Agenda and draft minutes

Standards Committee.. - Tuesday 11 October 2011 10.00 am, NEW

Venue: Council House, Armada Way, Plymouth

Contact: Helen Rickman, Democratic Support Officer  Email: helen.rickman@plymouth.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

18.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members will be asked to make any declarations of interest in respect of items on this Agenda.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest made by members in accordance with the Code of Conduct.

19.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 71 KB

The Committee will be asked to confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 6 July 2011.

Minutes:

Agreed the minutes of the meeting held on 6 July 2011.

20.

DRAFT MINUTES OF THE WORKING GROUP pdf icon PDF 25 KB

The Committee will be provided with the draft minutes of the working group.

Minutes:

Members considered the draft minutes of the working group and discussed the format that a performance review may take.  One option included an informal meeting comprising three members of the Standards Committee (e.g. Chair plus one member from each political party) to review competency and performance against the independent member job description and person specification.  A report could then be produced identifying areas for improvement or appropriate training.  On balance, however, it was felt that it was more appropriate that a more informal approach was introduced with the Chair and Monitoring Officer canvassing opinion from political groups.

 

Agreed the recommendations of the working group as follows –

 

(1)

 

the process for making a complaint about a member’s conduct should be made clear to all members;

 

(2)

 

that independent members should be appointed for a fixed period (as at present), but that should be subject to annual review;

 

(3)

 

that the process under (2) above should be recommended to other committees which appoint independent/co-opted members.

 

21.

CHAIR'S URGENT BUSINESS

To receive reports on business which, in the opinion of the Chair, should be brought forward for urgent consideration.

Minutes:

There were no items of Chair’s urgent business.

22.

COSTS OF THE STANDARDS PROCESS

The Committee will be provided with a verbal update on the costs of the Standards process as requested at the last committee meeting.

 

Minutes:

The Monitoring Officer updated the Committee on the costs of the Standards process and the current situation regarding progress of the Localism Bill.  Members were advised that –

 

(a)

 

internal costs for time spent on Standards-related work were not recorded by Democratic Support or Legal and were, therefore, not available;

 

(b)

 

the total amount spent on external fees over the last two years was in the order of £22, 265;

 

(c)

 

the Localism Bill would probably receive Royal Assent early in 2012;

 

(d)

 

contrary to earlier versions of the Bill, it now appeared likely that there would be a compulsory code of conduct for Local Authorities to adopt;

 

(e)

 

there were currently no outstanding cases for consideration by the Standards Committee.

 

Members welcomed the fact that council’s would have to adopt a code of conduct and, following discussion, it was recommended that a copy of the Nolan Principles be displayed in each of the committee and members’ rooms.

23.

DATE AND VENUE OF NEXT MEETING

For the Committee to note the next Standards Committee will take place at 10am in the Council House on Wednesday 14 December 2011.

Minutes:

The next scheduled meeting of the Standards Committee will take place at 10 am on Wednesday 14 December 2011 in the Council House.

24.

EXEMPT BUSINESS

To consider passing a resolution under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the press and public from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that it (they) involve(s) the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph(s) of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Minutes:

There were no items of exempt business.