STANDARDS COMMITTEE  - 2 July 2002

To update the Committee on the adoption of Codes of Conduct by the relevant authorities in Chiltern and to report  back on the  member training  sessions  conducted by the  Monitoring Officer.

1.2

All the relevant  authorities  in Chiltern have now complied with the requirements  of Section 51 of the Local Government Act 2000 and adopted  Codes of Conduct  which incorporate the compulsory provisions set out in the Model Codes published by the Secretary of State  - The Local Authorities (Model Code of Conduct)(England) Order 2001 and The Parish Councils (Model Code of Conduct ) Order 2001. The Notice of Adoption advertisement required by  Section 51(6) of the Local Government Act 2000 has now been published by the Chiltern District Council on behalf of all the relevant authorities an appeared in the Bucks Examiner and the Bucks Free Press on 28 June 2002. The table below shows the dates on which the various codes were adopted

1.3

At the last meeting of the Standards Committee Members received training on the Codes of Conduct from the Monitoring Officer and had requested that similar training be made available to  all Councillors in Chiltern. The Monitoring Officer conducted two training sessions in the Council Chamber on the 12 and 17 June 2002, each attended by about twenty-five delegates. Each session consisted of a power-point presentation followed by questions and answers and a number of practical exercises. A copy of the slides and the practical exercises are attached as Appendix 1. In addition the Monitoring Officer is preparing a model answer to the practical exercised which, along with a copy of the power-point slides, will be distributed to all Members of Chiltern District Council, the Town and Parish Clerks and the Parish Councillors who attended the sessions. Copies of the model answer will be distributed at the meeting.

1.4

Generally speaking the training sessions were well received by the delegates. In particular, the practical exercises generated useful discussion and debate on some of the more intricate aspects of the Codes and if there is sufficient demand for another training session from Councillors who were unable to attend the earlier sessions, the Monitoring Officer will set this up. It is also recommended that training on the new Codes of Conduct is incorporated in the induction training given to new Councillors.

RECOMMENDATION

1.     That the report be noted