Issue - meetings
Monitoring Officer's Report
Meeting: 21/09/2011 - Standards Committee (this Committee has now been combined wit the Audit, Standrds and Governance Committee and no longer meets) (Item 29)
29 Monitoring Officer's Report 
PDF 80 KB
[To receive a report from the Monitoring Officer on any matters of relevance to the Committee.]
Minutes:
The Committee noted the contents of the Monitoring Officer’s (MO’s) report and the issues detailed below were raised during the consideration of this.
(i) Member Investigations and Associated Matters
It was noted that following the Final Determination Hearings which had taken place for the complaints against former District Councillor Mrs. Luck and the complaints arising from the meetings of full Council on 29th July 2009 and 20th January 2010, local press notices detailing the Committee's findings were currently being arranged. The required training for Councillor Mrs. McDonald in relation to the 29th July 2009 complaints outcome was also being finalised. One Final Determination Hearing remained; for linked Complaint References 03/10 and 04/10 against Alvechurch Parish Councillor Matthews, which was scheduled to take place on 18th October 2011.
(ii) Member Training
The MO advised that Members who had been unable to attend any of the required training sessions would receive individual sessions with officers to ensure that they completed all necessary training elements. Some of the sessions had been a learning curve, with any required adjustments being noted for the future, and with training having been well-attended and received by Members. In areas where officers might hold a particular view, such as planning and enforcement, external providers were conducting the training to ensure that this was unbiased.
A number of sessions had also been run in conjunction with Redditch Borough Council Members, which it was reported had worked well in the sharing of knowledge and experiences. This has proven useful in the building of relationships between Members, which was particularly useful given the different dynamics which prevailed between the two authorities. Councillor Bullivant stated that he, as a newly-elected Member, had found the joint sessions with Redditch to be very positive.
The MO added that she would be taking to the Member Development Steering Group the issue of a recommendation which the Standards Committee had made to the authority as part of its decision at the Final Determination Hearing on 8th July 2011 against former District Councillor Mrs. Luck.
(iii) Parish Council Matters
The MO reported that the Monitoring Officer Liaison Meetings (MOLMs), which took place periodically between Officers and the parish council clerks, had proven to be very successful and that it was hoped that it would be possible to continue with such proactive work in the future. Given however that the authority was currently entering into a programme of shared services with Redditch Borough Council, a great deal would depend on resulting Officer workloads. Whilst it was proposed to offer the same level of service as currently, any capacity to undertake additional proactive work would need to be looked at.
A question was raised regarding the level of support given by the MO to Redditch's single (Feckenham) parish council, and whether that support in any way impacted on the support which the MO gave to the Bromsgrove parishes. The MO confirmed that there was no detrimental effect to the Bromsgrove parishes and that invites to both the District Council's ... view the full minutes text for item 29