Held at Ryedale House, Malton on Thursday 19 July 2007
Agenda for Standards Committee 19th July2007.
Present
Councillors Aslett, Cussons, Mrs De Wend Fenton and Maud
Mr I Hamilton - Independent Member (inthe Chair)
Mrs G Baker - IndependentMember
Mr C Langley - Independent Member
Mrs G De Barr - Parish Representative
In Attendance
Mrs A Adnitt and A Winship
Minutes
146. Apologies for Absence
Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Cussonsand Mr Spencer.
147. Minutes
The minutes of a last meeting of the Standards Committee heldon
14 June 2007 were presented.
Resolved
That the minutes of a meeting of theStandards Committee held on 14 June 2007 be approved and signed bythe Chairman as a correct record.
148. Urgent Business
Under Section 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972 thefollowing item was considered as it was decided by the Chairman tobe urgent.
149. Sixth Annual Assembly of the StandardsCommittees – 15/16 October 2007
The Council Solicitor reminded Members that at the lastmeeting of the Standards Committee he had been asked to look intothe possibility of more than one Member of the Standards Committeeattending the Conference. This had now been carried out, and thethree Members of the Committee who had expressed an interest hadnow checked on their availability. The Council Solicitor waspleased to advise that two Members of the Committee would beavailable to attend the Conference in October 2007.
Resolved
That Councillor Mrs De Wend Fenton and MrLangley attend the Sixth Annual Assembly of the Standards Committeeon the 15/16 October with the Council Solicitor.
150. Declarations of Interest
No declarations of interest were received.
151. Revised Model Code of Conduct for Parish/TownCouncil Members
The Council Solicitor submitted a report (previouslycirculated) in connection with the above.
Members were reminded that the Government had published arevised Model Code of Conduct for Members, which came into force on3 May 2007. Every local authority had to adopt the revised Code ofConduct (with or without local additions) by resolution of Councilbefore the 1st October 2007. A summary of the changes was annexedto the report.
Once an authority had adopted the new Code of Conduct, itmust-
- Ensure that copies of the new Code of Conduct were availablefor inspection at the authority’s offices;
- Publish notice of the adoption of the new Code of Conduct inany newspaper which they publish and in a local newspaper, and
- Send a copy of the new Code of Conduct as adopted to theStandards Board of England
There were two paragraphs in the new Code that were notmandatory for Parish/Town Councils, and Councils had to decidewhether to adopt these optional provisions. These were:
4.1.1 paragraph 7 – to have regard tocertain statutory officers’ advice;
4.1.2 paragraph 12(2) – enabling Membersto make representations to meetings despite having a prejudicialinterest.
Members were advised that the Standards Board of England hadprepared a Model Code for Parish and Town Councils, a copy of whichwas annexed to the report. In terms of adopting a model code ofconduct Parish/Town Council’s had three options:
I. Adopt a Model Form deleting all thenon-mandatory provisions for Parish/Town Councils; or
II. Adopt a Model Form deleting all thenon-mandatory provisions for Parish/Town Councils; save forparagraph 12(2) which has been included. This is the approachadopted in the Standards Board’s Model Code for Parish and TownCouncils; or
III. Adopt a Model Form as otherwiseamended
Parish/Town Councils were recommended to take option (II) anda proposed draft resolution to achieve this was included in thereport.
The Monitoring Officer commented that a number of ParishCouncils had already adopted the new code, and it would helpful ifParish Councils could notify him if they had adopted the code, oradvise when they were to adopt. This would enable them to beincluded in a public notice to be published in the newspaperindicating that a revised code had been adopted. It was proposed topublish this notice on the 29 August 2007.
Following a discussion it was
Resolved
a) That all Parish and Town Councils inthe District of Ryedale be advised to adopt the Standards Board forEngland Model Code of Conduct for Parish and Town Councils asattached at Annex 1 to this report, including the optional elementrelating to prejudicial interests (paragraph 12.2) but without anylocal amendments.
b) That all Parish and Town Councils befurther advised that, provided they adopt a revised code prior to29 August 2007 the District Council will make arrangements for thestatutory advertisement of adoption to include their Councilwithout cost.
c) That the Council Solicitor beauthorised to complete the necessary formalities arising from theabove recommendations.
152. Code of Conduct and PlanningTraining
The Council Solicitor submitted a report (previouslycirculated) the purpose of which was to inform Members of theattendance rates at Code of Conduct and Planning Training sessionswhich were held in May 2007.
Members were reminded that at the last meeting of theStandards Committee, a request has been received for furtherdetails of the attendance records. The attendance records for bothevents were included in the report.
Resolved
That the report be noted.
153. Standards Board for England Bulletin34
The Council Solicitor submited a report (previouslycirculated) the purpose of which was to inform Members of theCommittee of the lastest Standards Board Bulletin 34.
A copy of the Bulletin published on the 29 June 2007 wasappended to the report.
The Council Solicitor reported that the following items wereworthy of note:
Highlights from the Bulletin included:
- Common queries about the revised Code of Conduct
- A look at paragraph 4(a) of the Code and the disclosure ofconfidential information
- An exploration of findings of no further action
Resolved
That the report be noted