CHILTERN DISTRICT COUNCIL
 

 
 

MINUTES of the Meeting of the STANDARDS COMMITTEE
 

 
 

held on 24 September 2002
 

 
 

PRESENT:

Councillor

I T Gomm

- Chairman

 

"

Mrs L M Smith

- Vice-Chairman

 

 

 

 

 

Councillor

Ms J E Bramwell

 

 

"

P T Priestley

 

 

 

 

 

 

Independent Members

 

 

Mrs Caroline Langley

 

 

Duncan Backhouse

 
 

 
 

IN ATTENDANCE:

Councillor J A Banham

 

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE:

were received from Councillor Miss P Appleby and Parish Councillor E Newhouse.
 

 
 

 
 

6.     MINUTES
 

 
 

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 2 July 2002, copies of which had been previously circulated, were signed by the Chairman as a correct record.
 

 
 

 
 

7.     DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
 

 
 

There were no declarations of interest made.
 

 
 

 
 

8.     TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT POLICY: ELECTED MEMBERS
 

 
 

The Committee was asked to consider the introduction of a formal Training and Development Policy for Elected Members of Chiltern District Council. The policy would apply to all members, including the Independent Members of the Standards Committee.
 

 
 

The Head of Personnel advised that as a result of preparing the documents, consideration had been given to the role of Group Leader, as currently defined in the Constitution. It was suggested that consideration be given to specifically including responsibility for ensuring effective Training and Development of their respective group members, and for succession planning.
 

 
 

The policy highlighted the fact that the Council would not fund any training needs of a party political nature. Councillor Ms Bramwell believed that it would be inappropriate for Group Leaders to take on the responsibility of ensuring training of their group members as they held political roles and therefore any training carried out would not be politically neutral. It was put forward that the responsibility should be given to the paid officers, notably Personnel who had the necessary skills.
 

 
 

The Head of Personnel stated that whilst officers would be happy to assist the Group Leaders in their training and development role, it would not be appropriate for officers to undertake that role directly.
 

 
 

It was agreed that the responsibility should rest with the Group Leaders as they would be in a better position to ensure attendance by Members at training sessions.  They would also be able to carry out succession planning.
 

The difficulties of ensuring that members understood the importance of training and development and actually undertook the opportunities available was discussed. Mr Backhouse noted that on occasion it could be helpful, subject to cost, to engage outside training consultants to assist the process.
 

 
 

The Committee was made aware that the policy needed to be agreed at this point in time so that the allocation for budgets could be made. It was noted that this was not the most opportune time because of the forthcoming elections in May 2003, however it was deemed important to have a training and development policy in place for the new administration.  
 

 
 

The Head of Personnel also stated that it would be beneficial to have the policy in place in time for the Investment in People assessment.
 

 
 

RESOLVED –
 

 
 

1.

That the proposed policy be approved in principle.
 

 
 

2.

That the draft policy be circulated to all members for comment and discussions held with Group Leaders.
 

 
 

AND RECOMMENDED

 

3.

That, as amended in light of the consultation, the document be approved.

 
 

 
 

 
 

Note: Councillor J Banham left the meeting at 6.55p.m.
 

 
 

 
 

9.     REVISED OFFICERS WHISTLEBLOWING POLICY    
 

 
 

The Internal Audit Section annually reviewed the Council’s arrangements for the prevention and detection of Fraud and Corruption. The audit included a review of the Whistleblowing Policy for Officers. A complete revision of the Whistleblowing Policy had been carried out based upon Good Practice issued from the independent body ‘Public Concern at Work’. The main purpose for the revision was to make the policy more user friendly by putting it into plain English. The revised policy detailed the Council’s assurance to all staff if they wished to raise a concern, how the Council would deal with the matter, how staff could raise a concern, independent advice that was available and the procedure if staff still felt dissatisfied with the outcome.
 

 
 

Mrs Langley raised the question of whether it should be specified what would happen to staff if vexatious allegations were made. On balance it was felt that the current wording sufficed.
 

 
 

Management Team and staff side had agreed the revised policy prior to it being submitting to the Standards Committee for consideration.
 

 
 

The Committee was informed that if the policy were agreed it would be important to publicise its existence to staff via the Intranet in conjunction with regular updates.
 

 
 

On the whole the Committee were satisfied with the policy, however it needed to be clarified in the title that it was an Officers Whistleblowing Policy. In addition it needed to be made explicit that the policy was not only for officers to raise concerns about other officers, but also about Members.
 

 
 

RECOMMENDED –

 

That the revised Whistleblowing Policy for Officers be agreed.
 

 
 

 
 

The Meeting ended at 7.05 p.m.