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Agenda and minutes

Standards Committee
Monday, 17 February 2014 5:00 pm

Venue: The Jeffrey Room, St. Giles Square, Northampton, NN1 1DE.

Contact: Email: democraticservices@northampton.gov.uk 01604 837722

Items
No.	Item
1.	Apologies Minutes: Apologies were received from Councillors Patel, McGowen and Capstick.
2.	Minutes PDF 79 KB Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held on 10^th December 2012 were agreed and signed by the Chairman.
3.	Deputations / Public Addresses Minutes: None received.
4.	Declarations of Interest Minutes: None.
5.	Matters of Urgency which by reason of special circumstances the chair is of the opinion should be considered Minutes: None received.
6.	Openness and Transparency on Personal Interests - Department for Communities and Local Government Guidance PDF 150 KB Additional documents: Appendix 1 Openness_and_transparency_on_personal_interests DCLG , item 6. PDF 63 KB Minutes: The Borough Secretary & Monitoring Officer submitted the report as set out in the agenda. The new guidance aimed to clarify the situation with regard to declarations of personal/pecuniary interest. With the Committee’s approval the advice would be circulated to Councillors and Parish Councils following the meeting. In response to questions from the Committee the Borough Secretary & Monitoring Officer confirmed that Councillors voting on their own allowance levels would be able to do so, following a dispensation being issued. Dispensations would be issued if the Council would be unable to transact its business due to the level of declarations being made. The Committee was also advised that Councillors who had an interest in more than one property should declare all such properties in their Register of Interests. RESOLVED: That the report be noted; the guidance is circulated to Councillors and Parish Councils and that openness and transparency on personal interests be included in councillor training for 2015.
7.	Update of level and outcomes of standards complaints PDF 192 KB Minutes: The Borough Secretary & Monitoring Officer submitted the report as set out in the agenda. Due to the anonymous nature of complaints at the investigative stage it was suggested that the Chairman be briefed on the nature of the issues raised as required. In response to questions from the Committee the Borough Secretary & Monitoring Officer confirmed that matters relating to a specific Council service were outside the scope of the Code of Conduct. As such, these had been referred to the Council’s complaints procedure. In relation to potential breaches of the Code of Conduct, only after a robust investigation and a potential breach being established would there be a hearing. The hearing would be in front of a sub-committee of the Standards Committee. This hearing would hear evidence from all parties, including the investigator, and make any findings of breach of the code. If such a breach were to be found the sub-committee could, amongst other things, make recommendations on sanction to the Full Council. Full Council would then have a choice on whether to impose such sanction, but there was no power to suspend or remove a Councillor from office. The Borough Secretary & Monitoring Officer agreed that the timescales for the process needed to be managed closely to allow for a timely conclusion to be reached. RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

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