meeting of the Committee:

·         The proposed additional meeting in April would receive an interim report on the work of the Task and Finish Group

·         The June meeting would receive recommendations from the Task and Finish Group and also the Monitoring Officer’s annual report.