Council & Democracy

Members are requested at the start of the meeting to declare any known interests in any matter to be considered, and are reminded that any such interest should also be declared at the start of an item or during any discussion of the matter concerned.

            The Vice-Chair welcomed Mrs Ann Richards and Councillor Rochelle Russell as new members of the Standards Committee.  He reminded Members of the need to declare any known interests in any matters to be considered at the meeting.

            Mrs Ann Richards declared a personal and non-prejudicial interest in respect of complaint (SBC/43/09) for which progress was reported in Agenda Item 9 (Ethical Framework Compliance Update), as she had provided a witness statement at the request of the investigator.

            Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting of the Standards Committee held on 19^th April 2010 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

(See explanatory note below.  Please phone the Committee Clerk whose name and number appears at the top of this agenda if you need further guidance.)

            No public questions were received during the meeting.

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 Agenda Item 9 on the grounds that it would involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Schedule 12A to the Act, and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information concerned (Minute 8 refers).

            The Committee viewed the DVD ‘Assessment Made Clear’ issued by Standards for England as a training aid on the process for dealing with the assessment and review of Code of Conduct complaints, and discussed any issues arising.

            Resolved –That the DVD presentation on the Code of Conduct complaint procedures be noted.

            The Committee considered a report of the Director of Law and Democratic Services (Monitoring Officer) asking the Committee to agree its Annual Report for 2009/10 and Work Programme for 2010/11.

            Resolved – (1) That the Annual Report for 2009/10 be approved and forwarded to Council for information, subject to a number of typographical amendments together with the following:

·        Inclusion of actual average time taken to process Code of Conduct complaints at assessment and review stage, and information comparing the source and subject of complaints for 2009/10 to those received in 2008/09.

·        Inclusion of information on outcome of whistleblowing complaints.

·        Inclusion of the Chair’s Introduction.

            (2) Any additional amendments be advised to the Monitoring Officer within the next 7 days.

      (3) That the Committee’s Work Programme for 2010/11 be approved, subject to corrections to the dates of meetings.

                        The Committee received a report from the Director of Law and Democratic Services (Monitoring Officer) providing an update of various matters relating to the Ethical Framework including:

a)     Annual Audit Letter – The Committee welcomed the results of the letter for 2008/09, including a score of 3 on KLOE 2.3 (good governance), and notable practice in relation to promoting good governance in partnerships.

b)     Annual Governance Statement – The Committee noted the Annual Governance Statement which had been approved at Audit Committee on 22^nd June 2010. 

c)      Standards for England– The Monitoring Officer advised the Committee that Standards for England was being abolished and the Standards Annual Conference had been cancelled.  He would bring a report to the next meeting on any new framework for ethical governance issued by the Government.

d)     Training – The Committee noted the ethical training provided by the Monitoring Officer to Councillors and Parish Councillors since the last meeting.

e)     Media Guidelines for Councillors - The Committee considered proposals for changes to the Media Guidelines for Councillors relating to use of officer photographs in party literature, and guidance on Councillor use of blogs and social networking sites.  The Committee considered written representations received from the Labour Group, the Liberal Democratic Group, Councillor Bennett, Councillor Heaton-Jones, Councillor Wright and verbal representations from Councillor Harrison, in relation to changes to paragraph 4.5 of the Media Guidelines.  The Members noted the following comments:

• A definition of social networking should be included in the guidelines.
• The recommended changes are unnecessary, as this would be covered by the existing Code of Conduct provisions, and Councillors as part of their role have to know what comments are appropriate.
• There should be greater clarity given to when information ceases to be confidential and can be disclosed.
• The guidelines should deal with Councillors as individuals rather than as members of Political Groups.

• In relation to the proposed requirement for Councillors to check information with Members and Officers before publication the following comments were received:

Ø      There should be no requirement to check with fellow Councillors before quoting them, as they have a right of reply.

Ø      Any comments made in public or published in writing should be able to be quoted without specific permission.

Ø      The general requirement to check erodes Councillors’ freedom to speak on public issues and the speed of which comments can be given. 

• In relation to the proposed requirement for Councillors to use their own name when using social media sites to comment on Council related matters the following comments were received:

Ø      This is unenforceable and flies against the standard practice of use of pseudonyms on such sites.  Instead, Councillors should be strongly advised to use their own names, and reminded that if they choose to write under a pseudonym they should not publish anything that would breach the Code of Conduct, and should be aware that there might be ways for their identity to be traced.

Ø      This would limit the opportunity for Councillors to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

             The Committee considered an exempt report from the Director of Law and Democratic Services regarding the outcome of various ethical framework compliance matters, including the progress of current whistleblowing complaints and Code of Conduct complaints.  It was noted that one new Code of Conduct Complaint had been received since the last meeting. This had been considered by the Assessment Sub-Committee and resulted in a decision for the Monitoring Officer to provide training to the Councillor concerned. 

             Resolved - That the report on the outcome of various ethical framework complaints be noted.