Issue - meetings

The Committee considered a number of guidance documents recently issued by Standards for England relating to:

   * Freemasons and the Code of Conduct

  * Independent members

  * Charitable Trustees and declarations of interest under the Code

They requested the Monitoring Officer to ensure that these were circulated and promoted to all councillors.  They noted the suggestion in the guidance on independent members that there could be opportunities to participate on Standards Committees for neighbouring authorities, and requested that options for closer working be explored by the Monitoring Officer.

They noted that a new Code of Conduct for Members would not now be laid until after the General Election, due to lack of Parliamentary time available.

The Appointment Panel handling independent member vacancies met on  8^th March, and will be recommending the appointment of Mr George Kidd and Mr Richard Allen to Council. The new members would take up their roles at the first meeting of the Committee in the new municipal year, in June 2010. There was some concern that the Panel which undertook the interviews was heavily weighted towards councillors, and the Committee requested that its composition might be reconsidered for future appointments to include a greater proportion of independent members, either from this Committee or from neighbouring areas to provide an objective outside view.

The Committee noted with pleasure the fact that the Council had been one of six authorities short-listed (out of 20 entries) in the Standards and Ethics category of the 2010 Local Government Chronicle Awards. The winner would be announced at an awards ceremony on March 24th.

RESOLVED that the Committee:

1)  notes recent guidance issued by Standards for England on various issues, and requests the Monitoring Officer to draw the attention of councillors to those on Freemasonry;

2)  notes the suggestions made in the guidance note on independent members about the possibility of working more closely with neighbouring authorities, and requests the Monitoring Officer to investigate these options further; 

3)   notes the delay at national level  in taking forward the proposed revised Code of Conduct for councillors;

4)  notes the recommendations to be made to Council by the appointments panel for Independent Standards Members vacancies;

5)   asks the Chairman and Monitoring Officer to explore options to change the make-up of future appointment panels to enable a greater participation by independent members; and

6)   notes the Council’s short-listing for the 2010 LGC Awards in the Standards and Ethics category.