Agenda and minutes

Venue: Bromley Civic Centre

Contact: Philippa Gibbs  020 84617638

Items
No. Item

8.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Minutes:

There were no apologies for absence.

9.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Minutes:

There were no addiotnal declarations of interest.

10.

MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 27 OCTOBER 2020 pdf icon PDF 195 KB

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 27 October 2020, were agreed and signed as a correct record.

11.

QUESTIONS

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, questions that are not specific to reports on the agenda must have been received in writing 10 working days before the date of the meeting. 

 

Questions specifically on reports on the agenda should be received within two working days of the normal publication date of the agenda.  Please ensure that questions specifically on reports on the agenda are received by the Democratic Services Team by Wedensday 24th February 2021.

Minutes:

No questions had been received.

12.

DISCUSSION WITH THE GROUP LEADERS

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed the Group Leaders to the meeting explaining that the role of the Standards Committee was apolitical.  Recently the Committee had been doing a lot of work around the importance of standards for Councillors, in this respect the Chairman expressed particular thanks to the two Independent Persons who had dedicated significant time to supporting ethical standards across the Council.

 

The Group Leaders responded to the following questions from Members of the Committee:

 

How do you feel your Members behaviour measures up to the high ethical standards we expect in Bromley and what do you do as a leader to hold yourself accountable to ensuring those standards?

 

The Leader of the Labour Group highlighted that with eight members it was a smaller group to manage.  The Leader of the Labour Group confirmed that she was not aware of any problems and had not received complaints concerning standards within the Labour Group either through the formal Code of Conduct complaints system or informal systems.  The Committee noted that as a Party there was a very clear ‘rule book’ and strict processes in place for approving candidates for selection.  This tried to ensure a high calibre of candidate.  There was also an internal Group disciplinary process which operated in parallel to Council processes to investigate any complaints that were made about Councillors.  There were a range of penalties that were available internally.

 

The Leader of the Council confirmed that 99% of the time he was content with the integrity of members.  In relation to the other 1% of the time, it had been made very clear to the odd Member on the rare occasion that better was expected.  The Committee noted that on the rare occasions that the Leader received complaints directly, they were forwarded to the Monitoring Officer for consideration.  It had been made clear to members of the Conservative Group that involvement in ‘dishonourable’ process would not be tolerated.  The Party had a Chief Whip to administer discipline and the Leader confirmed that broadly speaking he felt the system worked well and all councillors needed to aspire to the high standards set by the Act.  The Committee received reassurance that any emerging issues were drawn to the attention of the Monitoring Officer to ensure full diligence.

 

The Leader of the Independent Group confirmed that as a Party of 2 there were very few issues.  Where any issues arose, both Members of the Independent Group would seek advice from the Monitoring Officer if necessary.

 

Are you aware of any inappropriate influencing behaviour within the broader councillor community?

 

The Leader of the Labour Group confirmed that complaints had been made to her, with two of the major complaints centring on planning which was a particularly sensitive area and an area that was particularly open to allegations of inappropriate and undue influence as well as false allegations.  Whilst there had been an awareness of allegations it had never been possible to prove the allegations.  In that context it was the view of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

13.

MONITORING OFFICER'S GENERAL REPORT pdf icon PDF 300 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report CSD21024

 

The report updated the Committee on a number of standards issues.

 

 

Work Programme and Matters Outstanding

 

Recognising that a large proportion of Code of Conduct Complaints related to planning matters it was agreed that the Chairman of the Development Control Committee and the Assistant Director for Planning should be invited to the next meeting of the Standards Committee on 15 July 2021.  It was agreed that the discussion should centre around the report of the Planning Advisory Service and the Council’s existing Planning Protocol.

 

A Member further requested that the report of the Planning Advisory Service be circulated to the Standards Committee for information.

 

LGA Draft Code of Conduct Consultation

 

It was recognised that the Council had only recently approved a compliant Code of Conduct.  Members agreed the LGA Code of Conduct should not be adopted at the current time however, it would be worth giving the matter further consideration over the course of the next municipal year in order to determine whether the LGA Code could be adopted for the new Council from 2022.

 

Publishing Complaints procedure on Website

 

A Member expressed concern that in the event of a councillor being taken through a formal investigation process there was no right of appeal without going through the High Court.  The Member suggested that there should always be a right of appeal without cost to the individual purse and the procedure should be amended to reflect this.  In response the Monitoring Officer highlighted that in reality the sanctions available were very limited – reprimand, removal from a committee, requirement to undertake training or removal of resources. Other than a differently constituted Sub-Committee it was difficult to introduce a process of appeal.  Members also noted that prior to sanctioning a councillor, the Standards Committee was required to seek the view of the Independent Person and this was an element of safeguard within the system.

 

Members suggested that the wording of Paragraph 3.3(i) should be amended to ensure that there was no risk of allegations demonstrating a pattern of behaviour being rejected.  The Monitoring Officer confirmed that the purpose of the criteria was to manage a chain complaint revisiting issues that had previously been investigated and found to have no substance.  Dealing with such complaints may not be a good use of officer resource.  The Committee noted that one of the reasons for the list was to address the mismatch between formal investigation and volume of complaints.  The Monitoring Officer reported that he had spent some time reviewing the historical complaints that had been received.  Throughout the history of the Standards Regime there had been three main means of dealing with the initial assessment of complaints – The Standards Board for England which was totally independent of Local Authorities, the Filtering Sub-Committees led by the Independent Members, and the present approach which was Officer led with support from the Independent Person.  When looking at the complaints dealt with totally independently of the Local Authority by the Standards Board for England,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

14.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972 AS SUBSEQUENTLY AMENDED

The Chairman to move that the Press and public be excluded during consideration of the items of business listed below as it is likely in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings that if members of the Press and public were present there would be disclosure to them of confidential information.

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the Press and public be excluded during consideration of the items of business referred to below as it is likely in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings that if members of the Press and public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information.

 

The following summaries

refer to matters involving exempt information

 

 

15.

MONITORING OFFICER'S GENERAL REPORT - PART 2 APPENDIX

Minutes:

The Committee noted the Part 2 appendix and discussed the further details that had been provided, at the request of the Independent Person, in respect of one particular complaint that had been deemed not to meet the threshold of referral to the Standards Committee following a substantial Initial Assessment process.

 

The Committee undertook a general discussion in respect of the number of complaints generated as a result of planning matters.  Members acknowledged that there was a need to review ways in which processes could be made more transparent in order to improve public perception.

 

The Committee acknowledged that the Chairman of the Development Control Committee was unlikely to be aware of the volume of complaints received in respect of planning matters as a result on the tighter restrictions on access to information around standards complaints.  Consequently, it was agreed that it was appropriate to invite the Chairman of the Development Control Committee to the next meeting to discuss complaints and issues around the wider public perception of planning.