Venue: Exe Room, Phoenix House, Tiverton
Contact: Julia Stuckey
Link: audio recording
No. | Item |
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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 F J Rosamond and Cllr Mrs N Woollatt, who was substituted by Cllr Mrs J Roach. |
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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 reminded Members that the new Monitoring Officer would be joining the authority shortly and that she looked forward to welcoming her at the next meeting of the Committee. |
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To consider a revised Code of Conduct and a set of procedures for dealing with complaints against Councillors. Additional documents:
Minutes: The Committee had before it a report * from the Monitoring Officer asking Members to consider a revised Code of Conduct and a set of procedures for dealing with complaints against Councillors.
The Monitoring Officer outlined the contents of the report, reminding Members that the report contained a series of recommendations and a number of appendices which had been requested by Members at the last meeting of the Committee and by Council.
Consideration was given to page 45 3.4, the definition of what was reasonable and what was unreasonable and page 46 5.2, Register of Interests for Town and Parish Councillors and the implications if they did not comply. It was AGREED that the Monitoring Officer send a letter, pointing out the importance of completing the form fully and that further training be undertaken when the new Monitoring Officer was in post.
It was MOVED that on Page 47 6.1 and 6.2, the wording ‘or any other person referred to in paragraph 5.1 above has’ needed to be removed as it implied that Members should declare an interest for others at the meeting which was not always appropriate or possible.
(Proposed by Cllr Mrs J Roach and seconded by Cllr C R Slade)
Consideration was given to page 49 8.3, regarding dispensations. It was AGREED that as the wording in this section was from the Localism Act 2011 it should remain.
It was MOVED that on page 54 the first paragraph within the table regarding receipt of possible offence which referred to ‘political rivals or associates of the named suspect’ be removed and replaced with ‘a Member of the Council’.
(Proposed by Cllr Mrs J Roach and seconded by Cllr C R Slade)
Consideration was given to page 61, third bullet point from the bottom of the page, starting ‘the complaint is made around an issue….’. Discussion took place regarding the protocol with the police regarding this matter. It was MOVED that the Monitoring Officer would investigate this to provide clarity and should her findings be such that the sentence was not required, it be removed.
(Proposed by Cllr Mrs J Roach and seconded by Cllr C R Slade)
Consideration was given to page 79 3.8 (a) regarding deliberation in private. It was MOVED that the following be added ‘no new evidence may be introduced at this stage’.
(Proposed by Cllr Mrs J Roach and seconded by Cllr C R Slade)
Consideration was given to page 106, 3rd bullet point which stated that particular care should be taken where there were chance encounters with objectors. It was MOVED that ‘or developers’ be added to this sentence.
(Proposed by Cllr Mrs J Roach and seconded by Cllr C R Slade.
It was MOVED that the Complaint Appeal Procedure be renamed ‘Code of Conduct Complaints Appeal Procedure’.
(Proposed by Cllr Mrs J B Binks and seconded by Cllr CJ Eginton)
It was RECOMMENDED to Council that;
a) The Code of Conduct for Councillors and Co-opted Members be approved subject to ... view the full minutes text for item 36. |
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COMPLAINTS (1.08) 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 Deputy Monitoring Officer provided an update regarding complaints since the last meeting on 25 January 2017.
She had provided advice to Member Services on two general matters which had since been closed, provided Monitoring Officer advice on 13 matters to six different Town and Parish Councils for which she was expecting a call back on one matter and the rest had been closed. She had also provided advice on Code of Conduct on 10 matters to 8 different Councils, for which she was expecting to receive 5 formal complaint forms.
The Chairman enquired as to whether there were any themes regarding the information requested and complaints made and the Deputy Monitoring Officer replied that enquiries tended to be regarding the completion of forms and disclosure of interests. It was AGREED that training should be provided. |
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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: An introduction to the Monitoring Officer Member Training Training for Town and Parish Councils |