Issue - items at meetings - Localism Act 2011 - New Standards Regime

Issue - meetings

Localism Act 2011 - New Standards Regime

 

 

Meeting: 21/03/2012 - Standards Committee (this Committee has now been combined wit the Audit, Standrds and Governance Committee and no longer meets) (Item 43)

43 Localism Act 2011 - New Standards Regime pdf icon PDF 98 KB

[To receive a report on upcoming changes to the standards regime in light of the Localism Act 2011 and to consider proposals for implementation of the new regime.]

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a report on changes to the system of regulation of the standards of conduct for elected and co-opted Councillors which were due to be implemented under the Localism Act 2011.  Members were asked to consider various proposals for recommendation to Full Council on how the new regime might be implemented.

 

The Monitoring Officer (MO) stated that Officers were not, at that stage, in a position to report to members as to exactly what the final regime would look like as certain information was still awaited from Government, with work on the new Code of Conduct for Members being ongoing.  In view of the proposed 1st July 2012 implementation date however Officers had produced as much information as possible at that point, including a draft process for how complaints against Members for alleged breaches of the Code of Conduct might be dealt with under the new regime.

 

The Committee considered the report recommendations and, in doing so, were advised by the MO of the changes which would apply to both the make-up and operation of any successor standards committee.  It was queried whether Members would be bound by the findings of any new committee.  The MO confirmed that as standards would be a non-executive function it would be for Full Council to determine what it wished to delegate to the committee in decision-making terms. 

 

Members noted that a new category of Independent Person was being introduced under the Localism Act, with Independent Members no longer forming part of the membership of any successor committee.  The MO explained the background to, and role of, the new Independent Person and added that, historically, non-elected Members had been able to have voting rights on the Standards Committee as the committee had existed as a committee in its own right, with separate statutory requirements, which would no longer be the case under the Localism Act.

 

The position in relation to the jurisdiction that any new committee would have over the parish councils was noted, with the District Council being the principal authority for the purpose of Member complaints.  It was proposed that the parish councils would be involved at various stages in the complaints process, with there being the option of mediation between the MO and relevant parties in relation to complaints, which it was hoped would provide for a better solution than the current highly prescriptive and sometimes disproportionate regime.  Whilst the MO hoped that the proposals would enable the District Council to work with the parish councils to achieve a process that would work it was noted that, ultimately, any successor committee would only be able to make a recommendation to a parish council, which the parish council concerned could in turn then opt not to implement.

 

One of the Parish Councils' Representatives highlighted the fact that voting Parish Representatives on the committee were no longer provided for under the new regime.  He noted that the District Council and any future standards committee would have certain duties with regards to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43