Meeting documents

County Council (DCC)
Thursday 26 June 2008


            Meeting: County Council (County Hall, Durham - Council Chamber - 26/06/2008 10:00:00 AM)

                  Item: A7 Appointment of Additional Independent Members to the Standards Committee


         

Purpose of the Report

1 To confirm arrangements for extending the Independent Membership of the Standards Committee until 31 March 2009.

Background

2 Members may recall I reported to Council recently that under the terms of the Interim Constitution the role and function of the Standards Committee would be amended to include the full range of responsibilities for assessment, investigation and determination of allegations of misconduct on the part of Members (initial assessment was previously the responsibility of the Standards Board for England).

3 In order to fulfil this new responsibility Council agreed to extend the membership of the Standards Committee by four additional Independent Members and six additional Elected Members. Consequently the Standards Committee should now comprise 6 Independent Members and 12 Elected Members. The Elected Membership of the Committee has been finalised accordingly.

Independent Membership

4 The Standards Committee currently has 2 Independent Members ‘in post’ - Eddie Marchant, Independent Chairman and Dorothy Winter, whose current terms of office are due to expire in August 2009 and August 2008 respectively. Mr Marchant has served on the Committee since its inception in 2001 and Mrs Winter is in her second term of office having served continuously since 2002.

5 It is proposed that the 2 Independent Members from each of the Standards Committees of the Police and Fire and Rescue Authorities be appointed as Independent Members of the Council’s Standards Committee until 1 April 2009.

6 The Independent Members in question have been the subject of a full recruitment and selection process undertaken by their respective Authorities.

They are:

David Balls who is the Independent Chair of the Fire and Rescue Authority Standards Committee having held this position since 2002 and his colleague William Ault who has served as an Independent Member since 2005.
Carol Blythe is currently Independent Chair of the Police Authority Standards Committee having served on the Committee since 2005 and her colleague Morven Smith was appointed as an Independent Member in 2007/8.

7 It is also suggested that Mrs D Winter’s term of office is extended to 31 March 2009.

8 Such an arrangement would retain expertise/experience and provide continuity of service during the transitional period and allow the Council to carry out a comprehensive recruitment exercise for all 6 Independent Member positions from April 2009.

Recommendations

(i) That the Independent Members of the Police and Fire and Rescue Authorities’ Standards Committees be appointed to the Council’s Standards Committee for the transitional period to 31 March 2009.

(ii) That Mrs D Winter’s term of office be extended to 31 March 2009.


Attachments


 Appointment of Additional Independent Members Report.pdf