Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies or substitutions for the meeting.

Apologies were received from Councillor Allison Bucknell.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Standards Committee held on 14 April 2021.

To receive the minutes of the meeting of the Hearing Sub-Committee held on 7 April 2021.

The minutes of the meeting held on 14 April 2021 were presented for consideration. The minutes of the Hearing Sub-Committee held on 7 April 2021 were also provided. It was,

Resolved:

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 14 April 2021 as a true and correct record.

To receive and note the minutes of the meeting of the Standards Hearing Sub-Committee held on 7 April 2021.

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

There were no declarations.

To receive any announcements through the Chair.

The Chairman announced there had been approximately 25 applications for the 4 co-opted non-voting members of the committee positions. He would meet with the Monitoring Officer to shortlist candidates ahead of interviews in July.

The Council welcomes contributions from members of the public, however, to ensure Covid-19 public health guidance is adhered to, physical attendance at this meeting will be limited. Please contact the officer named on this agenda no later than 5pm on 11 June 2021 if you wish to attend this meeting.

Where is it is not possible for you to attend due to reaching the capacity limit, alternative arrangements will be made which may include your question/statement being submitting in writing.

Statements

If you would like to make a statement at this meeting on any item on this agenda, please contact the officer named on the front of the agenda no later than 5pm on 11 June 2021.

Questions

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 8 June 2021 in order to be guaranteed of a written response. In order to receive a verbal response questions must be submitted no later than 5pm on10 June 2021. 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.

No statements or questions were submitted.

To receive a report from the Monitoring Officer.

A report was received updating the Committee on the status of Code of Conduct complaints received since the last ordinary meeting, and the number and outcome of complaints received in the last year. Since adoption of the revised arrangements under Protocol 11 in January 2020, approximately one third of complaints were dismissed by the Monitoring Officer prior to consideration by the Assessment Sub-Committee.

There was a discussion regarding timescales for completion of various stages of the process and where this had not occurred. The Chairman noted that due to pressures arising from Covid-19 the proposed dip sampling of complaints to monitor progress had not taken place. This would now begin as of June 2021, and he would regularly report back to the Committee in future meetings following review of anonymised complaints and the whether processes and targets had been met, or the reason for any variance.

Details were also sought on the numbers of complaints regarding parish councillors versus those regarding unitary councillors, and confirmation the figures in the report did not double count where someone was both a unitary and a parish councillor.

At the conclusion of discussion, it was,

Resolved:

To note the report update.

To appoint the membership of the Standards Assessment Sub-Committee.

A report was received on the Committee appointing members to the Standards Assessment Sub-Committee, which undertook initial assessment of Code of Conduct complaints.

A member raised issues relating to legal support and advice to previous Review Sub-Committees, with the Monitoring Officer stating that the service would receive any feedback and consider how the processes could be improved further. Other members noted the introduction of the new process for Assessment Sub-Committees in January 2020, with monthly meetings and standing membership, and considered that this had had a positive effect on the process.

At the conclusion of discussion, it was,

Resolved:

1)    To appoint five members to the Standards Assessment Sub-Committee for the forthcoming year as follows:

Cllr Richard Britton

Cllr Ernie Clark

Cllr Gordon King

Cllr Ruth Hopkinson

Cllr Sam Pearce-Kearney

2)    To delegate appointment of a Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Standards Assessment Sub-Committee to the Sub-Committee.

To consider re-establishment of the Constitution Focus Group.

A report was received recommending reappointment of the Constitution Focus Group, a working group which reviewed sections of the Constitutions on behalf of the Committee ahead of making recommendations to Full Council.

It was also recommended that the Chairman of Council be appointed to the Focus Group, and that the Committee determine which member or substitute of the Committee should be its representative on the Focus Group.

At the conclusion of discussion, it was,

Resolved:

1)    To approve the terms of reference of the Constitution Focus Group as set out in Appendix 1 of the report, with the inclusion of the role of Chairman of Wiltshire Council among its membership.

2)    To appoint Cllr Richard Britton to the Focus Group.

To receive a report on proposed updates to the Constitution.

A report was received proposing that the Committee make recommendations to Council to make minor amendments to Part 3B and Protocol 10 of the Constitution.

The changes were to amend the terms of reference of the Health and Wellbeing Board at Part 3B, to reflect recent changes to its membership, and a series of minor amendments to the Governance Reporting Arrangements at Protocol 10. The Protocol 10 changes also included addition of reference to the Stone Circle companies established by the Council. The Audit and Governance Committee had considered and approved the proposals.

Following brief discussion, it was,

Resolved:

To recommend Full Council approve the proposed revisions to Part 3B as detailed in Appendix A of the report, and the proposed revisions to Protocol 10 as detailed in Appendix B of the report.

To confirm the date of the next meeting as 22 July 2021.

The date of the next meeting was confirmed as 22 July 2021.

Any other items of business which the Chairman agrees to consider as a matter of urgency.

There were no urgent items.