Meeting documents

There were no declarations of interest.

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 7 June 2011 be approved as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

The District Solicitor spoke to his report included in the agenda, which updated the Committee on the termination of the current Standards regime and the subsequent new arrangements effective under the Localism Act. The key dates in respect of these changes were:

• From 31 January 2012 no new complaints would be received by Standards for England

• On 31 March 2012 ‘Standards for England’ would cease to exist; and

• The standards provisions in the Localism Act would come into force on 1 July 2012.

As from 1 July 2012 every authority would be under a duty to promote and maintain high standards of conduct by elected and co-opted members.  All standards matters, including the determination of any outstanding standards complaints would become the responsibility of the authority and would be determined under the new arrangements that are required to be in place by that date.

The Councils statutory Standards Committee, as it currently existed, would be abolished as from 1 July 2012 and any voluntary Standards Committee or Sub-committee established thereafter by the Authority would be an ordinary committee or sub-committee established under S101 and S102 of the Local Government Act 1972, and subject to proportionality. Any new committee would assist in discharging the duty of the authority to promote and maintain high standards of conduct, along with arrangements for regulation, albeit such is limited in scope.

The District Council would still remain responsible for administering the standards arrangements for parish and town councils within their boundaries.

The role of the Independent Member has changed in that he or she would have no voting rights on any Committee established, and cannot have served as a Independent Member of any existing Standards Committee for the same authority in the last 5 years. The role was more consultative, as the Independent Member would have to be approached for his or her views before a District Council took any decision on any allegation it decided to investigate.  Similarly the subject member of a complaint would have the right to consult the Independent Member.

Each authority, including parishes, was required to adopt a Code of Conduct, which would only apply to Members and Co-opted Members when acting in their capacity as a Member or Co-opted Member. Private life would not be covered.

Importantly the requirement for members to give an undertaking to comply with the Code of Conduct had been removed, although it might be considered reasonable to expect members to comply.

Personal and Prejudicial Interests were replaced with disclosed pecuniary interests, non-disclosed pecuniary interests and non-pecuniary interests. The register of interests requirement for Members remained largely unchanged.

The new arrangements were very much based on the Seven Principles of Public Life as set out by the Nolan Committee of:

• Selflessness;
• Integrity;
• Objectivity;
• Accountability;
• Openess;
• Honesty; and
• Leadership

Members made a number of points and raised queries upon which clarification was given as follows:

• It was confirmed that the early stages of the current complaints regime (the initial assessment  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

The meeting had before it the report and extensive appendices in respect of complaints, compliments and comments received for the first two quarters of the financial year 2011-12.

Members had read through the data and were delighted that once again compliments outnumbered complaints.

A Member enquired whether there were any trends or features in the report that gave officers cause for concern, aware that management of comments by exception was seen as good practice. Officers confirmed that no such worries existed.

RESOLVED: That the Monitoring of Complaints, Comments and Compliments Report for the First and Second Quarters 2011-12 and the data and charts contained therein be noted.

The minutes of the Local Standards Hearing Panels of 16 March, 20 June, 22 September and 18 October 2011 were appended to the agenda for the Committee’s consideration.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the Local Standards Hearing Panel Meetings of 16 March, 20 June, 22 September and 18 October 2011 be noted.