Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Margaret Edwards. The Chair welcomed Cllr M Ford, who attended the meeting to observe.

The Minutes of the meeting held on the 13^th June 2011 were signed by the Chair.

There were none.

There were none.

There were none.

A report was submitted on behalf of the Borough Solicitor, which highlighted changes to the Standards Regime, post enactment of the Localism Bill. The Borough Solicitor referred to the minutes of the meeting held on the 13^th June 2011, Item 6, resolution 1:

            ‘That the Chair of Standards, the Monitoring Officer, The Chief Executive and Leader of the Council meet to express the concerns of the Standards Committee and which aspects of the Communications Strategy and Action Plan would be introduced’.

The Borough Solicitor explained that a meeting of the Group Leaders and Chief Executive had been arranged to discuss in relation to standards, the way forward post enactment of the Localism Bill, but that due to ill health, it had been cancelled and was being rearranged. The Borough Solicitor did however inform the Committee that he had met with the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive both of whom had offered their support of the continuation of a Standards framework, post enactment of the Localism Bill.

In response to a request for an update on the status of the Localism Bill, the Borough Solicitor explained that the Bill was not due to be enacted until November 2011, but that it was anticipated that it would not come into effect until March 2012 due to the extensive deliberation process. The Borough Solicitor reported that the Localism Bill sought to abolish the current Standards Regime (including Standards for England) and instead place an onus on Local Authorities to promote and maintain high standards of conduct by members and allow Local Authorities to adopt a voluntary Code of Conduct.  The Borough Solicitor explained that some of the roles that the Standards Regime currently dealt with, could be dealt with by the General Purposes and/or Audit Committee. The Borough Solicitor further reported that it would no longer be a requirement of the Standards Committee to have independent members as stated in Article 10.2 of the Constitution. The Borough Solicitor informed members that the abolition of the current Standards Regime as detailed by the Localism Bill, would end the ability of Standards Committees to issue sanctions against any Member found to be breaking the Code of Conduct and leave them only with the ability to issue a censure.  Although, it was noted that the Director of Public Prosecutions would be able to investigate in cases of Members failing to declare personal interests, it was considered this would be highly unlikely to occur except in extremely serious cases.

Members discussed the importance of retaining independent members in order to maintain fairness, independence and transparency. It was felt that independent members were able to bring an outside perspective to the Committee and would help dispel any views that investigations were unreliable or politically motivated.

The Chair commented that the Standards Regime was not solely in place to complain about elected Members but also acted as a safeguard against vexatious reporting.

The Committee were in agreement that whilst the abolition of the Standards Regime  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

THE CHAIR TO MOVE:

“THAT THE PUBLIC AND PRESS BE EXCLUDED FROM THE REMAINDER OF THE MEETING ON THE GROUNDS THAT THERE IS LIKELY TO BE DISCLOSURE TO THEM OF SUCH CATEGORIES OF EXEMPT INFORMATION AS DEFINED BY SECTION 100(1) OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972 AS LISTED AGAINST SUCH ITEMS OF BUSINESS BY REFERENCE TO THE APPROPRIATE PARAGRAPH OF SCHEDULE 12A TO SUCH ACT.”

The Chair moved that the Public and Press be excluded from the remainder of the meeting on the grounds that there was likely to be disclosure to them of such categories of exempt information as defined by Section 100(1) of the Local Government Act 1972 as listed against such items of business by reference to the appropriate paragraph of Schedule 12A to such Act.

The Motion was Carried.