Agenda and decisions

The Governance Officer present – Mr Hart sought confirmation to the appointment of the Chair – Councillor Bramble, and Vice-Chair – Councillor Webb of Standards Committee for the Municipal Year 2019/20 as advised at Annual Council in May 2019.

The Committee resolved to agree the appointments nemine contradicente.

NOTED

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors Adejare, and Moema, and from Co-opted Member Onagete Louison, and for lateness from Councillor Williams.

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 14 below. New items of exempt urgent business will be dealt with under Item 16 below.

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 interest.

NOTED

There were no deputations, petitions, or questions.

NOTED

RESOLVED

That the unrestricted minutes of the Standards Committee held on 18 February be confirmed as an accurate record of the proceedings.

To note the terms of reference of the Standards Committee.

RESOLVED

That the terms of reference of the Standards Committee be noted.

To consider the proposed work programme of the Standards Committee for 2019/20.

RESOLVED

That approval be given to the draft work programme for 2019/20 as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report.

To consider and agree the Draft Standards Committee Annual Report 2018/19.

RESOLVED

That  the Standards Committee  Annual Report for 2018/19, as attached at Appendix 1 to the report be endorsed,  for submission to Full Council to consider on 30 October 2019.

To consider and agree the process for the recruitment of Co-opted Members to sit on Standards Committee.

RESOLVED

i.  That approval be given to the recruitment process for the appointment of up to four current co-opted member vacancies to Standards Committee for a period of four years from their confirmed date of appointment;

ii.   That approval be given to the contents of the draft recruitment pack as detailed, as attached at Appendix 1of the report, and to the process of recruitment as detailed in paragraph 6.3 of the report;

iii.  That Standards Committee agree that the Interview Panel to shortlist and interview candidates will be drawn from the Membership of the Standards Committee as follows, and to agree those members to be appointed:

  Chair of Standards Committee

   Two Members of Standards Committee

  One current co-opted Member (Advisory Capacity non-    voting)

Independent Person – Standards Committee (Advisory Capacity non-voting)

  officers in attendance

  Head of Legal & Governance

  Clerk to Standards Committee

iv.  That it be noted that a special Standards Committee will be convened in late November to mid December  2019 to endorse the recommendations of the Interview Panel regarding proposed appointments, and recommend to Full Council the endorsed appointments, at its meeting on 22 January 2019, for a term of four years.

To consider recommendations arising from the findings of the Committee on Standards in Public Life on Local Government Ethical Standards.

The Director of Legal & Governance will give a short power-point presentation to the Committee in respect of the findings.

RESOLVED

i.  That the Report from the Committee on Standards in Public   Life (CSPL) on the subject of local government ethical standards which attached at Appendix 1 of the report be noted;

ii.   that the recommendations of the CSPL attached at Appendix 2 of the report and the identified ‘best practice’ which attached at Appendix 3 be noted;

iii.    that the proposal  to make any formal comment on the recommendations (i.e. to MHCLG) in the form of a letter be noted but not further acted upon;

iv.   that the Monitoring Officer undertake a comparison of the current Council’s current Ethical Standards arrangements in place with a view to identifying whether they conform to the best practice identified by the CSPL report, and that the comparison analysis be reported back to the Standards Committee for its consideration;

v.  that the Monitoring Officer carries out a review the Council’s current Member Code of Conduct and considers any amendments to reflect the outcomes of the CSLP report, and that any suggested changes to the Code be reported back to the Standards Committee for its consideration;

vi.  that a further report be brought to Standards Committee at the point of confirmation of the Parliamentary process for consideration of the CSPL recommendations and any subsequent changes to primary and secondary legislation; and

vii.   that a task and finish group be established to consider improving and understanding members declarations of interests and that Councillors  Hanson & Lynch  be the members appointed to the task and finish group together the Head of Legal & Governance, the Clerk to Standards Committee and other officers within Legal & Governance as appropriate.

13 FEBRUARY 2020 – AT 6.30PM

NOTED

The next scheduled meeting of the Standards Committee on 13 February 2020 at 6.30pm and the special meeting required in late November/December 2019 to consider the outcome of the recruitment process for co-opted members to Standards Committee.

Any unrestricted urgent business items will be considered at this juncture.

There were no items of unrestricted urgent business.

NOTED

Note from the Governance Services Manager

In the event that there may be urgent exempt items of business to be considered 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 16 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 one or more of the exemption paragraphs 1-7 as defined in Part 1 Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 as amended.

There were no requirement to exclude the public and press as there were no exempt urgent items to consider.

NOTED

Any exempt urgent business items will be considered at this juncture.

This report seeks Standards Committee’s agreement to  a dispensation for any member of the Council belonging to the Local Government Pension Scheme.

RESOLVED

i.  That  approval be given to a dispensation for any member of  the Council belonging to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) either in a contributing, or in receipt capacity,  for the LB Hackney, or any other Local Authority Pension Scheme,  when they are in attendance at any Council meetings where matters pertaining to the Local Government Pension Scheme are being considered/discussed; and

ii.  That the dispensationl remain in place until the first meeting of the Standards Committee or any committee which has the functions of the Standards Committee, following the commencement of the newly elected administration in May 2022.