Agenda and minutes

To be notified of the appointment of any Substitute Members.

There were no substitute members.

You are invited to declare any registerable and/or non-registerable interests in matters appearing on the agenda, and the nature of that interest.

You are also invited to disclose any dispensations in relation to any registerable and/or non-registerable interests that have been granted to you in respect of any matters appearing on the agenda.

Please complete the Declarations of Interests card available at the meeting and return it to the Democratic Services Officer before leaving the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest or dispensations reported.

To confirm the minutes of the Standards Committee meeting held on

3 November 2021. 

To note the following minutes of the Standards Sub-committee:

•           17 September 2021

•           27 October 2021

•           17 February 2022

Resolved:

That the minutes of the previous Standards Committee meeting held on 3 November 2021 be confirmed and signed by the Chair.

That the minutes of the Standards Sub-committee held on 17 September 2021, 27 October 2021 and 17 February 2022 be noted.

To consider the report on the review by the Code of Conduct Working Group of the Authority’s Local Arrangements for Dealing with Allegations of Breaches of the Code of Conduct for Members and Co-opted Members of the Authority. 

The Committee considered the report which set out proposals to amend the Local Arrangements for Dealing with Allegations of Breaches of the Code of Conduct for Members and Co-opted Members of the Authority, following a review of the current Local Arrangements and recently published guidance from the LGA on handling complaints.

It was noted that the proposed changes to the arrangements include the introduction of a two-stage process for assessing whether complaints should be referred for investigation, and some changes to the sanctions that can be applied in relation to a breach of the Code of Conduct.

In addition to the changes set out in the report, the Committee was asked to consider adding an additional action as a new point vii to the sanctions set out on page 74 and page 91 of the report as follow:

‘(vii) Recommend to the Mayor that the subject member be removed from all outside appointments to which they have been appointed by the Mayor’.

Resolved:

i.          That the following additional action be added to the sanctions set out on page 74 and page 91 of the revised Local Arrangements for Dealing with Allegations of Breaches of the Code of Conduct for Members and Co-opted Members of the Authority as set in the Appendix 2 of the report:

‘(vii) Recommend to the Mayor that the subject member be removed from all outside appointments to which they have been appointed by the Mayor’.

ii.         That the revised Local Arrangements be referred to the Constitutional Task Group with a recommendation that the revisions be accepted by the Constitutional Task Group and referred to full Council for approval.

To consider the Standards Annual Report 2021-22.

The Committee considered the draft Standards Annual Report 2021-22.

Resolved:     That the Committee:

     I.        Agree the draft Annual Report 2021-22 as attached at Appendix 1 to the report;

    II.        Authorise the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the Chair of the Standards Committee, to finalise the report prior to its submission to the Annual Council meeting to be held on 19 May 2022.