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, 27 JULY 2007
Quick Links
- 1 - Election of Chairman,
- 2 - Election of Vice-Chairman,
- 3 - Declarations of Interest,
- 4 - Minutes,
- 5 - To Receive Notification of Petitions in Accordance with Council Procedure Rule No. 13,
- 6 - Questions from Members,
- 7 - Standards Board Roadshows,
- 8 - Adoption of Revised Code of Conduct for Members,
- 9 - Training for Counciloors on the revised Code of Conduct,
- 10 - Membership of the Committee - Vacancy for Independent Member,
- 11 - Joint Working Arrangements for Standards Committee,
- 12 - Statistical Digest of Complaints to the Standards Board for England,
- 13 - Sixth Annual Assembly of Standards Committees,
- 14 - Quarterly Monitoring Report,
- 15 - Next Meeting.
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PRESENT: |
Members |
Co-opted Members |
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Mrs S P Clarke
Mr P Jones
Mr R E Kemp
Mr B Riley |
Mr J B Newton
Mrs J M Cole
Miss P F Cook
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RESOLVED
That Mrs S P Clarke be elected Chairman of the Standards Committee for the ensuing year or, if it is enacted within that period, until the relevant provision in the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill requiring that local authority Standards Committees be chaired by an independent, co-opted member
comes into force.
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RESOLVED
That Mr J B Newton be elected Vice-Chairman for the ensuing year.
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Mrs J M Cole declared a personal interest in respect of the item referred to in Minute No. 9 below, by virtue of her membership of the Suffolk Association of Local Councils (SALC).
Mr P Jones declared a personal interest in respect of the item referred to in Minute No. 9 below by virtue of his membership of the SALC Executive and of Belstead Parish Council.
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RESOLVED
That the Minutes of the meeting held on 20 April 2007 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 Chairman and Miss P F Cook reported on a ‘roadshow’ organised by the Standards Board for England (SBE) that they had recently attended in Norwich and Miss Cook submitted a copy of the slide presentation made at that event, together with her own handwritten notes (subsequently numbered as Paper G77 – available on request from Committee Services). The first part of the presentation had concerned the new Code of Conduct following which there had been sections on bias and predetermination and on the challenges in establishing a new locally-based system, including the SBE’s proposals for piloting the arrangements and supporting local authorities in their new standards roles.
During the discussion on the content of the presentation particular reference was made to the disclosure of confidential information where such disclosure was in the public interest and how this might also relate to Data Protection Act and Freedom of Information Act considerations. Reference was also made to the need for Members (and particularly the Chairman of the Development Committee) to be clear over the distinction between ‘predisposition’ and ‘predetermination’ in relation to planning decisions.
The Monitoring Officer reported that training for Members on data protection and freedom of information was planned for later in the year and that case law had emerged which provided clarity on what constituted predetermination. She undertook to inform the Chairman of Development Committee accordingly.
RESOLVED
That the report and the current position be noted.
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The Committee considered a report (Paper G60) by the Monitoring Officer on the Council’s decision on 17 May 2007 to adopt the revised Code of Conduct for Members (including the ten general principles of conduct, which were appended to the report) with immediate effect. Since then, all but nine Parish Councils within the District had also adopted the new Code and the Monitoring Officer had arranged for a combined local newspaper advertisement to be placed giving the required public notice. Parish Councils that had not yet adopted the new Code would be reminded of the requirement to do so by 1 October. It was also mentioned in the report that the Monitoring Officer was in the process of checking the new Register of Interest forms which Parish and Town Councillors were required to submit and that some had had to be returned as incomplete; completed forms had been received from all Babergh District Councillors.
RESOLVED
That the report be noted.
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A report (Paper G61) by the Monitoring Officer was submitted on the seminars that had been provided to train District and Parish and Town Councillors in the requirements of the revised Code of Conduct. It was noted that all Babergh District Councillors had received the necessary training and that the seminars for Parish and Town Councillors had been provided jointly with SALC which was also proposing to circulate a ‘Standards made simple’ leaflet for its members. A flow-chart was appended to the report setting out the various steps that Councillors needed to take in deciding whether they had a personal or prejudicial interest in any matter and the Monitoring Officer presented an amended version (subsequently numbered as G78) which also included a definition of a ‘relevant person’ for the purposes of the Code.
