Agenda item

Report RES13212

The Committee considered a review of the standards arrangements adopted by full Council on 25^th June 2012 under the Localism Act 2011. The Council had adopted a new code of conduct based on the model provided by the Department for Communities and Local Government, appointed two independent persons, Dr Simon Davey and Mr Nicholas Marcar, decided to retain a Standards Committee and introduced a “light touch” system for investigating complaints relating to breaches of the Code of Conduct.   

The Director of Corporate Services and Monitoring Officer informed the Committee that only half of Councillors had completed their new declaration of interest forms under the 2011 Act. Arguably this was not necessary at this stage unless a new interest arose, but it would be mandatory that the forms were completed within twenty-eight days of the election in 2014. Members suggested that the forms could be made clearer, or a guide could be provided to assist Members, and that Members could be provided with their old declarations to act as a reminder when completing the new forms. Councillor Nicholas Bennett commented that many Members overlooked declaring election expenses and party membership. Another issue was the reluctance of some Members to declare their home address as required. The Director explained that he could direct that addresses were not published on-line, but only where there were very serious and exceptional concerns about personal security. Members accepted that they had to declare their address to stand for election anyway.

The Committee discussed whether a further reminder, backed up with a letter from the Chairman, would be appropriate, but it was considered that with the election only a few months away it would be better to concentrate on ensuing that all Councillors completed their declarations within the twenty-eight day period in 2014.     

The new arrangements for dealing with complaints against Councillors included five principles for the investigation of complaints (set out in paragraph 3.17 of the report.) The Committee heard how, since the introduction of the new standards system in July 2012, there had been very few complaints about councillors. It was proposed that the new arrangements should continue with the change that complaints about conduct falling below what is expected should be referred to the member’s party group leader for investigation and resolution. This followed the principle in the new arrangements that Councillors should be self-regulating, and that they should be judged by their peers. Where the complaint related to a group leader then the matter could be dealt with by that group’s representative on the Standards Committee. The outcomes from such investigations would be fed back to the Standards Committee via the Monitoring Officer and independent persons.  

The Constitution Improvement Working Group had recommended that the independent persons be re-appointed as members of the Standards Committee with effect from the new Council year in 2014. The Working Group had also stated that the present independent persons should be retained for as long as the Council was lawfully able to do so.  The Committee strongly supported re-appointing the independent persons to the Committee.

The Committee also received and noted a copy of the report from Transparency International “Corruption in UK Local Government – The Mounting Risks.”

RESOLVED that

(1)  That the Committee endorses the current Code of Conduct and the requirements for declarations of interests.

(2)  That the Chairman of the Standards Committee writes to all Members after the 2014 election informing them that under the new Code adopted on 25^th June 2012 they have to complete their Register of Interest forms within twenty-eight days of being elected.

(3)  That the Committee supports the independent persons being co-opted as members of the Standards Committee from 2014/15 onwards.

(4)  That the Committee endorses the proposed model for investigating complaints, set out in paragraphs 3.11-22 of the report.

(5)  That the 2014 Induction for Members includes a session on standards with a surgery session following that, providing support to Members on completing their Register of Interest forms, and with additional guidance being prepared to clarify what is required.