Agenda item

            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 in respect of:

i)                    Lay Memberships – The Committee noted that Mr Trevor Davies seat on the Committee was due for re-advertisement in April 2007.  It was suggested that the Monitoring Officer be given a general authority to carry out the necessary advertisement process for this and all future vacancies.

ii)                  Implications of the Livingstone Case – The Committee received Guidance from the Standards Board on the implications of the case for the way in which the Code of Conduct can apply to members’ actions.

iii)                Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill – Members of the Committee were informed of the current proposals in the Bill related to ethical standards and politically restricted posts.  The Monitoring Officer advised that the Swindon’s Standards Committee had been put forward to pilot the new approach to handling complaints in the Bill, whereby complaints are made first to local Standards Committees, and only referred up to the Standards Board on the Committee’s recommendation.

iv)                Revised Members’ Code of Conduct – The Committee received the revised Code of Conduct, which had been issued by the Secretary of State on 25^th January for consultation.  The revised Code was expected to come into effect in time for the new municipal year.  In order to reply by the deadline of 9^th March, it was agreed that a special meeting of the Committee would be held on 26^th February.

v)                  Standards Board Publications – The Board received the Standards Board Alerts 2 and 3, Standards Board Bulletin for November 2006 (Issue 31), Town and Parish Standard for November 2006 (Issue 8), and the Case Review (Number Fours), and noted key areas of interest for the work of the Standards Committee.

vi)                Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire Independent Standards Committee Members’ Forum – The Vice-Chair reported back on the meeting of the Forum held on 27^th October.

vii)              Media Guidelines – Members were advised that the Head of Communications was currently consulting with Members on the revised Guidelines and would report back to the next meeting.

viii)            Ethical Audit- The Monitoring Officer proposed that he refresh the desktop ethical audit for the Council.  The last audit had been carried out in January 2005.  He would report back to the next meeting, for the Committee to undertake a gap analysis and agree next steps.  This refresh would be supported by evidence arising out of recent Council User Satisfaction Survey.

      Resolved - 1) That the Ethical Framework Update be noted; and

      (2) That the Director of Law and Democratic Services be authorised to carry out the public advertisement and appointment process for Lay Member vacancies on the Standards Committee and to recommend appointments to Council; and

      (3) That the Director of Law and Democratic Services undertake a further desktop audit of ethical standards against criteria in the IDeA toolkit and report back to the next meeting.