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BABERGH DISTRICT COUNCIL
STANDARDS COMMITTEE
MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE STANDARDS COMMITTEE HELD IN COMMITTEE ROOM 1, COUNCIL OFFICES, CORKS LANE, HADLEIGH ON FRIDAY 26 JANUARY 2007
QUICK LINKS
- 32 - Additional Item of Business,
- 33 - Declaration of Interests,
- 34 - Minutes,
- 35 - Petitions,
- 36 - Questions from Members,
- 37 - Local Standards Hearing - Councillor Philpot,
- 38 - Members' Code of Conduct Case Reports,
- 39 - Dispensation for Members of Thorpe Morieux Parish Council,
- 40 - Implications of the High Court Decision in Livingstone v Adjudication Panel for England 2006 on the Code of Conduct for Members,
- 41 - Quarterly Monitoring Report,
- 42 - Training for Town/Parish Councils,
- 43 - Training for Councillors following the May elections,
- 44 - Consultation on Amendments to the Model Code of Conduct for Local Authority Members,
PRESENT: Members Co-opted Members
Mrs S P Clarke (In the chair) Mr B Riley
Mr R E Kemp Mr J Newton
Mrs J M Cole
Miss P F Cook, Mr N H J Irwin and Mr N A Ridley were unable to attend the meeting.
The Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 provides that an item of business may not be considered by a Committee unless it is included on an agenda. The Act does, however, make provision for an exception to this general rule to be made where by reason of special circumstances the Chairman of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.
The Chairman advised that a situation had arisen where it had become necessary for the Committee to consider an item (Consultation on amendments to the model Code of Conduct for local authority members) and that she was satisfied that there were good reasons for dealing with this matter at the meeting as a matter of urgency.
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Mrs J M Cole subsequently declared a personal interest in Item 12 (Training for Town/Parish Councils) by virtue of being an employee of the Suffolk Association of Local Councils (SALC).
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RESOLVED
That the minutes of the meeting held on 27 October 2006 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.
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None received.
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None received.
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The Monitoring Officer submitted a report (Paper F160) on the outcome of the hearing relating to two referred complaints in respect of Councillor Andrew Philpot of Holton St Mary Parish Council that took place on 27 October 2006 before the Parish Council Case Sub-Committee of the Standards Committee.
RESOLVED
That the information contained in Paper F160 be noted.
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The Monitoring Officer submitted a report (Paper F161) which updated Members on recent national case reports arising from investigations of alleged breaches of the Members’ Code of Conduct. The report highlighted relevant court cases and findings of the Adjudication Panel of the Standards Board for England along with significant local determinations.
Members noted that in some cases it had taken up to 3 years before a decision of the Adjudication Panel’s tribunal had been made, but paragraph 4.2.1 confirmed that if an appeal was heard by the Standards Committee it was important to ensure that the hearing was fair and held within the time constraints.
RESOLVED
That the information contained in Paper F161 be noted and that the report be circulated to all Council Members for information.
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The Monitoring Officer submitted a report (Paper F162) advising Members that a dispensation was sought for 4 Members of Thorpe Morieux Parish Council to allow them to participate and vote on an item concerning the budget precept and allocation of funding for the provision of equipment for the village hall to be considered by the Parish Council before 31 March 2007.
RESOLVED
That having considered the application submitted by Councillors Gagen, Nicholls, Lee and Dalley, a dispensation be granted to those members to allow consideration by them of items concerning a contribution by the Parish Council towards the cost of equipment for Thorpe Morieux Village Hall at meetings of Thorpe Morieux Parish Council between 26 January 2007 and 31 March 2007.
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40 IMPLICATIONS OF THE HIGH COURT DECISION IN LIVINGSTONE V ADJUDICATION PANEL FOR ENGLAND 2006 ON THE CODE OF CONDUCT FOR MEMBERS
The Monitoring Officer submitted a report (Paper F163) analysing the High Court decision concerning alleged breaches of the Code of Conduct by Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, and updating Members on the implications of the decision along with the advice now provided by the Standards Board on the interpretation of the Code.
