Skip to main content

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Exe Room, Phoenix House, Tiverton

Contact: Sally Gabriel  Member Services Manager

Link: audiorecording

Items
No. Item

1.

ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN (THE CHAIRMAN OF THE COUNCIL IN THE CHAIR)

To elect a Chairman for the municipal year 2019/20.

Minutes:

RESOLVED that Cllr C J Eginton be elected Chairman of the Committee for the municipal year 2019/20.

 

2.

ELECTION OF VICE CHAIRMAN

To elect a Vice Chairman for the municipal year 2019/20

Minutes:

RESOLVED that Cllr A Wilce (in his absence) be elected Vice-Chairman of the Committee for the municipal year 2019/20.

 

 

 

3.

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 A Wilce who was substituted by Cllr R M Deed.

 

4.

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:

Mr Thompson referring to Item 8 (Annual Report of the Monitoring Officer) on the agenda stated that he would like to ask that the committee consider a form of inquiry based on his comments:

 

1.            I assume you are aware that there is a Mid Devon Constitution that lays down correct procedure etc for investigation of complaints and who by?

2.            I would like to make you aware that in the period April/May 2018 as a member of the Policy/Finance/Personnel/Committee of Cullompton Town Council, I was informed that a complaint was made against myself and a member of the public by 3 members of staff under the internal grievance procedure, this was rejected and recommended consideration that the complaints go via the code of Conduct procedure - this was a year ago.

There was nothing further said to myself or the member of public until only about 3 to 4 months ago at a council meeting when I asked the clerk what was happening re the complaint, after some hesitation I was informed there was nothing further happening. I took this as the complaint(s) were not being taken any further. I retired from the Council just before elections in May this year owing to health issues and stress owing to a culture of a dysfunctional council — this can be described more fully as needed.

 

On 16th May 2019, I wrote to the Cullompton Town Clerk asking her to produce to me all documents of complaints which were made under the grievance procedures and not under the Code of Conduct, as this was effectively a year since the original complaints and I had not been made aware of the content or allegation against me.

 

I was informed that the Monitoring Officer was the person to ask as it was later referred to her under the Code of Conduct.

 

On 21st May 2019, I was informed by the Monitoring Officer “on discussion with the Independent Person and in light of the rights and freedoms of councillors, we concluded that they should not be taken any further for investigation. Unfortunately, due to intervening complaints, including those which took on a degree of urgency earlier this year, I did not turn those conclusions into a decision letter”. She later said  “The Independent Person responded on 12 August 2018, which I subsequently discussed with him on 14 August 2018 and again briefly on 29 October along with other outstanding complaints.”

 

I was never informed officially of the complaint, progress of investigation, result of report by the Independent Person or given the opportunity to challenge comments made, I can show that they are inaccurate and questionable as to how they were written. I would also like to state that this is not the first time that the Monitoring Officer has taken a long time in responding to a complaint by myself, It should also be noted that the minutes recorded at previous Standards Committees have also had comments on delays by the Monitoring Officer. I  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.

MINUTES (00-16-53) pdf icon PDF 84 KB

Members to consider whether to approve the minutes as a correct record of the meeting held on 12 December 2018.

 

The committee is reminded that only those Members present at the previous meeting should vote and, in doing so, should be influenced only by seeking to ensure that the minutes are an accurate record.

 

Minutes:

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

 

 

6.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST UNDER THE CODE OF CONDUCT (00-17-55)

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.

 

Minutes:

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

 

 

7.

CHAIRMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS (00-18-10)

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

Minutes:

The Chairman had no announcements to make.

8.

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE MONITORING OFFICER FOR 2018/19 (00-18-18) pdf icon PDF 83 KB

To receive an annual report from the Monitoring Officer providing the Standards Committee with an overview of the preceding year.

 

Minutes:

The Committee had before it a * report of the Monitoring Officer providing a review of the preceding year.

 

She outlined the contents of the report stating that  this provided evidence of the work that had taken place during the previous municipal year.  She highlighted the following:

 

·         There had been 3 scheduled meetings in the previous year with one being postponed and  a further cancelled due to insufficient  business.  In previous years meetings had been held on an adhoc basis.  The scheduled meetings would allow for a work programme to be developed.

·         One  Independent Person was required by law, if the need arose she could always call on another Independent Person from another authority, however she felt that an additional Independent Person would be of benefit to the authority in case of a conflict of interest.

·         The role of the Monitoring Officer and that of her deputies.

·         There had been 8 complaints in the municipal year 2018/19 which compared with 6 in the previous year.  The majority had been related to town and parish Councils.  She continued to support the clerks of the town and parish Councils.

·         Issues arising from the use of social media.

·         She had visited several parish councils and a number of parish clerks had sought advice in the previous year and she was working closely with a couple of parish councils.

·         She referred to the Register of Gifts and Hospitality and that she would be reminding members of the need to register them.

·         With regard to the redaction of sensitive interests from the register, she explained the process.

 

Consideration was given to: the Independent Person attending meetings of the Council and providing confidential feedback to the committee with regard to any additional training that may be required.  It was AGREED that this be reviewed in the autumn.

 

RESOLVED  that the report be NOTED and  circulated to all Town and Parish Councils for information.

 

(Proposed by Cllr C R Slade and seconded by Cllr R M Deed)

 

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

 

 

9.

COMMITTEE ON STANDARDS IN PUBLIC LIFE REPORT (00-29.25) pdf icon PDF 3 MB

To consider the report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life with regard to Local Government Ethical Standards and review it against the practices that this local authority has in place.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee had before it a *report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life with regard to Local Government Ethical Standards.

 

The Monitoring Officer outlined the contents of the report stating that the document had been published in January 2019, a number of the recommendations required legislative change but no timetable was available to date.  The Local Government Association had also been tasked with regard to creating an updated model Code of Conduct in consultation with all tiers of local government and the creation of peer reviews to consider local authorities processes for maintaining ethical standards.  Within the document was a list of best practice which should be considered by the committee.

 

Consideration was given to:

 

·         The formation of a working group to consider the best practice highlighted within the document.

·         Whether parish clerks in Mid Devon held the appropriate qualifications

·         A Devon code which would aid those members who served on town and parish councils or at County level

·         The need for an updated code to be more robust

·         The report’s recommendation to Government on a rebuttable presumption that a councillors behaviour included comments on social media, should be in their official capacity

·         Recommendations 3 and 4  in the report were seen to be contradictory and some clarity would be required, possibly through new legislation

·         Whether a stronger code would impact of the number of local residents putting themselves forward for election

·         Whether suspension for up to six months would impact on the six month rule

·         Any proposals for new legislation would probably be the subject of consultation before implementation

 

It was therefore:

 

RESOLVED that a working group be formed to consider the findings of the report and in particular the suggested best practices.  Members of the working group would be Cllrs: C J Eginton, L D Taylor, Mrs N Woollatt and A Wilce (with his agreement).

 

(Proposed by the Chairman)

 

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

10.

START TIMES OF MEETINGS (00-52-50)

To consider a start time for future meetings of the Committee.

 

Minutes:

The Committee AGREED to continue to hold its meetings at 6.00pm for the remainder of the 2019/20 municipal year.

 

11.

IDENTIFICATION OF ITEMS FOR THE NEXT MEETING (00-53-00)

Members to consider items for the next meeting.

Minutes:

The following issues would be addressed at the next meeting:

 

A report from the working group with regard to the Standards in Public Life Report.