STANDARDS COMMITTEE

14^TH NOVEMBER 2006

Present:

Mr N Briers (Independent non-Council Member); Chair

Councillors D J Cannon, P A Hallett and L T Wood

Independent (non-Council) Members:

Mr R Pomlett and Mr J Ross

Parish Representative:

Mr D Forrest

Officers in attendance:

Mr C Henshall                      Acting Monitoring Officer   

Miss D Moulson                   Democratic Services Officer

Apologies:  Councillors R Cartlidge and J Hammond  

26.       CHAIRMAN’S WELCOME

The Chairman welcomed Mr Roger Pomlett, appointed by Council on 1^st November 2006 as the third Independent non-Council Member to the Standards Committee.           

27.       DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

No Member made any declaration of interest in respect of any item of business on the agenda.

28.       RECORDS OF MEETINGS

AGREED:  That the records of the meetings held on 3^rd October 2006 and 23^rd October 2006 be approved as correct.

29.       REVISIONS TO THE CODE OF CONDUCT

The Committee had been provided with an extract from a Standards Board publication ‘Town and Parish Standard No.8’, which outlined key changes proposed to the current model Code of Conduct.  It was anticipated that appropriate legislation would be published in time to enable authorities to adopt the changes proposed prior to May 2007 elections.   

The Committee requested that all Members of Council be made aware of the proposed amendments upon receipt of the relevant documentation by the authority.    

30.       ETHICS AND STANDARDS PRESENTATIONS

This item had been included on the agenda as no presentation relating to ethics and standards had yet been made to Borough Councillors during the Municipal Year.  In light of changes proposed to the Code of Conduct, the Committee agreed to defer consideration of the matter to a future meeting.    

31.       COMPLEMENTS, COMMENTS AND COMPLAINTS (CCC) SCHEME   

31.1    Presentation

The Committee received a presentation on the report of the Principal Policy Officer, tabled at the meeting, which outlined communications received by the Council for the period September – October 2006. 

31.2    Operation of the CCC Scheme  

Concerns relating to the operation of the Complements, Comments and Complaints Scheme had been expressed by the Committee at previous meetings.  It was also reported that the process by which the scheme was operated had impacted on the corresponding performance indicator which was currently below target.  To enable a cross-cutting review to take place, the Committee was invited to identify its concerns.          

In making their comments, Members stated that whilst they did not wish to impose any further bureaucracy on the scheme, it was important to ensure that the mechanisms driving the procedure were sound and easy to understand.

At the conclusion of the discussion, the Chairman stated that the Committee’s concerns would be forwarded to the Principal Policy Officer to inform the review taking place. 

32.       HEARINGS PROCEDURE - REVIEW   

On the one occasion the Committee had carried out a hearing into an alleged breach of Conduct by a Member of the Borough Council, the Committee had followed the model procedure as set down by the Standards Board for England.                      

Two years had passed since the hearing and the Committee had requested that it be reminded of the procedure.  Members also considered that colleagues and officers should be made aware of the procedure in the event that an allegation was required to be determined by the Committee.           

The model procedure, as adopted, was appended to the agenda for information.  A Member commented that, whilst the procedure had worked well it was difficult to follow.  It was suggested that a flow chart, together with a synopsis of the procedure be drawn up and submitted to the next meeting for consideration.       

33.       DATE OF NEXT MEETING

30^th January 2007

.........…………………….  Chair