Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies were received from:

·       Cllr Pip Ridout

The Committee also noted the following membership changes:

·       Cllr Tamara Reay to be removed as a Member of the Committee and Cllr James Sheppard to be added as a Member to the Committee

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 18 April 2024.

To confirm the minutes of the Standards Hearing Sub-Committee meetings held on 11 October 2023, 16 November 2023, 8 February 2024 and 15 May 2024.

The minutes of the previous Standards Committee meeting held on 18 April 2024 and the minutes from the Standards Hearing Sub-Committee meetings held on 11 October 2023, 16 November 2023, 8 February 2024 and 15 May 2024 were presented for consideration.

It was;

Resolved

To approve and sign the minutes as a true and correct record.

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no announcements.

The Council welcomes contributions from members of the public.

Statements

If you would like to make a statement at this meeting on any item on this agenda, please register to do so at least 10 minutes prior to the meeting. Up to 3 speakers are permitted to speak for up to 3 minutes each on any agenda item. Please contact the officer named on the front of the agenda for any further clarification.

Questions

To receive any questions from members of the public or members of the Council received in accordance with the constitution.

Those wishing to ask questions are required to give notice of any such questions in writing to the officer named on the front of this agenda no later than 5pm on Tuesday 25 June 2024, in order to be guaranteed of a written response. In order to receive a verbal response questions must be submitted no later than 5pm onThursday 27 June 2024. Please contact the officer named on the front of this agenda for further advice. Questions may be asked without notice if the Chairman decides that the matter is urgent.

Details of any questions received will be circulated to Committee members prior to the meeting and made available at the meeting and on the Council’s website.

One public question had been received by the deadline published in the agenda, to which a response had been provided. The question and response had been published as an agenda supplement.

To note the Status Report on the current position on Code of Conduct

Complaints.

The Committee received the status report, updating on the number and outcome of Code of Conduct complaints received since the last meeting on 18 April 2023 and providing a summary of the complaints considered by the Assessment Sub-Committee (ASC).

Between 8 April 2024 and 20 June 2024, the Monitoring Officer had received 15 complaints under codes of conduct. Of these, 1 was referred for investigation by the Assessment Sub-Committee, 1 was dismissed by the Assessment Sub-Committee as requiring No Further Action. 2 were dismissed by the Monitoring Officer due to allegations relating to a member acting in their private capacity, 1 was dismissed by the Monitoring Officer due to the complaint being regarding an employment matter between the Complainant and council, 1 was dismissed by the Monitoring Officer following the resignation of the Subject Member, 3 were dismissed by the Monitoring Officer due to insufficient information being provided, 1 was dismissed by the Monitoring Officer under paragraph 4.6 of Protocol 11, 1 resolved informally by the Monitoring and 4 were awaiting assessment.

It was report that the 15 complaints for the quarter was about average compared to the previous quarterly periods.

The Committee noted that there were two live Investigations ongoing at present.

A table of current cases had been provided to the Chairman on 11 June 2024 for a dip sample of cases to be undertaken to enable oversight.

The Chairman of the Standards Assessment Sub-Committee, Councillor Ruth Hopkinson noted that it was likely there would be a rise in code of conduct complaints as they moved closer to the local election period next May.

After a discussion, it was,

Resolved:

To note the position on Code of Conduct Complaints.

The Committee received the report which set out the proposed changes to Protocol 11 – Arrangements for dealing with Code of Conduct complaints.

The proposals included the removal of the separate Local Assessment Criteria document, with relevant content being incorporated into the new Protocol 11 and amendments to the Procedure Rules for the Assessment Sub-Committee.

Both of the current documents had been in force since January 2020. Since that time aspects requiring modification had been raised and were now addressed within the prosed changes, as summarised within the report.

It was;

Resolved:

To approve the proposed new version of Protocol 11 – Arrangements for Dealing with Code of Conduct Complaints and recommend its adoption into the council’s Constitution by Full Council.

To recommend the removal of the Local Assessment Criteria document by Full Council, with necessary and updated information from the document now incorporated in the proposed Protocol 11.

To approve the proposed new version of the Assessment Sub-Committee Procedure document.

The Committee considered the recommendations of the Constitution Focus
Group.

The Committee received a report on the proposed changes to:

·       Part 10 – Contract and Procurement Rules

All changes had been recommended by the Constitution Focus Group following meetings reviewing the sections. This included incorporating process detail within the internal Procurement Manual, and other changes to ensure compliance with the latest legislation.

It was,

Resolved:

To recommend Full Council approve changes to the following sections of the Constitution:

• Part 10 – Contract and Procurement Rules

To consider a report from the Director, Legal and Governance.

The Committee received a report requesting the appointment of members to the Standards Assessment Sub-Committee for the forthcoming year and to confirm the terms of reference of the Focus Group, and to select a member or substitute of the Committee to serve as the representative on it.

It was;

Resolved:

The Standards Committee agreed:

1. To appoint five members to the Standards Assessment Sub-Committee for the forthcoming 2024/25 year as follows:

2. The terms of reference for the Constitution Focus Group and to appoint Cllr Richard Britton as the Standards Committee representative for 2024/25.

There were no urgent items.