Present at the meeting:
Elected Members
- Councillor B J Fagan
- Councillor P Thompson
- Councillor Mrs R Winkworth
Independent Members
- Mr P G Pennington (Chairman)
- Mr R Kidd
- Mrs P Wheal
Parish Council Members
- Councillor M J Crosby (Shevington)
- Councillor M A Thomson (Haigh)
Officers in attendance
- Diane Adshead – Committee Services Officer
Officers presenting reports
- Kevin Lawson – Service Director, Borough Solicitor
- Martyn Kenyon – Head of Risk Management
- Roz Lawton – Chief Legal Officer
12 Apologies for absence: Councillors Mrs S Dewhurst, J Ellis, T W Halliwell, Mrs J Prescott and F B Walker and Mr D Lea (Independent Member).
13 Minutes: The minutes of the meeting of this Committee held on 9 June 2009 were recorded as a correct record subject to the inclusion of Councillor Mrs R Winkworth in the attendance at the meeting.
14 Exclusion of the public - Section 100a Local Government Act 1972: Resolved: The public is excluded from the meeting when the Committee discusses the following item for the reason set out below:-
| Agenda item no. |
Title of report |
Minute No. |
Description of exempt information by reference to the paragraph number in Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 |
| E1 |
Local investigation Z38/5 |
22 |
1 (Information about any named person). The public interest in making the exception is that the Standards Board itself does not publish the decision as they have not been the subject of a full investigation |
15 Conduct between Members: The Committee considered a report of the Service Director – Borough Solicitor, Kevin Lawson, concerning a proposal from David Lea which sought Members views on the standard of conduct that was expected between Members.
The Committee was advised that since the delegation of the responsibility for initial assessment of complaints about breaches of the Code from the Standards Board for England, the Assessment and Review Sub-committees of this Committee had tended to apply the criteria followed by the Standards Board in relation to the assessment of complaints by councillors that they have not been treated with respect by other councillors.
The Committee has a statutory function, under Section 54 of the Local Government Act 2000, to promote and maintain high standards of conduct by Members and Co-opted Members and it was suggested that statements made at Council meetings could in other circumstances be viewed as unacceptable personal abuse and could damage the reputation of the Council, as well as those of the councillors involved.
The Committee considered two options:-
(a) to continue to apply the same test of reasonable behaviour as it had in the past, following the lead of Standards Board assessments; or
(b) to introduce a higher standard of expected conduct between Members that excluded unreasonable or excessive personal attacks.
Resolved: The Committee agree to continue to apply the test of reasonable behaviour following the guidance of Standards Board.
16 Review of Member/Officer protocol (minute 4 June 2009 refers): The Committee considered a report of the Service Director – Borough Solicitor, which advised Members on the outcome of a questionnaire of all Members and Senior Officers on a possible review of the Member/Officer protocol.
Resolved: The Committee:
- notes the responses to the questionnaire; and
- agrees that a seminar involving Members and officers will be useful in taking the review forward.
17 Standards Board guidance – Dispensations and Joint Standards Committees: The Committee considered a report of the Service Director – Borough Solicitor, which informed Members of two guidance papers issued by the Standards Board.
The first paper concerned the power of the Standards Committee to grant dispensations to Members, who had a prejudicial interest in a matter, to take part in discussions and/or voting in limited circumstances. These were where:-
- More than 50% of Member who where entitled to vote were prohibited from voting: or
- The number of Members prohibited from voting would upset the political balance of the meeting to the extent that the outcome of voting would me prejudiced.
The Committee was advised of circumstance were dispensation could not be granted. Applications for dispensation would have to be made in writing by a Member and any application would be dealt with by the Standards Committee or sub-committee
The second paper concerned the possibility for a local authority to join with other local authorities to establish joint Standards Committees for their areas. The guidance put forward three proposals:-
- a joint committee to handle the assessment and review of complaints, but each authority retaining a separate Standards Committee to act in all other matters including receiving reports on investigations;
- a joint committee to handle the assessment and review of complaints and also consider final investigation reports and conduct hearings, but with each authority retaining a separate Standards Committee to act in all other matters; and
- a joint committee to carry out the whole of the functions of a Standards Committee.
Resolved: The Committee:-
- agrees to establish a Dispensation Sub-Committee to be drawn from the Members of the Committee on the same basis as the existing Assessment and Review Sub Committees, comprising if possible of either two Independent Members and one elected Member or three independent Members and two elected Members, but to be chaired by an independent Member;
- requests the Monitoring Officer to issue guidance and relevant forms to Members in relation to dispensation applications; and
- agrees not to pursue at this stage a proposal for a Joint Committee
18 Cases dealt with by the Assessment Sub-Committee in its first year: The Committee considered a report of the Service Director – Borough Solicitor, which informed Members of the cases that had been considered by the Assessment Sub-Committee from 1 May 2008 to 31 May 2009.
Resolved: The Committee notes the report.
19 Adjudication Panel for England/ethical standards officers’ decisions: There were none.
20 Parish issues: There were none.
21 Issues raised by Members: Members commented on the lack of publicity this Committee received in the recently published A-Z of Council Services and suggested that this would in future be a useful means of advertising the Committee’s role in the Council.
22 Local investigation Z38/5: The Committee considered a report of the Service Director – Borough Solicitor, which informed Members of the outcome of an investigation of a complaint referred by the Assessment Sub-Committee for local investigation and determination. The case related to an allegation that a Member had disclosed confidential information about an objector to an alley-gating proposal.
The complaint was referred to the Chief Legal Officer, with support from the Council’s Internal Audit Department to conduct an investigation. Following a thorough investigation, the investigator concluded that there was no direct evidence of a failure to comply with the Code of Conduct and accordingly considered that a conclusion of no failure to comply with the Code was appropriate.
The Committee was advised that it now had to consider the report of the investigator and in considering the report the Local Authorities (Code of Conduct)(Local Determination)(Amendment) Regulations 2004 provided that the Standards Committee may only make one of two findings:-
- That it accepts the finding of no failure to comply with the Code of Conduct; or
- That the matter should be considered at a hearing of the Standards Committee conducted under the Regulations.
Resolved: The Standards Committee:-
- unanimously accepts the finding of no failure to comply with the Code of Conduct; and
- instructs the Service Director – Borough Solicitor to notify all parties and to publish the finding as appropriate
