Agenda and minutes

Standards Committee (this Committee has now been combined wit the Audit, Standrds and Governance Committee and no longer meets) - Friday 9th November 2007 4.00 p.m.

Venue: The Council House, Burcot Lane, Bromsgrove. View directions

Contact: Debbie Parker-Jones Andy Jessop

Items
No.	Item
22.	Apologies for absence Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from Councillor E. C. Tibby and Mr. S. E. Allard (Independent Member).
23.	Declarations of Interest View the background to item 23. Minutes: No declarations of interest were received.
24.	Report on Alleged Breach of the Code of Conduct PDF 106 KB View the background to item 24. Additional documents: IO's Final Report - issued to CF 11 10 07 (2) , item 24. PDF 181 KB App A Meeting notes - Cllr Peters 16 05 07 (2) , item 24. PDF 74 KB App B Meeting notes - DW 21 05 07 (2) , item 24. PDF 78 KB App C Meeting notes - CF 23 05 07 (2) , item 24. PDF 75 KB App D Phone conversation - Cllr Duddy 16 07 07 (2) , item 24. PDF 66 KB There are a further 4 documents.View the full list of documents for item 24. Minutes: The Committee considered a report on an alleged breach of the Code of Conduct. On 7th March 2007 the Standards Board for England had referred to the Monitoring Officer for local investigation under section 60(2) of the Local Government Act 2000 (Standards Board reference: 17438.07) an allegation, made by Councillor Stephen Peters, that Councillor James Duddy had breached the Code of Conduct under Part 1 paragraph 3 (a) of the Code, in relation to an alleged disclosure of confidential information. A report of the Investigating Officer dated 11th October 2007, which found that Councillor Duddy had not failed to comply with the Code of Conduct, was considered. The Committee was asked to determine whether, based on the facts set out in the report, it agreed with the Investigating Officer's finding that Councillor Duddy had not failed to comply with the Code, or whether it believed there was a case to answer. RESOLVEDthat having had regard to: (a) the report of the Investigating Officer; and (b) the additional papers submitted by Councillor Peters (Appendix H to the Investigating Officer's report), the Investigating Officer's finding that Councillor James Duddy had not failed to comply with the Code of Conduct be accepted. The reason for the Committee’s decision was that there was insufficient independent corroborating evidence to substantiate the complaint.