STANDARDS
COMMITTEE
3RD
OCTOBER 2006
Present:
Mr N Briers (Independent non-Council Member);
Chair
Councillors R Cartlidge, J Hammond and L T
Wood
Independent (non-Council)
Member:
Mr J Ross
Parish Representative:
Mr P W Jackson (deputising for Mr D
Forrest)
In Attendance:
Councillor R Stafford
Officers in attendance:
Mrs R Goddard
Acting Deputy Monitoring Officer
Miss D Moulson
Democratic Services Officer
Apologies: Councillors
D J Cannon, P A Hallett and Mr D Forrest
15. DECLARATIONS OF
INTEREST
No Member made any declaration of interest in
respect of any item of business on the agenda.
16. RECORD OF
MEETING
AGREED: That the record of the
meeting held on 11th July 2006 be approved as
correct.
Minute 11 Ethics and Standards
At the meeting on 11th July,
proposals had been put forward for a presentation on ethics and
standards to be made to Parish Councillors at the next scheduled
Parish Conference and Council Members prior to a meeting of
Council. To date, only the presentation to the Parishes had
taken place.
The Committee briefly discussed various
options for ensuring that both Borough and Parish Members remained
aware of the requirements of the Code of Conduct and it was
suggested that the issue be raised at the next
meeting.
17. RETIREMENT OF
COUNCIL’S MONITORING OFFICER
It was reported that Mr Alan Warburton, Crewe
and Nantwich Borough Council’s Monitoring Officer had retired from
the authority on 29th September 2006. As an
interim measure, Mr Chris Henshall had been appointed as Acting
Monitoring Officer, with his colleague Mrs Rachel Goddard Acting
Deputy Monitoring Officer.
AGREED: That the Committee’s
thanks, appreciation and best wishes be recorded and conveyed to Mr
Alan Warburton in recognition of his contribution to the work of
the Committee.
18. COMPLIMENTS,
COMMENTS, COMPLAINTS AND SUGGESTION SCHEME
The Committee considered the report of the
Assistant Chief Executive Democratic Services and Human Resources
which outlined communications received by the Council for the
period July – September 2006.
Members expressed concern about the manner in
which the responses had been recorded as there appeared to be no
consistency. Comment was made that some of the responses
recorded as ‘comments’ should actually have been classified as
‘complaints’, requiring a response to be issued to the points
raised. As clarification regarding the management of the
scheme could not be provided at this time, it was –
AGREED: That further
information on the operation of the Compliments, Comments,
Complaints and Suggestion Scheme be submitted to the next meeting
of the Committee.
19. EXCLUSION OF PRESS
AND PUBLIC
AGREED: That the press
and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the
following matter pursuant to Section 100(A)(4) of the Local
Government Act 1972 on the grounds that it involves the likely
disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 1 of Part
1 of Schedule 12A (as amended) of the Act.
20. APPLICATIONS FOR
THE POSITION OF INDEPENDENT NON-COUNCIL MEMBER TO THE STANDARDS
COMMITTEE
To provide the Committee with more flexibility
and to enhance its impartiality, applications had been sought from
members of the public to sit on the Standards Committee as the
third Independent non-Council Member. Seven applications had
been received and the Committee was invited to agree a short-list
for interview.
AGREED: That Candidates 1, 4
and 7 be short-listed and invited for
interview.
21. RE-ADMITTANCE OF
PRESS AND PUBLIC
AGREED: That the press
and public be re-admitted to the meeting.
22. DATE OF NEXT
MEETING/DEVELOPMENT SESSION
22.1
Interviews
The Committee was invited to agree the date
for interviewing the short-listed candidates for the position of
Independent non-Council Member.
AGREED: That -
a) interviews be
held on Monday 23rd October 2006; and
b) a
presentation be made to the candidates prior to the interviews
commencing at 2pm.
22.2
Development Session – 2nd November
2006
In light of the changes to officer support for
the Committee and as the appointment of the Independent non-Council
Member would not be resolved until 1st November, the
Committee was asked to confirm whether the development session
scheduled for 2nd November 2006 should be retained or
rescheduled.
AGREED:
a) That the development session scheduled for
2nd November 2006 be deferred to the 14th
November 2006; and
b) investigations take place with other local
authorities to secure an alternative facilitator for the session,
if
appropriate.
22.3 Date of Next
Scheduled
Meeting
14th November 2006
............…………………….
Chair