Agenda and draft minutes

Dr Tom Babbedge was elected as the Chair of the Standards Committee.

Apologies for absence were received from His Honour John Rylance and Dilina Ostborn.

If a Councillor has a disclosable pecuniary interest in a particular item, whether or not it is entered in the Authority’s register of interests, or any other significant interest which they consider should be declared in the public interest, they should declare the existence and, unless it is a sensitive interest as defined in the Member Code of Conduct, the nature of the interest at the commencement of the consideration of that item or as soon as it becomes apparent.

At meetings where members of the public are allowed to be in attendance and speak, any Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest or other significant interest may also make representations, give evidence or answer questions about the matter. The Councillor must then withdraw immediately from the meeting before the matter is discussed and any vote taken.

Where Members of the public are not allowed to be in attendance and speak, then the Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest should withdraw from the meeting whilst the matter is under consideration.

Councillors who have declared other significant interests should also withdraw from the meeting if they consider their continued participation in the matter would not be reasonable in the circumstances and may give rise to a perception of a conflict of interest.

Councillors are not obliged to withdraw from the meeting where a dispensation to that effect has been obtained from the Standards Committee.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as an accurate record.

RESOLVED THAT:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 10 February 2022 be confirmed and signed as an accurate record of the proceedings.

This report recommends the Standards Committee endorses the LGA draft Model Code of Conduct for adoption by Full Council.

The Meeting was asked to consider and approve the LGA draft model Code of conduct, supported by the Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer, for adoption by Full Council.  The draft Code had addressed the issues of sanctions lacking in the previous version considered, and the LGA’s recommended guidance on the Member Code of Conduct Complaints handling guidance sets out a clear process for handling complaints when received.

Members noted that the previous Code had no weight to impose sanctions. This draft goes a long way to address that deficiency.  However, the complaints guidance has more details than the previous version due to the additional section on sanctions.

The following issues were raised, and some amendments were requested to the Code: -

Section 1 (Code) - Training should be provided to Chairs of meetings on how to handle abusive, disruptive, intimidatory or threatening membersof the public at meetings.

Section 2 (Code) – It was noted that it is a Member’s responsibility to monitor what is published in their social media handles.  It would be logically impossible for officers to monitor all Members’ accounts and some members might not agree to inform the Council of their social media handles to protect their privacy.

Section 11.1 (Code) - As the nature of references taken were post interview and there may be instances where an applicant could have worked with a Councilor in a professional capacity.  It was agreed that if an exceptional case like this occurs, the Councillor should consult the Monitoring Officer before providing a reference.

Section 12.2 (Code) - Officers to clarify that disqualification as inserted by the Local Government (Disqualification) Act 2022 section 1 relates to “Disqualification relating to sexual offences” which is in addition to other reasons why a Member can be disqualified from holding office.

Language (Code) – There should be a consistent use of you or I throughout the document. 

Legal Representations (Guidance) – Members noted that there were some inconsistencies in the guidance regarding whether a Member could have legal representation at a Panel or not. It was agreed that the guidance should be amended to allow Members to bring legal representation to a hearing.

Interpretation of the Guidance – The meeting welcomed the guidance and agreed that the Monitoring Officer should have the discretion to interpret it.  If the LGA produced a further update this should be referred to the Committee for consideration.

RESOLVED THAT

1.            That the Member Code of Conduct attached as appendix 1 be recommended to Full Council for adoption with the comments made tonight be incorporated into the Code.

2.            That the list of sanctions at Appendix 2 available to the Committee if a Councillor breaches the Code, be approved.

3.            That the LGA’s Guidance on the Member Model Code of Conduct Complaints Handling (the “Guidance on complaints handling”) at Appendix  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.