Agenda item - Monitoring Officer's Report

Agenda item

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 that the MOLMs would continue irrespective of any future changes to the standards regime. 

 

(vi)       Appointment of Parish Councils' Representatives on the Committee

Members noted the position with the terms of office of the Parish Councils' Representatives on the Committee and supported the recommendation to Full Council that the July 2011 appointments be for a period of one year in light of the proposed changes to the standards regime under the Localism Bill.

 

(vii)      National Standards Regime - The Localism Bill

The MO informed the Committee of a report which had been considered at the 19th January 2011 meeting of Full Council which reviewed the Council's current committee structure.  As part of that report, and in view of the coalition government's intention to substantially alter the current standards regime, Full Council had approved a recommendation that the Head of Legal, Equalities and Democratic Services examine the feasibility of replacing the Standards Committee and the Audit Board with a new Board to deal with audit and ethical governance matters, to be chaired by an independent person; and that the feasibility study include consideration of the roles of district councillor and parish councillor representatives.  The MO added that work on the review would not commence until later in the year, when more was known about any changes under the Localism Bill.

 

RESOLVED:

(a)       that the report be noted;

(b)       that any action points detailed in the preamble above be acted upon and reported back to the Committee as appropriate; and

(c)        that it be recommended to Full Council that in view of the proposed changes to the standards regime as a consequence of the Localism Bill, the terms of office of the Parish Councils' Representatives on the Standards Committee, effective from July 2011, be for a period of one year, with nominations for appointees to follow from the Bromsgrove Area Committee of the Worcestershire County Association of Local Councils in due course.

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