Agenda and draft minutes

To receive apologies for absence from the meeting.

There were no apologies for absence.

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

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

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

There were no declarations of interest.

The committee will be requested to pass the following resolution:

“That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) and having applied a public interest test as defined in Part 2 of Schedule 12A of the Act, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act.”

Resolved:

That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) and having applied a public interest test as defined in Part 2 of Schedule 12A of the Act, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act.

The Sub-committee considered the report which included an addendum report in relation to complaint NT06/2022-23.  This addendum report had been provided by the Independent Investigator in response to a request from the Standards Sub-committee on 8 March 2023 for clarification on 3 specific points.

The Sub-committee noted that the addendum report had been shared with the complainant and the subject member.  The complainant had provided some comments on the report and these were attached to the report at Appendix 3. 

It was noted that the Independent Investigator had not changed his view on the complaint that there is no evidence of a failure to comply with the Code of Conduct.

The Independent Person was invited to comment on the report.  The Independent Person was in agreement with the findings of the Independent Investigator.

The Chair of the Sub-committee noted the information contained in the addendum report and that the response to the questions asked by the Sub-committee had confirmed the nature of the behaviour complained of, but that this had not been considered to be a breach of the Code of Conduct.

It was resolved that:

1.     the Sub-committee accept the findings of the Independent Investigator that no breach of the Code of Conduct for Members and Co-opted Members has occurred and instruct the Monitoring Officer to write to the Subject Member and to the Complainant, notifying both that the Sub-committee is satisfied that no further action is required, and give both a copy of the Independent Investigator’s Final Report and Addendum Report.

2.     The Monitoring Officer be requested to send a letter to the Independent Investigator thanking him for the helpful explanations contained in the addendum report.