Held at Ryedale House, Malton on Thursday, 22 November 2007
Agenda for Standards Committee held on 22November 2007.
Present
Councillors Aslett, Cottam, Cussons and Mrs De Wend Fenton
MrHamilton Independent Member (in the Chair)
Mrs G De Barr Parish Representative
Mrs GBaker Independent Member
Mr CLangley IndependentMember
Mr HSpencer ParishRepresentative
In Attendance
Mrs A Adnitt and A Winship
Minutes
303. Apologies for Absence
Apologies for absence were received from CouncillorMaud.
304. Minutes
The minutes of a last meeting of the Standards Committee heldon 20 September 2007 were presented.
Resolved
That the minutes of a meeting of theStandards Committee held on 20 September 2007 be approved andsigned by the Chairman as a correct record.
305. Urgent Business
The Chairman reported that there were no items of business tobe dealt with as a matter of urgency by virtue of Section100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972 as applied byregulation 7 of the Relevant Local Authorities (StandardsCommittee) Regulations 2001 as amended.
306. Declarations of Interest
No declarations of interest were received.
307. Report back from the Sixth Annual Assembly ofStandards Committees
The Council Solicitor submitted a report (previouslycirculated) in connection with the Annual Assembly of StandardsCommittees, held in Birmingham on the 15 and 16 October 2007.
The Standards Board had again organised the holding of anAnnual Assembly for Standards Committees in October 2007, the sixthsuch event, and this had been attended by Councillor De WendFenton, Mr Colin Langley and the Council Solicitor in his capacityas Monitoring Officer. A copy of the notes made at the Assembly wasattached to the report. Full copies of the presentations andhandouts were available on the Standards Board’s website. Thereport set out details of a wide range of talks and workshopsessions held at the Assembly.
In overall terms this was seen principally as a key turningpoint in the history of the Standards Board for England in that itwas adapting itself to its new role as strategic regulator. Howeverthere was a lot of debate in particular about the Standards Boardand of the practicalities of Standards Committees operating thelocal filter.
Councillor De Wend Fenton, Mr Langley and the CouncilSolicitor referred to the notes made at the Assembly and drewattention to the salient points within the report. In particular itwas noted that with effect from April 2008, local Standards Boardswould have three defined roles:
Exercising the local filter
Reviewing local filter decisions
Carrying out hearings following an investigation
In general it was felt that there was a lot of work to bedone, and further guidance was expected in the new year. TheChairman reported that a local complaints form would need to beproduced.
Resolved
(a) That the report be received.
(b) A draft local complaints form beproduced for consideration at the next Standards Committee to beheld on 24 January 2008.
(c) That the Monitoring Officer beauthorised to secure three places for the next Annual Assembly tobe held on the 13/14 October 2008.
308. Adjudication Panel for England Annual Report2006/07
The Council Solicitor submitted a report (previouslycirculated) the purpose of which was to advise Members of thecontents of the Adjudication Panel’s Annual Report for the yearending 31 March 2007.
The third Adjudication Panel Annual Report concentrated onseveral aspects of the Panel’s work:
- Casework
- Appeals against Standards Committee determinations
- Complaints
- High Court appeals against Case Tribunal decisions
- Casework statistics
The report gave further details of these aspects. Members werereminded that the Adjudication Panel would soon be moved from thesponsorship of the Department for Communities and Local Governmentto being part of the first tier tribunal to be sponsored by theMinistry of Justice, although this was dependent uponlegislation.
Members were also advised that the President of the AdjudicationPanel Mr Laverick had put forward an argument that hearings byStandards Committees should be chaired by a lawyer familiar withthe “Competancy Framework for the Chairmen and Members of Tribunals2002” produced by the Judicial Studies Board, (A copy was appendedto the report) although the Standards Board for England hadconfirmed they didn’t share this view.
Mr Laverick felt that if the Government could not be persuadedthat an independent and experienced lawyer should chair the localhearings, then the Standards Board should be asked to arrangesuitable training programmes to ensure that current Chairs wereable to fulfill the role and meet the competencies set out by theJudicial Studies Board.
A discussion followed and Members were of the opinion that somefurther training using case histories would be beneficial. MrLangley who had previous experience of cases gained whilst workingat other authorities volunteered to assist with training.
Resolved
That the report be received and theMonitoring Officer in conjunction with Mr Langley arrange a futuretraining session.
309. Local Government & Public Involvement inHealth Act 2007
The Council Solicitor submitted a report in order to summarisethe main provisions in Part 10 of the Local Government and PublicInvolvement Act 2007 in so far as it relates to the work of theStandards Committee.
Members were advised that The Local Government White Paper“Stronger and Prosperous Communities” proposed changes to theethical standards regime. These proposals were translated into part10 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill2006, which received Royal Assent on the 30 October 2007 to becomethe Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act2007.
The 2007 act would lead to changed roles for the StandardsBoard for England (SBE), Monitoring Officers and StandardsCommittees. In the future, the Standards Board for England would bestrategic, producing strategy and guidance for local authoritiesand ensuring that adequate arrangements were in place at a locallevel, to handle cases and prevent misconduct. Only sensitive orcomplex complaints would be handled at a national level.
Monitoring Officers and Standards Committees would become thehub of the Ethical Framework. The new local arrangements wouldinclude:
- Receipt of allegations of a breach of the Code of Conduct;
- The initial assessment of allegations (known as the localfilter) to determine the appropriate course of action;
- Investigation of allegations
- Mediation and other arrangements
- Referral to the Standards Board where appropriate;
- The local determination of the vast majority ofcomplaints;
- Referral of serious matters to the Standards Board of Englandfor consideration by the Adjudication Panel for England.
- Performance monitoring of the Ethical Framework
The report then went on to summarise the main provisions ofPart 10 of the 2007 Act in more detail.
Resolved
That the report be received, and thedetails noted.