Agenda and minutes

The Chair reminded members of the need to declare known interests in any matters to be considered at the meeting. No declarations were made.

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 21^st July 2014.

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting held on 21^st July 2014 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

There were no public questions.

Certain items are expected to include the consideration of exempt information and the Standards Committee is, therefore, recommended to resolve "That, in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded during the discussion of the matters referred to in the items listed below, on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information, as defined in the respective paragraph of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, and the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information".

Resolved - That, in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded during the discussion of the matters referred to in the item listed below on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the respective paragraphs of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

            Item No.                             Paragraph Nos.                  Minute No.

                                    7                                  1 and 2                                   15

The Committee received a report from the Director of Law and Democratic Services providing an update on matters relating to the Ethical Framework, including:

·        Dispensations.

·        A summary of Code of Conduct complaints received during the 2014/15 Municipal Year.

·        The consideration of updates to the Council’s Codes and Protocols.

·        The Council’s Ethical Audit Self-Assessment.

·        Training issues.

·        The Annual Report 2013/14 of the Committee on Standards in Public Life.

·        The regional workshop on the role of the Independent Persons.

            Resolved – (1) That the Ethical Framework update be noted.

            (2) That the summary of code of conduct complaints, included in the ethical framework update, should, in future, provide a distinction between complaints that are submitted by members of the public and those that are submitted by councillors.

            (3) That, in order to facilitate the Standards Committee’s consideration of the Council’s Codes and Protocols, and in line with the procedure utilised for previous reviews, the Monitoring Officer consult on each of the Codes and Protocols with relevant officers, the political groups on the Council, and also with Parish Councils, and recommend any valid changes to the Standards Committee at its meeting in January 2015.

            (4) That, further to (4) above, members of the Committee be invited to submit to the Monitoring Officer the details of any particular issues that they would wish to be considered as part of the review of the codes and protocols.

            (5) That, with reference to the Committee’s consideration of the Ethical Audit Desktop Analysis:

·        The analysis be amended to incorporate the typographical errors highlighted by members during their debate of the item.

·        The Council’s Head of Human Resources be invited to attend the next meeting of the Committee to discuss (i) the status and content of the Employees’ (Officers’) Code of Conduct (approved by the Council in 2006 and not reviewed since October 2008) and (ii) the need for standardisation of “working from home” practices across the Council.

            (6) That it be noted that the Hoey Ainscough workshop on the role of the Independent Persons, scheduled to be held at the Civic Offices on 23^rd October, had been cancelled and that, instead, the Council’s Independent Persons had been invited to attend workshops to be held at other regional venues.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Law and Democratic Services regarding the outcome of various ethical framework compliance matters, including the details of Whistleblowing cases and Code of Conduct Complaints received since the last Committee and the outcome of any completed investigations in relation to these.

            Resolved – That the Ethical Framework Compliance report be noted.