held at Ryedale House, Malton on Thursday 19 June 2008
Link to agenda for Standards Committee 19 June
2008.
Present
Councillors Aslett, Cussons and Mrs De Wend Fenton
Mrs G Baker - Independent Member
Mrs G De Barr - Parish Representative
Mr C Langley - Independent Member
Mr H Spencer - Parish Representative
In Attendance
Mrs A Adnitt and A Winship
Minutes
51 Election of Chairman
Resolved
That Mr Hamilton be elected Chairman of
the Standards Committee for the ensuing year.
52 Appointment of Vice Chairman
Resolved
That Mr Langley be appointed Vice Chairman
of the Standards Committee for the ensuing year.
Mr Langley thanked members for his appointment.
53 Apologies for Absence
Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Cottam
and Maud. Mr Hamilton and Mr Lerew.
54 Minutes
The minutes of a last meeting of the Standards Committee held
on 3 April 2008 were presented.
Resolved
That the minutes of a meeting of the
Standards Committee held on 3 April 2008 be approved and signed by
the Chairman as a correct record.
55 Urgent Business
The Chairman declared that there were no items of urgent
business to be dealt with as a matter of urgency by virtue of
Section (100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.
56 Declarations of Interest
No declarations of interest were received.
57 Standards Board for England Bulletin
38
The Council Solicitor submitted a report (previously
circulated) the purpose of which was to inform Members of the
Committee of the latest Standards Board Bulletin 38.
A copy of the Bulletin published on the 25 April 2008 was
appended to the report.
The Council Solicitor reported that the following items were
worthy of note:
- A summary of the Standards Committee (England) Regulations
2008
- Advice on dealing with complaints from the public
- An update on the new local reporting system
- Details of the press toolkit
Resolved
That the report be noted.
58 The Role and Make up of Standards
Committees
The Council Solicitor submitted a report (previously
circulated) in order to propose effective procedures to implement
Local Assessment having due regard to the published guidance of the
Standards Board of England entitled “ The Role and Make up of
Standards Committees”.
A copy of the guidance was appended to the report, it gave the
Standards Board for Englands view on the role and make up of
Standards Committees. Members were advised that the regulations
were mandatory, and that guidance must be taken into account by the
authority.
The report covered the following key areas:
- Standards Committee Functions - in addition to including the
new statutory functions in the Committee’s terms of reference,
which had already been completed, the guidance also suggested that
the function of advising the Council on the appointment of
Independent Members should be set down in the Committee’s terms of
reference.
- Standards Committee size and composition – The guidance advised
that it was now a legal requirement for the Chairman and any Vice
Chairman of the Standards Committee to be an Independent
Member.
- Independent Members – The guidance suggested that Independent
Members should be appointed for a fixed term, of between one and
four years, and serve a maximum of two terms.
- Standards Committee Operation – a Sub Committee must now be
appointed to assess complaints and review all decisions to take no
action over a complaint. A further sub committee could be appointed
to consider a Monitoring Officer’s final investigation report and
consider determination hearings.
- The Committee discussed the report in detail and it was
Resolved
That the following recommendations be made
to Council:
a) That the appointment of Independent
Members be added to the Committee’s Role and Function, and that
accordingly the terms of reference of the Standards Committee be
amended.
b) That Article 8.02 of the Constitution
be amended to require that both the Chairman and Vice Chairman of
the Standards Committee should be Independent Members of the
Standards Committee.
59 Local Assessment of Member Misconduct
Allegations
The Council Solicitor submitted a report (previously
circulated) in order to advise Members of the new arrangements for
the determination by Standards Committee’s on complaints of
breaches of the Members’ Code of Conduct in place of the Standards
Board for England. Following the guidance from the Standards Board
of England, effective procedures needed to be adopted, in order to
fulfil the legislative requirements in relation to Local
Assessment.
The Standards Board of England had issued guidance with
respect to the local assessment of complaints and the role and make
up of Standards Committees. A copy of the guidance document
entitled “Local Assessment of Complaints” was appended to the
report. By law the Council was required to have due regard to this
guidance in setting up its new procedures and in undertaking the
new function.
The following key issues were detailed in the report along
with recommendations from the Monitoring Officer:
- Sub Committees
- Joint Working between Authorities
- Notification to the Member
- Local Resolution of Complaints
- Filtering out Irrelevant Complaints
- Anonymous Complaints
- Multiple Complaints
- Pre-Investigation
- Timescale for Initial Assessment of Allegations
- Public or Private Meetings
- Notification following initial assessment
- Review of initial assessment
- Publicity for the new arrangements
Also included with the report was the following
documentation;
- Assessment Flowchart
- Review flowchart
- Terms of Reference of the Assessment Sub Committee
- Terms of Reference of the Review Sub Committee
- Terms of Reference of the Hearing Sub Committee
- Monitoring Officer Protocol on the discharge of functions in
relation to the assessment and review of allegation that a member
of the Authority has failed to comply with the Code of
Conduct.
