Venue: Exe Room, Phoenix House
Contact: Julia Stuckey
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ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN (CHAIRMAN OF THE COUNCIL IN THE CHAIR) To elect a Chairman for the municipal year 2015/16.
Minutes: RESOLVED that Cllr Mrs S Griggs be elected Chairman of the Committee for the municipal year 2015/16.
Cllr Mrs Griggs then took the Chair.
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ELECTION OF VICE CHAIRMAN To elect a Vice Chairman for the municipal year 2015/16. Minutes: RESOLVED that Cllr C R Slade be elected Vice-Chairman of the Committee for the municipal year 2015/16. |
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APOLOGIES AND SUBSTITUTE MEMBERS To receive any apologies for absence and notices of appointment of Substitute Members (if any). Minutes: Apologies were received from Cllr Mrs M E Squires and Cllr L Taylor. |
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PUBLIC QUESTION TIME 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. Minutes: There were no members of the public in attendance. |
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To approve as a correct record the minutes of the last meeting of this Committee (attached). Minutes: The Minutes of the last meeting were approved as a true record and signed by the Chairman. |
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CHAIRMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS To receive any announcements the Chairman of the Committee may wish to make. Minutes: The Chairman informed the Committee that she intended to ensure that high standards were promoted and maintained amongst elected Members of the Council.
It was AGREED that the Committee continue to meet at 6.00pm. |
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To consider the new draft constitution for recommendation to Council and that consideration also be given to the following recommendation from the Audit Committee:
“RECOMMENDED to the Standards Committee that it considers amending the Constitution so that wherever it mentions decisions taken by the Chief Executive that the words ‘in accordance with the law’ be inserted alongside.”
Councillor Mrs J Roach has asked that the following amendments be considered to the Scheme of Delegation:
Page 38 8.6 add to end...’but specifically excluding car parking charges’. Page 56 ...8.5 That para 8.5 be replaced with Para 8.5 as printed in the constitution.
Page 58 d - Add to 'The Chief Execs decision may be subject to a review by the scrutiny committee’.
e - add ‘subject to the agreement of full council’.
Page 62 That any part of this delegation that is consequential upon the adoption of the new constitution be not approved until the new constitution has been approved by full council. Additional documents: Minutes: The Committee had before it a report * from the Head of Communities and Governance presenting Members with the updated Constitution for them to consider a number of aspects before making recommendation to Council.
The Head of Communities and Governance explained that the legislation listed within the Constitution and the Constitution itself had been checked by the Deputy Monitoring Officer (Solicitor).
The officer reminded Members that a working group had been set up and had worked at drafting a revised Constitution where the content of the Mid Devon District Council Constitution had been considered alongside the Association of Council Secretaries and Solicitors (ACSES). One of the areas that the working group had focused on was to make the Constitution more accessible and to improve the layout.
The document attached was the culmination of this work. There were a number of matters that the Standards Committee must consider before the document was recommended to Council for approval.
The Officer explained that some areas of the draft Constitution had been changed in order that the wording was consistent throughout the document.
The Committee worked through the document on a page by page basis.
Petitions – the Head of Communities and Governance explained that previously a local petition scheme had been compulsory but that this had been repealed by the Localism Act 2011. It was a statutory requirement to hold a petition for a referendum but was local choice regarding other petitions. The Committee discussed the petition scheme.
It was RESOLVED that the Petition Scheme remain in the Constitution.
(Proposed by Cllr Mrs J Roach and seconded by Cllr F J Rosamond)
Page 24, 44.5b – the first part of the sentence to be reinstated.
Articles - The Head of Communities and Governance explained that she had undertaken benchmarking against other authorities to find out if they listed each Committee as a separate Article. She found that many did and therefore asked the Committee if they considered that it would be clearer to do so. Discussion took place regarding the length of the Constitution, the fact that it would be available electronically and information would therefore be easier to find under a committee heading.
It was RESOLVED that each Committee be treated as an individual Article within the Constitution.
(Proposed by Cllr F J Rosamond and seconded by Cllr Mrs J Roach)
Page 34 – Specific responsibilities of the Standards Sub Committee. The Officer explained that the wording for this was taken from Knowles and it included a list of potential sanctions that could be taken by the Standards Committee. Council would need to agree delegated powers to the Standards Committee for this.
It was AGREED that delegated powers to the Standards Committee should be reported to Council as a separate agenda item.
Page 33, 6.16 – Audit Committee will comprise – remove the word ‘of’.
Page 34 – Breaches of code of conduct, remove the word ‘allegations’.
Page 34, 6.21b –'No further action' to be added as item 10.
Page 36 ... view the full minutes text for item 91. |
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COMPLAINTS 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
Minutes: The Head of Communities and Governance explained that although there were currently a few ongoing issues with Town and Parish Councils, there were as yet no formal complaints to report.
The Officer explained that she had started to attend Town and Parish Council meetings and that training was being put in place. She informed the Committee that initially the training would be on a voluntary basis but following that the Town and Parish Councils would be asked put the training on their agendas.
A guide had been drawn up to highlight what Town and Parish Councils needed to be aware of, such as the roles of the officers, Members, Chairman. It was AGREED that this document would be circulated to all Members. |
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IDENTIFICATION OF ITEMS FOR THE NEXT MEETING Members are asked to note that the following items are already identified in the work programme for the next meeting: Minutes: Review of the draft Constitution Complaints |