Agenda, decisions and minutes

1.1  Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Lynne Troughton,   Nicola Hanns, Aoife Scannell, and apologies from Cllr Sade Etti,   attending virtually, for lateness.

Members are invited to consider the guidance which accompanies this

agenda and make declarations as appropriate.

2.1  There were no declarations of interest.

Members are to consider the minutes of the previous meeting held on 15 February 2023.

3.1  The following matters arising were noted:

ACTION: To request Member Services capture and maintain a record of attendees to all mandatory training where possible and to confirm that all members are sent the links to recordings after training has taken place.

Response: All sessions are delivered virtually and recordings are placed on the Members intranet.

ACTION: To request Member Services email members to highlight the importance of completing self-certification forms following attendance at training.

Response: Members have been sent Google forms a number of times to self certify attending training and records of forms that are submitted are maintained by Member Services

ACTION: To consider ways of using ICT to support members to self certificate their attendance at training.

Response: As above.

3.2  The Chair noted that there was no query regarding Members  attendance at training, however, the key issue was to ensure that  attendance had been recorded in a systematic way.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the previous meeting held on 15 February 2023 were agreed as a true and accurate record of the proceedings.

That the Terms of Reference for the Standards Committee as detailed in Appendix 1 be noted.

That the Work Programme for 2023/2024 as detailed in appendix 2 be approved.

4.1  The report was introduced by the Head of Legal and Governance    who noted the terms of reference for the municipal year.  It was  noted  that the Council is undertaking a review of its Constitution,    including how the various terms of reference for each committee  were proposed to be presented in future and a forward look  of the    suggested Terms of Reference for the Standards Committee was set   out at Appendix 3. The revised Constitution  is to be presented at    Full Council for consideration at its meeting on 24 July 2023.

4.2  The suggested work programme was set out to help the committee  focus on its responsibilities and duties, with particular attention on  ensuring all Members receive appropriate training, complete their  register of interests forms and continue to uphold high ethical      governance standards.

RESOLVED:

That the Terms of Reference for the Standards Committee as detailed in Appendix 1 be noted.

That the Work Programme for 2023/2024 as detailed in appendix 2 be approved.

That the Annual Report for 2022/2023 be endorsed and submitted to Full Council.

5.1.   The report was introduced by the Head of Legal and Governance.  Every year the Committee presents its Annual Report.  The report  provided an overview of the work and activities of the Standards  Committee during the last municipal year, 2022-2023, and provided  information on complaints received alleging breaches of the    Councillor Code of Conduct.

5.2  All complaints received had been from members of the public and  the most common cause of complaint related to not receiving   a response to resident enquiries, complaints of requests

for assistance. These complaints had become greater in number than  complaints received regarding social media.  It was noted that time  taken to respond to emails was different to breaches of the code of  conduct.

5.3  It was noted that residents may not be aware who their ward  councillors are and may have sent emails to a number of councillors.Members noted that councillors needed an integrated system of  recording casework and the progress in responding, including  correspondence with residents,  to such inquiries.  The Chair    indicated that the comments from the Committee had been noted to  feedback to Cllr Chapman, who is leading on the casework review.

5.4  It was suggested that a consistent approach to out of office  messages be established to help manage resident expectations.  In  addition, it was noted that residents may not always get the  response they want from their inquiry.

RESOLVED:

That the Annual Report for 2022/2023 be endorsed and submitted to Full Council.

6.1  Clarification was sought to ensure that names of Councillors  attending remotely were captured in the minutes of the meeting and  if known at the time of publication also included in the agenda for theCommittee.

Duration of Meeting: 18:34-19:00