Agenda item

Consideration was given to the draft Annual Report of the Standards

Committee 2014/15 (for copy see file of Minutes).

The Governance and Elections Manager advised that the purpose of the report was to reflect and report on the work of the Standards Committee during 2014/15 and to set out the future direction which the Committee intended to take during 2015/16. Members were further advised that the report would be presented to a forthcoming meeting of the full Council.

Parish Councillor R Harrison highlighted that the report incorrectly reflected that he was a member of Edmondsley Parish Council. The report would therefore be amended accordingly.

In referring to paragraph 12 of the report, the Chair queried whether the Committee would wish to have more involvement in the assessment of Code of Conduct complaints.

Councillors Bell and Graham believed that having an assessment panel comprised of Committee Members would provide for a more rounded assessment process, as opposed to the current system which saw the consideration of complaints delegated solely to the Monitoring Officer and on occasion, also the Independent Person.

Councillor Jewell saw no reason to alter the current process as no problems had been encountered.

Councillor Stephens suggested that a report be presented to the next meeting of the Committee, setting out various feasible options for the assessment of Code of Conduct complaints.

In referring to paragraph 13 of the report, Councillor Shaw questioned whether the high proportion of complaints which resulted in no further action could be attributed to the lack of sanctions which were now available. The Governance Solicitor advised that this was not the case and she provided the Committee with an overview of the reasons why no further action was often taken. It was agreed that in future, more detail would be provided to the Committee as to the reasons behind all complaint decisions.

In referring to paragraph 15 of the report, Councillors Bell and Dixon queried the circumstances under which financial settlements were made and exactly how much each settlement figure had been.

The Governance and Elections Manager clarified that financial settlements were made following recommendation from the Local Government Ombudsman. Such settlements were not applicable for Code of Conduct complaints. Future reports would set out the exact figures which had been paid out by each service as financial settlement.

Resolved:

1.That the report be approved for submission to full Council, subject to necessary amendment being made;

2.That a report be presented to the following meeting of the Committee detailing possible options for the future assessment of Code of Conduct complaints.