Agenda and minutes
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Contact: Debbie Parker-Jones
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Apologies for absence Minutes: No apologies for absence were received. |
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Declarations of Interest Minutes: No declarations of interest were declared.
It was noted however that Councillors Miss D. H. Campbell JP, Mrs. A. E. Doyle and E. C. Tibby, who comprised the normal District Councillor membership of the Standards Committee, were affected by some of the issues under consideration at Agenda Item 10 (confidential minutes of the meeting of the Standards Committee held on 17th December 2010). The meeting in question had considered the Investigating Officer's final reports into the complaints made against the members of the Labour Group arising from the meetings of Full Council on 29th July 2009 and 20th January 2010. As the Councillors were not participating in the consideration of the complaints they therefore left the room on receipt of the minutes. |
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Minutes: The public minutes of the meeting of the Standards Committee held on 17th December 2010 were submitted.
RESOLVED that the minutes be approved as a correct record. |
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Monitoring Officer's Report [To receive a report from the Monitoring Officer on any matters of relevance to the Committee.] Minutes: The Committee noted the comments of the Monitoring Officer's (MO's) report and the following issues were raised during the consideration of this:
(i) Member Investigations The MO advised that the investigation into Complaint Reference 94/09 had been completed and that she was due to receive the Investigating Officer's report within the next few days. The two remaining local investigations were ongoing.
A question was raised regarding the awaited report on linked Complaint References 03/10 and 04/10, against two Alvechurch parish councilllors, in view of the upcoming local elections, together with the effect any possible sanctions arsing from current investigations generally might have on Members given the proximity of the elections and of the possible need for additional meetings of the Committee to facilitate any associated business. The MO advised that delays could be encountered with investigations which at first sight appeared straight forward but which could give rise to additional issues being identified during the course of an investigation. She added that investigations would proceed as planned and that final reports would be brought to the Committee as soon as they were available, with additional meetings of the Committee being arranged as necessary to consider these.
(ii) Pre-Hearing Meeting Regarding the complaints against the members of the Labour Group detailed at paragraph 3.2 of the report, the MO confirmed that a pre-hearing meeting of the Committee to look at procedural issues as part of the pre-hearing process was due to take place at 6.00pm on 2nd February 2011.
(iii) Monitoring Officer's Other Action The MO advised that having spoken with the Subject Member concerned that day on an unrelated matter, the issue of the outstanding training had been raised and the Member had stated that he would be willing to undertake the required training. The MO confirmed that she would report back to the Committee on any further developments in this regard in due course.
(iv) Member Training The MO updated the Committee on the work of the Member Development Steering Group and formulation of the Member Development Programme. It was noted that dates for training had also been identified for Members at Redditch Borough Council and that, where appropriate, training included support for the parish councils.
(v) Monitoring Officer Liaison Meetings The Deputy Monitoring Officer reported that the first of the Monitoring Officer Liaison Meetings (MOLMs), which had taken place in October, had been very successful and that officers had received positive feedback on these from the parish clerks/executive officers. Question and answer sessions had been included for any issues clerks/executive officers wished to raise. A need for Code of Conduct training for the parishes had been raised, which had been built into the Member Development Programme. It was noted that the next meeting would take place in March 2011.
The Committee noted the usefulness of the meetings and felt that these should continue in the future notwithstanding what might happen to the standards regime following any changes under the Localism Bill. The Monitoring Officer confirmed ... view the full minutes text for item 30. |
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Parish Councils' Representatives' Report [To receive an oral report from the Parish Councils' Representatives on any matters of relevance to the Committee, and to include an update on any recent meeting(s) of the Bromsgrove Area Committee of the Worcestershire County Association of Local Councils (CALC).] Minutes: Mr. Cypher advised that, owing to the severe weather condtitions, the December 2010 meeting of the Bromsgrove Area Committee of the Worcestershire County Association of Local Councils had been aborted and that he had nothing further on which to update the Committee.
RESOLVED that the position be noted. |
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Publications [Attention is drawn to the publications detailed below which the Committee may find of interest. Any publications which are of direct relevance to the Committee will be copied into the agenda papers for reference. The links of the publications are included for online viewing:
(i) Department for Communities and Local Government: Decentralisation and the Localism Bill: an essential guide - link: http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/localgovernment/pdf/1793908.pdf (ii) Standards for England: Case Review 2010 - link: http://www.standardsforengland.gov.uk/CaseinformationReporting/OnlineCaseReview2010/ ] Minutes: Members noted the publications detailed in the agenda. A request was made by the Committee that, where available and where neutral in their content, any executive summaries relating to relevant publications be provided to members for information.
RESOLVED: (a) that the publications detailed be noted; and (b) that officers provide members of the Committee with any available executive summaries, where neutral in nature, of relevant publications in the future. |
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[To consider the future Work Programme of the Committee.] Minutes: Consideration was given to the Committee's Work Programme.
The Monitoring Officer advised that she was currently meeting with officers regarding the Planning Services Code of Practice and that she hoped to bring a report on this to the Committee as early as possible in the new municipal year. This also linked with various upcoming training which had been arranged for Members as part of the Modern Councillor Programme.
RESOLVED that the Work Programme be approved. |
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Exclusion of the Public [To consider, and if considered appropriate, to pass the following resolution to exclude the public from the meeting during the consideration of an item of business containing exempt information:
"RESOLVED: that under Section 100 I of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended, the public be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A to the Act, as amended, the relevant paragraph of that part being as set out below, and that it is in the public interest to do so:-
Minutes: RESOLVED that under Section 100 I of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended, the public be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A to the Act, as amended, the relevant paragraph of that part being as set out below, and that it is in the public interest to do so:
Minute No. Paragraph 34/10 7C. |
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Confidential minutes
Minutes: The confidential minutes of the meeting of the Standards Committee held on 17th December 2010 were submitted.
RESOLVED that, subject to the inclusion of the names of the Committee members, the minutes be approved as a correct record. |