RESOLVED
(1) That the amended flow-chart (Paper G78) providing guidance in declaring interests at meetings be approved and circulated to all Members and to the Clerks of Parish and Town Councils and that a copy also be placed on the Council’s website for ease of reference.
(2) That, if there is a demand for it, refresher training and training for any Parish or Town Councillors who did not attend any of the earlier seminars be provided in Spring 2008.
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The Monitoring Officer reported that, as a consequence of the election of Mr B Riley as a District Councillor, a vacancy had arisen for an independent member of the Committee. Following consultations with the Standards Board, an initial approach had been made via other Suffolk Monitoring Officers to determine whether any existing independent members of a Standards Committee in the county might be interested in also serving on Babergh’s Committee. No expressions of interest had been received at that time and so the vacancy had been publicly advertised, in response to which five applications had been received, including one from an existing member of another authority’s Standards Committee. In addition, one candidate was ineligible by virtue of already being a member of a Parish Council. It was intended that the Monitoring Officer would compile a shortlist of applicants and conduct interviews on 13 August. Any subsequent appointment to the Committee would have to be made by the Council and it was noted that, should there be two or more strong candidates, it would be possible to consider appointing more than one independent member at that time.
RESOLVED
That the steps taken to fill the vacancy be noted and, subject to the candidates being of sufficient quality, the possibility be endorsed of more than one independent member being appointed to serve on the Committee as a result of this recruitment process.
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A report (Paper G62) by the Monitoring Officer was considered on a proposal by the Standards Board for England for local authorities in an area to pilot joint working arrangements through the establishment of joint Standards Committees and/or Sub-Committees with specific powers. It was the Board’s view that such arrangements would help address the issue of Members being ‘conflicted out’ of potential hearings by reason of having previously been involved in a case at either the initial or review stages, that they would help solve problems in the recruitment of independent members and that such arrangements would entail the creation of a countywide pool of Members experienced in standards-related matters. The proposal had been discussed at a meeting of the county’s Monitoring Officers held on 18 June 2007 at which the Standards Board had been represented and the Council was represented by the Deputy Monitoring Officer. The Deputy Monitoring Officer reported on issues raised at that meeting, including details of the options for the formal structure to support joint working and the scope for involvement by Suffolk County Council’s Standards Committee in any wider arrangements that might be agreed. A further meeting of the county’s Monitoring Officers was to be held before the 17 August deadline for responding to the Standards Board when it was anticipated that a joint response would be formulated.
RESOLVED
That the Monitoring Officer be authorised to respond to the consultation by the Standards Board on the basis that Babergh District Council would support joint arrangements but that those arrangements should preferably be informal and deal with the first sieve of complaints, and that individual authorities’ Standards Committees should be retained.
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A report (Paper G63) by the Monitoring Officer was submitted providing details of the volume and type of complaints referred to the Standards Board during the period from 1 June 2006 to 31 May 2007. One-fifth of complaints concerned District Councillors and nearly half were about the conduct of Parish or Town Councillors. Most complaints concerned an alleged failure to declare prejudicial interests but, of all the complaints received, only 16% were referred for investigation of which 5% were referred to the Monitoring Officer.
RESOLVED
That the report be noted.
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The Monitoring Officer reported that two places had been reserved for the Council’s representatives at the Annual Assembly of Standards Committees which would take place at the International Conference Centre in Birmingham on 15 and 16 October 2007. It had been agreed at the last meeting to appoint Mrs Cole as one of the Council’s representatives.
RESOLVED
That Mr P Jones be appointed as the Council’s second representative at the Annual Assembly of Standards Committees to be held on 15 and 16 October 2007.
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The Monitoring Officer submitted a report (Paper G64) containing details of interests and gifts/hospitality declared by Councillors and members of staff during the period from 1 April to 30 June 2007.
RESOLVED
That the report be noted.
Consideration was given to the scheduled date of the Committee’s next meeting, which was 26 October 2007, but which the Monitoring Officer would be unable to attend.
RESOLVED
That the Monitoring Officer in consultation with the Chairman of the Committee consider whether, in the light of any items of business that may arise, the next meeting of the Committee should be rescheduled.
The meeting concluded at 11.15 a.m.
Chairman
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