Parish Councils' Representatives' Report
[To receive an oral report from the Parish Councils' Representatives on any matters of relevance to the Committee.]
Minutes:
Mr. Cypher confirmed that following the recent meeting of the Bromsgrove Area Committee of the Worcestershire County Association of Local Councils (CALC), it had been agreed that he and Mr. Hodgetts would continue as the Parish Councils' Representatives on any successor Standards Committee, with Mrs. May continuing as the Deputy Parish Councils' Representative. He expressed his gratitude for how well the current Committee had worked together and for the role of the Independent Members on this.
Mr Cypher stated that it was fortunate that the Monitoring Officers within the county were working together to agree a county-wide approach to the new regime. He added that, in general terms, it was hoped that the parish councils would adopt the District Council's model Code of Conduct and arrangements for dealing with Member complaints, although this might not be the case with all of the parishes.
Councillor Mrs. Baxter referred to guidance which had been produced by the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) on the adoption of its model Code of Conduct, from which it was her understanding NALC were suggesting that its Code should only be adopted if there was no other available local version. It was also reported that NALC would be lobbing the government in relation to the change of status of parish representatives on any successor standards committees, with their future status being that of non-voting co-opted members.
RESOLVED that the position be noted.