Agenda and decisions

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors Hanson and Woodley.

NOTED

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of Urgent Business. Late items of Urgent Business will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items of unrestricted urgent business will be dealt with under Item 12 below. New items of exempt urgent business will be dealt with at Item 15  below.

There were no items of urgent business.

NOTED

A Member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a prejudicial interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered:

(i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent, and

(ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.

A Member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Register of Members’ Interests or the subject of a pending notification must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interests are defined at Paragraphs 8.1-15.2 of Section Two of Part 5 of the Constitution  and Appendix A of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

A Member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a prejudicial interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered:

(i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent, and

(ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.

A Member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Register of Members’ Interests or the subject of a pending notification must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interests are defined at Paragraphs 8.1-15.2 of Section Two of Part 5 of the Constitution  and Appendix A of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

There were no declarations of interests.

NOTED

There were no deputations, petitions or questions.

NOTED

The Clerk to the Committee – Mr Hart advised of an amendment to the attendance details of the meeting held on 2 July 2018  to include the attendance of the Independent Person – Mr Stopes Roe.

There being no other amendments on a MOTION by the Chair it was:

RESOLVED

That the unrestricted minutes of the Standards Committee held on 2 July 2018 be confirmed as accurate record of the proceedings subject to the inclusion of Mr Stopes-Roe – Independent Person,  in the attendance record.

This annual report provides the Standards Committee with an update on Members’ use of the ICT services provided by the Council.

RESOLVED

i.  That the  update on Members’ use of ICT as detailed in section 6 of the report be noted:

ii.  that the follow up work  taking place for a small number of Members to ensure that standard access and security arrangements were in place as referred to in paragraphs 6.5 and 6.6 of the report be noted;

iii.  that the proposed direction for Data Protection guidance and

Members’ ICT provision as referred to in paragraphs 7 and 8 of the report be noted; and

iv.  that the comments expressed by Members in relation to the timing and location of the roll of proposed training be noted and officers be asked to take account of this during the scheduling of the roll out.

This report provides an update with regards to the Members’ Training & Development Programme the aim of which is to provide the necessary training and tools to members to enable them to reach their full potential in their various roles as councillors

RESOLVED

i.  That the update with regards to the Council’s member training and development programme be noted; and

ii.  That the comments and concerns of members expressed during discussion be noted and taken account of particularly in relation to:

·  Clear guidance on mandatory and non mandatory training

·  Refresher courses  on annual basis i.e code of conduct, and declarations/register of interests

·  training courses that could be offered on a collective, individual or online basis

·  An ability to record an absence where a date was offered and a member was unable to attend through a previously arranged other commitment

·  The timing of training courses and review of commence time with possible training sessions in a morning or lunch time

·  Possible 1:1 sessions and walk in mornings or evenings

·  Possibly other locations other than the Town Hall

·  The concerns of co-opted members of the lack of guidance and training, and the need for better understanding and invitation to co-opted members for both mandatory/non mandatory training sessions in future  

RESOLVED

i.  That  the report be noted; and

ii.  That a quarterly email will be sent from member services to remind members to review and update their form and advise Governance services accordingly.

This report advises the Standards Committee of the review of the Council’s arrangements currently in place to investigate allegations made against Members under  the Members’ Code of Conduct underSection28oftheLocalismAct 2011.

RESOLVED

That  the updated complaints procedure and complaints form attached as appendices 1-3 to this report be noted and agreed, and that a revised flow chart be circulated to the Committee for information including boxes showing:

·  outcomes as regards to findings of investigation

·  whether the complaint findings warrant consideration by a Review Committee

·  possible outcomes/decision of the Review Committee

·  Informing the subject member and advertising/reporting of the decision to Full Council

To give a brief verbal update to the Standards Committee of the number of complaints about Members since the commencement of the Municipal Year 2018/19 to date.

RESOLVED

That the verbal update regarding the number of complaints received against members for the Municipal Year commencing May 2018 to date be noted.

To verbally advise the Standards Committee of the Government’s Committee on Standards in Public Life’s recently published report and recommendations on ethical standards in local government, following a year-long review and wide consultation.

RESOLVED

i.  That the verbal update with regard to the Government’s Committee on Standards in Public Life’s recently published report and recommendations on ethical standards in local government, following a year-long review and wide consultation, be noted; and

ii.  that that  a further report be brought to the Standards Committee in July 2019 detailing a full evaluation of the  findings and recommendations, and the implications for the LB Hackney and covering the main headline issues arising from the review as follows:

·  a new power for local authorities to suspend councillors without allowances for up to six months

·  revised rules on declaring interests, gifts and hospitality

·  local authorities retain ownership of their own Codes of Conduct

·  a right of appeal for suspended councillors to the Local Government Ombudsman

·  a strengthened role for the Independent Person

·  greater transparency about the number and nature of Code complaints.

There were no items of urgent business.

NOTED

There are no other scheduled meetings of Standards Committee in the current Municipal Year 2018/19.

The provisional 2019/20 meetings of the Committee are scheduled to take place on:

July 2019

13 February 2020

NOTED that there were no other scheduled meetings of Standards Committee in the current Municipal Year 2018/19, and that the provisional 2019/20 meetings of the Standards Committee were scheduled to take place on:

1 July 2019

13 February 2020

Note from the Governance Services Manager

Item 15 allows for the consideration of exempt information.

In the event that there are any urgent items of exempt business the Chair shall move the following resolution:

THAT the press and public be excluded from the proceedings of the Standards Committee during consideration of Exempt item 15 on the agenda on the grounds that it is likely, in the view of the nature of the business to be transacted, that were members of the public to be present, there would be disclosure of exempt information as defined in Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 as amended.

There were no exempt matters to be considered.

NOTED

Nil items