The
Audit and Standards Committee is responsible
for promoting high standards of conduct by Councillors and
Co-opted members, overseeing the Members’ Code of Conduct and
considering complaints that a Member may have breached the
Code.
Where a complaint has been referred for
investigation, the Monitoring Officer will refer the Investigating
Officer’s report to the Consideration Sub-Committee.
Further information is available in the
Procedure for Dealing with Standards Complaints.
The Council has appointed Independent Persons
to help the Monitoring Officer and the Committee in considering
complaints about Councillors and Co-opted Members.
The membership of the Sub-Committee is taken
from the Audit and Standards Committee and will comprise three
Councillors and one Independent Non-Voting Co-opted Member.
As the
meetings deal with individual complaints, they may not be open to
members of the public.
Whilst
recording is allowed at Committee meetings under the direction of
the Chair, meetings of the Consideration Sub-Committee may not be
suitable for recording due to the nature of some of the evidence to
be given and the Chair will use discretion to decide if recording
is allowed. The
protocol on audio/visual recording and
photography provides further information.