RESOLVED
That the information contained in Paper F163 be noted.
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The Monitoring Officer submitted a report (Paper F164) to provide the Committee with the Monitoring Report for the period 1 October 2006 to 31 December 2006.
RESOLVED
That the information contained in Paper F163 be noted.
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The Monitoring Officer advised that, as reported at the last meeting of the Committee on 27 October 2006, the Suffolk Monitoring Officers were seeking to develop a training programme on the Code of Conduct following the elections in May. It was intended that SALC provide the lead for the training required for town/parish councillors immediately after the elections to enable Monitoring Officers to focus on the districts and boroughs.
Members were asked for any comments, suggestions or requests on the training to be arranged for parish/town councils and the Monitoring Officer would ensure that these were passed onto SALC.
Jayne Cole confirmed that SALC sent training updates to its members on a regular basis and she agreed to monitor this and report back to the Standards Committee.
RESOLVED
That the Monitoring Officer recommend to SALC that training be focused on case studies.
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The Monitoring Officer reported that provisional arrangements had been made for training on the Code of Conduct to be provided to members of Babergh District Council as part of an overall member training induction. Members were invited to make comments, suggestions or requests for the provision of this training.
Members noted that training by the Standards Board on sanctions had been arranged for 26 March 2007 and update training on hearings had also been arranged for members of the Standards Committee on 15 June 2007 at Stoke-by-Nayland Hotel and Golf Club with Peter Keith-Lucas, solicitor. It was intended that other Suffolk Standards Committees would be invited to share in this training.
RESOLVED
That the information be noted.
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The Monitoring Officer reported that the revised Code of Conduct consultation paper had now been launched by the Department of Communities and Local Government (Paper F175) and the Committee was asked to consider whether it wished to make a formal response on the paper to Government. The deadline for submissions was 9 March 2007.
Kathryn Saward gave Members a broad overview of the main amendments proposed and Members then considered and commented on the eight consultation questions included in Annex B of Paper F175, as follows:
Q1.
The proposed text on the disclosure of confidential information should be more specific to identify precisely the circumstances in which confidential information may be disclosed rather than being left to guidance.
Q2.
Clarification was needed of the expression “or any other circumstances” in paragraph 4(1).
Members agreed that paragraph 4(2) should refer to “conviction of a criminal offence” as the current wording suggested that it may be a breach of the Code if a member was charged with an offence.
Q3.
The position on the Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity should remain unchanged.
Q4.
Members considered the declaration of a personal interest in respect of the receipt of a gift or hospitality over the value of £25 to be an unnecessary requirement, but requested that if it were to be introduced then clarification should be made as to whether the declaration related to any matter concerning the donor or to a specific item.
Any requirement to disclose the personal interest should cease after 4 rather than 5 years to correspond with the period of members’ terms of office.
Q5.
The expression “close personal association” was thought to be ambiguous and concern was expressed that the removal of the definition “family” would create uncertainty.
Q6.
Any new exceptions to prejudicial interests should be added to the current list of exceptions.
Q7.
Although Members agreed that the relaxation of the arrangements on declaration of interests was to be welcomed, they were concerned as to how the proposed changes may be interpreted, particularly with regard to prejudicial interests.
In paragraph 9(3) the wording “for the purpose of” was considered to be confusing and unnecessary and “the meeting agrees” was unclear and could be open to political abuse.
Q8.
Members did not consider this to be a significant issue.
RESOLVED
That the Monitoring Officer be authorised to summarise and submit to Government the Committee’s comments on the Consultation on Amendments to the Model Code of Conduct for Local Authority Members.
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The meeting concluded at 11.30 a.m.
Note:
Date of next meeting - Friday 20 April 2007.
Chairman
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