Agenda item

The Committee considered a report of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services and Monitoring Officer which provided an update on the recruitment of two new Independent Persons to the Standards Committee (for copy see file of Minutes).

Following a question from Councillor Stubbs, the Governance Solicitor confirmed that the term of office of the Independent Persons had been due to come to an end in September 2020 but had been extended by a further year due to the pandemic.

In response to a question from Councillor Atkinson regarding the attendance of the Independent Persons at two of the four meetings of the Standards Committee per year, the Governance Solicitor advised that this was not a requirement but was considered good practice. The Independent Persons would be encouraged to attend more than the minimum number of meetings, but there was an expectation that they would attend at least two.

Resolved:

That

a)   the recruitment process undertaken for Independent Persons be noted;

b)   Council be recommended to agree the appointment of Alan Fletcher and Kayleigh Louise Wilkinson as Independent Persons to the Standards Committee with effect from 22 September 2021 for a term of two years;

c)    Council be invited to delegate authority to the Standards Committee to consider whether to extend the appointment of the Independent Persons for a further two years in 2023, and that any such extension be reported to Council as part of the annual report of the Standards Committee.