Issue - meetings

Actions arising from the minutes

The Chairman asked the Head of Governance to update members on actions taken following the last meeting.

The Head of Governance reported that the leaflet on complaints which had been produced by the Communications sub-committee had been printed and issued.  The other leaflet on the work of the Standards Committee was now ready for printing and would be issued shortly.

Town and Parish training dates had been decided and the first pilot session would take place on 8 April with Hankerton and Charlton Parish Councils.

The e-training package was ready to be rolled out.

A briefing note on Officers Code of Conduct would be issued shortly.

New Chief Executive

The Chairman welcomed the appointment of the new Chief Executive, Andrew Kerr, and said that she looked forward to meeting with him in the near future.

Keith Shipman

Keith Shipman, Independent member of the committee, was due to retire at the end of March.  He had been Chairman of the committee during its move to the new Council and had been involved in the development of local determination procedures.   The Chairman said that she would write to him wishing him well for the future and thanked him for all his work for the committee.

Update on review of the Constitution

The first meeting of the Review Group will be held on 15 March and the committee will be updated at its next meeting.

Council decision on publication of Registers of Interest

The Council had adopted the Standards Committee recommendation on the online publication of interests.  Councillors could opt in to this method of publication.

Comprehensive Area Assessment briefing - 17 February

This had been a very useful briefing.  It was noted that Wiltshire County Council and the new Wiltshire Council had been awarded the Green Flag for involving people in decision making that affected their local community.  This Green flag puts Wiltshire ahead of many other authorities in the area.   Further details could be found on the Audit Commission website.

Training on the Code of Conduct for Wiltshire Councillors

This would be undertaken by Nick Holden and members of the Standards Committee will be kept informed and invited to attend.  Dates are still being agreed.

Meeting Handling

In order to make it easier for members of the public to understand what was happening at meetings and to assist them in following discussions the Chairman said that she would use titles and surnames when addressing speakers and requested that all speakers keep to the point and be concise.