Declarations of Interest
Minutes:
Mr. N. A. Burke and Ms. K. J. Sharpe each declared a personal interest in agenda item 7 - Localism Act 2011 - New Standards Regime. They did so for transparency reasons, on the basis that the Independent Members were more affected by the aspect of the report to be debated in relation to the possible establishment of a pool of Independent Persons under the new regime, who may or may not be appointed by the County Council to support all of the Districts Councils and the County Council, and which they, as current Independent Members, may or may not be eligible to apply for membership of.
It was queried whether the interest was also pecuniary and therefore prejudicial, by virtue of the fact that Independent Members received payment for certain of their duties. The Monitoring Officer advised that she had spoken with the Independent Members on this and that she did not take the view that it was also a prejudicial interest. This was on the basis that all current Independent Members would have to go through a recruitment and selection process should they wish to seek to become an Independent Person, and that she therefore felt that they were sufficiently detached from the process to participate in the discussion.
Mr. Cypher also brought to the Committee's attention the fact that an update in relation to Councillor David Matthews, a fellow Alvechurch Parish Councillor, appeared later in the agenda (Monitoring Officer's Report).