Agenda and decisions

To receive and note any apologies for absence.

An apology for absence was received on behalf of Councillor Moema, and Ms Louison – Co-opted Member.

NOTED

The Chair to advise the Committee of any unrestricted items of urgent business.

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.

Deputy Mayor Bramble advised retrospectively during consideration of Item 13 that she was a Member of the LGA.  This declaration was also made on her published declaration form.

NOTED

To note the terms of reference of the Standards Committee for the Municipal Year 2020/21.

RESOLVED

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

There were no petitions, questions or deputations.

NOTED

To confirm the unrestricted minutes of Standards Committee held on 13 February 2020 as an accurate record of the proceedings.

RESOLVED

That the unrestricted Minutes of the Standards Committee held on 13 February 2020 be confirmed as an accurate record of the proceedings.

This report advises the Standards Committee of the schedule of items to be considered by the Committee during the Municipal Year 2020/21.

RESOLVED

That approval be given to the draft work programme for 2020/21 as detailed in Appendix 1 of the report.

The Annual report details all matters considered by the Standards Committee during the Municipal Year 2019/20, for approval and referral to Full Council.

RESOLVED

That  the Standards Committee Annual Report for 2019/20, as attached at Appendix 1 & 2 of the report be agreed, and endorsed for submission to Full Council for consideration.. 

To receive the annual ICT report and update for 2019/20 and proposals for 2020/21

RESOLVED

i.  That the annual update on Members’ use of ICT for 2019/20 be noted;

ii.  That the progress with delivery of Data Protection training and refresh of ICT equipment for Members be noted; and

iii.  That the successful implementation of virtual committee meetings and live streaming be noted.

To receive an update on the 2019/20 Member training and development programme, and proposals for 2020/21.

RESOLVED

That the Member Training and Development Update for 2019/20 and proposals for 2020/21 as detailed in the report be noted.

To receive a verbal update from the Director of Legal & Governance on any complaints received in relation to members since February 2020, to date.

RESOLVED

That the verbal update of the Director of Legal and Governance in advising the Committee of no complaints being received against Members/Co-opted Members from February 2020 to date be noted.

This verbal update by the Director of Legal & Governance will advise the Standards Committee on any progress with regard to the Government’s consideration of the recommendations from its Committee on Standards in Public Life with respect to ethical standards in Local Government.

RESOLVED

i.  That the verbal update of the Director of Legal and Governance in advising the Standards Committee of the still awaited Government implementation of  primary legislative changes to existing powers in relation to the recommendations arising from the Government's Committee on Standards in Public Life on the subject of ethical standards in local government, be noted;

ii.  That it be noted that this matter will be updated upon at each Standards Committee in the future and that as soon as the primary legislation changes were made the matter of implications and proposed revisions to the current Standards regime would be reported to the Standards Committee; and

iii.  That arising from the discussions of the current COVID 19 emergency pandemic and the affects of the situation on Members in respect of possible inadvertent infringements of the current code in light of new work practices and subsequent challenges as a result, a report reviewing such implications and other related concerns be brought to the Standards in February 2021.

This report advises the Standards Committee of proposals from the Local Government Association regarding the adoption of a model Members Code of Conduct for Local Authorities in England and Wales.

RESOLVED

i.  That  the  report of the Local Government Association (LGA) in respect of recommendations contained at appendix 1 to the report with regard to its proposed member model code of conduct, be noted;

ii.   That  it be agreed that a review of the existing Member of Code of Conduct as detailed in appendix 2 to the report to be carried out with a view to considering modifying the existing code where required ;

iii.  That a Member/officer task and finish group be established to convene on an ad-hoc basis through to the autumn/winter of 2020 to assess and draw comparisons between the Council’s current adopted code and the proposed LGA model code of conduct and report these findings to either a special meeting of the Standards Committee in the late autumn of 2020,  or at its scheduled Standards Committee in February 2021 together with recommendations for revisions to the existing Code of Conduct, and approval of revisions and recommendation to Full Council for adoption thereto; and 

iv.  the proposed membership of the task and finish group as agreed in  iii. above be comprised of two Councillor  or more of Standards Committee, two or more co-opted members of Standards Committee, the Director of Legal & Governance, a senior lawyer, and the Clerk to Standards Committee in a  governance support capacity, and that the invitation to join the task and finish group be extended to all backbench members of the Council.

To consider any unrestricted items of urgent business.

There were no items of unrestricted urgent business.

NOTED

Note from the Governance Services Manager

In the event of there being any late items of exempt urgent business then the Chair will MOVE the resolution as defined below to allow consideration of urgent exempt matters.

PROPOSED RESOLUTION :

That the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting as the item (s) below contain exempt information, as defined under Part 1, Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

There were no urgent items of exempt business to consider therefore there was no require to pass the exclusion motion.

NOTED

To consider any items of urgent exempt business.

NIL