Meeting documents

Venue: Committee Room 1

Contact: Peter Druce 

Items
No. Item

12.

MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING

Minutes:

The Meeting noted an error in the agenda, in that it was asked that Members consider the minutes of the meeting of the Standards Committee of 12 December 2012, when in fact the previous meeting had been 8 January 2013. The Minutes of 12 December 2012 had in fact been agreed at the 8 January 2013 meeting.

 

It was therefore the minutes of the 8 January 2013 which were considered.

 

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting of the Standards Committee held on 8 January 2013 be approved as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

 

 

 

13.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

 

14.

REVIEW OF THE MEMBERS CODE OF CONDUCT AND STANDARDS ARRANGEMENTS

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The meeting noted that upon adoption of the new Code of Conduct and Arrangements for dealing with standards allegations by the Committee at its 31 July 2012 meeting, a review of these had been scheduled for six months hence.

 

This period had passed and changes could now be considered in light of operational experience.

 

Members looked through the complaints which had been received since the adoption of the new Code of Conduct and Arrangements, and the outcome of those that had been processed. It was noted that the majority of these had either shown no breach of the Code, or where there had been a potential breach, this had not been considered sufficiently serious to warrant investigation.

 

The Monitoring Officer confirmed that though previous years had seen numerous complaints received, the previous 8 months since the change of regime had seen more still. It was evident that a training need at the parish council in respect of which the majority of these recent complaints had been received, existed.

 

The Meeting then turned its attention to the proposed amendment to the Code which was as follows:

 

·              In respect of Paragraph 4 of the Code which dealt with Other Interests, in other words those that were not disclosable pecuniary interests. It was suggested that paragraph 4.2.1 would benefit by the addition of the words "body or organisation" where indicated in bold type below, so that members were clear that where they had an association with a body or organisation this should be regarded by them as an Other Interest:  

 

"4.        Other Interests

 

4.1       In addition to the requirements of Paragraph 3, if you attend a meeting at which any item of business is to be considered and you are aware that you have a "non-disclosable pecuniary interest or non-pecuniary interest" in that item, you must make verbal declaration of the existence and nature of that interest at or before the consideration of the item of business or as soon as the interest becomes apparent. 

 

4.2       You have a "non-disclosable pecuniary interest or non-pecuniary interest" in an item of business of your authority where –

 

4.2.1   a decision in relation to that business might reasonably be regarded as affecting the well-being or financial standing of you or a member of your family or a person, body or organisation with whom you have a close association to a greater extent than it would affect the majority of the Council Tax payers, ratepayers or inhabitants of the ward or electoral area for which you have been elected or otherwise of the authority’s administrative area, or

 

4.2.2   it relates to or is likely to affect any of the interests listed in the Table in the Appendix to this Code, but in respect of a member of your family (other than a "relevant person") or a person with whom you have a close association and that interest is not a disclosable pecuniary interest."

 

Members suggested that the word ‘any’ be inserted in front of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

15.

COMPLIMENTS, COMPLAINTS & COMMENTS QUARTER 3

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Committee’s considered the quarterly statistics relating to compliments, complaints and comments made about the Council’s services for the period 1 October – 31 December 2012 (Quarter 3).  The year on year comparison of complaints and compliments was also considered.

 

The 99% of complaints answered within target was noted along with the two major improvements made in the housing and refuse services in response to previous complaints.

 

Members noted that in regards to customer requests to Councillors regarding housing complaints and issues, work was proceeding to initially obtain relevant contact details for all local housing associations from which a protocol for Councillors could be worked up. The formation of a customer panel by Red Kite Community Housing to act as a forum for complaints and customer service issues was noted.

 

Improvements in the Automated Phone Service system operated by the Council were noted as a result of the improved wording of some of the scripts.

 

RESOLVED: That the data and charts for the period 1 October to 31 December 2012 (Quarter 3) regards complaints, compliments and comments as set out in Appendices to the report be noted.

 

 

16.

REFERRAL OF MINUTES OF LOCAL STANDARDS HEARING PANEL 11 JANUARY 2013

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the Local Standards Hearing Panel held on 11 January 2013 be received.