Agenda item

7.1

The Head of Member Services introduced a report of the Monitoring Officer and Director of Legal Governance that proposed, following a recent review, a number of revisions to the Procedure for Dealing with Standards Complaints Regarding City, Parish and Town Councillors and Co-opted Members that was introduced in March 2015. This had taken into account the learning and experience of dealing with complaints under the Procedure and the views of the three Independent Persons and the Parish and Town Councils had also been sought. Generally, the Procedure had worked well but the following revisions were proposed:-

·         Clarifying the process for withdrawing a complaint.

·         Including an explanation for the possible reasons for taking no action, seeking informal resolution and referring a complaint for investigation.

·         Including an amendment to the process that if an informal resolution cannot be agreed then the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the Independent Person, will reassess the complaint, taking into consideration the reasons why an informal resolution has not been agreed.

·         Clarifying that it is expected that the Monitoring Officer will refer only the most serious potential breaches for investigation or where the Member is not willing to accept an informal resolution or fundamentally disputes or does not accept the allegations in the complaint.

7.2

In response to a query from David Waxman, Independent Person, on whether a complaint would still be considered if it was subject to a police investigation, the Head of Member Services indicated that it would but this would take place following the conclusion of any Police action. This point would be clarified in the revised Procedure.

7.3

A Member of the Committee asked what sanctions were available if there was a finding of a breach of the Code of Conduct. The Head of Member Services indicated that these were set out in section 11.8.1 of the Procedure but these were limited in comparison to the sanctions that were available under the previous Standards regime.

7.4

Marvyn Moore, Independent Person, asked what the Council’s policy was on recording meetings. The Head of Member Services indicated that the Council did not record its meetings but members of the public and press were entitled to film or record meetings.

7.5

Resolved: That the Committee:-

(a)

recommends to Full Council, with the inclusion of the clarification now discussed relating to complaints that were also subject to Police investigation, the adoption of the revised Procedure for Dealing with Standards Complaints Regarding City, Parish and Town Councillors and Co-opted Members and that the Constitution is then amended accordingly;

(b)

refers the revised Procedure to the Parish and Town Councils for adoption; and

(c)

requests the Director of Legal and Governance to review the Procedure annually and submit a report to this Committee on any proposed changes.