Agenda item

The Committee considered a report of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services which informed Members of the outcome of a Standards Committee Hearing Panel (for copy see file of Minutes).

The Governance Solicitor informed Members that the sanctions determined by the Standards Committee Hearing Panel, as detailed in Appendix 2 of the report, had been completed, with the exception of training in the Council’s Code of Conduct for Members, including the Protocol on Member/Officer Relations. The Monitoring Officer had agreed to postpone the training due to unforeseen circumstances of the Councillor, but it was expected that this would be completed by March 2019. The Committee would be informed when the training had taken place.

The Committee was asked to consider whether procedural training on Standards Committee Hearing Panels would be useful, following a request by some Members. Members discussed the value of training and noted that Panels were infrequent, however did feel it was important to be familiar with the process. Councillor Clark made the point that Members asked to sit on a Hearing Panel were briefed about the procedure in advance of the hearing by the Governance Solicitor, but acknowledged that a training session in addition to this may also be useful.

Resolved:

That

a)    the outcome of the Standards Committee Hearing Panel attached at Appendix 2 of the report, be noted;

b)    a training session on Standards Committee Hearing Panels be arranged.