- Criteria for decisions by the Assessment Sub Committee and the
Review Sub Committee
Members discussed each recommendation in detail, and were of
the opinion that the proposals contained in the report would
provide effective procedures, in accordance with the guidance
received from the Standards Board of England, which would fulfil
the legislative requirements in relation to Local Assessment.
In relation to Anonymous Complaints, it had been recommended
that no action be taken. However Members were of the opinion that
this should be amended, and Anonymous Complaints be investigated if
there was further independent evidence to substantiate the
complaint.
The Committee congratulated the Monitoring Officer for a very
comprehensive and detailed report.
Resolved
That the report be received and the
recommendations as listed below be adopted, subject to the
amendment regarding anonymous complaints.
a. That as with the
Council’s Licensing Sub-Committee, the Membership and Chairmanship
of the three sub committees be not fixed, but instead the
Monitoring Officer in consultation with the Chairman of the
Standards Committee be authorised to constitute each of the Sub
Committees comprising one District Councillor, one Independent
Member and one Parish Representative from meeting to meeting having
regard to Member availability and any other relevant factors such
as actual or potential conflicts of interest.
b. That an Assessment Sub
Committee be established comprising one Independent Member, one
elected Member of the District Council and one parish or Town
Council representative with the terms of reference as set out in
the report at annex 1.
c. That a Review Sub
Committee be established comprising one Independent Member, one
elected Member of the District Council and one Parish or Town
Council representative with the terms of reference as set out in
the report at annex 2.
d. That a Hearings
Sub-Committee be established, comprising one Independent Member,
one elected member of the District Council and one Parish or Town
Council representative, and that the members thereof be generally
(but not exclusively) Members who have not been involved on the
assessment or review of the particular matter. The terms of
reference of the Hearings Sub-Committee were set out in Annex 3 of
the report.
e. That the potential for
joint working be explored with other North Yorkshire authorities
once the appropriate Regulations were made.
f. That a report be
submitted to a future meeting of the Standards Committee in
relation to making appointments of independent persons to the
Standards Committee on a temporary basis for dealing with
particular complaints, from independent persons who serve on other
authorities’ Standards Committees.
g. That the Monitoring
Officer notify the Member of receipt of a complaint and provide a
written summary of the allegation at the same time as acknowledging
receipt of the allegation to the person making the allegation and
no later than the date the agenda is sent out for the meeting of
the Assessment Sub-Committee, unless, after consultation with the
Chairman of the Standards Committee, it was considered appropriate
to defer notification in order to enable a proper investigation to
take place. In such cases notification would be made as soon as the
reasons for the deferral no longer apply.
h. That a local protocol
as set out in Annex 4 to this report be adopted authorising the
Monitoring Officer to seek such local resolution in appropriate
cases.
i. That the criteria set
down in Annex 5 to this report with respect to the assessment and
review function be adopted.
j. That anonymous
complaints will only be considered if there is independent evidence
to substantiate the complaint, but that the Monitoring Officer be
authorised to the extent the law allows to keep the identity of the
complainant confidential where he/she is of the opinion that this
is in the public interest.
k. That in accordance
with the local protocol attached as Annex 4 to the report, where it
was practicable to do so the Monitoring Officer obtain and inform
the Assessment Sub-Committee of any publicly available information
which would facilitate their task of determining whether a
complaint merits investigation.
l. That the Assessment
and Review Sub-Committees hold their meetings in camera unless the
relevant Sub-Committee determine otherwise in any particular
instances.
m. That the Standards
Committee approve a protocol in the terms set out in Annex 4 to the
report setting out the responsibilities and discretions of the
Monitoring Officer in the provision or withholding of information
relating to complaints.
n. That the Monitoring
Officer arrange appropriate publicity in accordance with the
Regulations and Guidance.
60 Written Allegations of Misconduct – Complaints
Procedure
The Council Solictor submitted a report (previously
circulated) in order to consider and approve a complaints form, and
guidance information for potential complainants.
Members were advised that Regulation 10 of the Standards
Committee (England) regulations 2008 required the Standards
Committee to publish details of the address to which written
allegations should be sent, along with details of the procedure for
making written allegations.
A draft Complaints form, and guidance document were appended
to the report.
Resolved
That the report be received, and the
Council Solicitor be authorised to publish the guidance notes and
complaints form.
61 Changes to the Local Government Ombudsman’s
Jurisdiction and Operation
The Council Solicitor submitted a report in order to appraise
Members of the changes to the Local Government Ombudsman’s
Jurisdiction and Operation.
Members were reminded that one of the Committee functions was
to consider and make recommendations to Council in respect of any
report of the Local Government Ombudsman in cases of
maladministration relating to the conduct of Members. The Local
Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 had introduced
some changes to the Local Government Ombudsman’s (LGO’s)
jurisdiction and operation. The changes applied to complaints
received and matters coming to the attention of an Ombudsman on or
after 1 April 2008.
The report then summarised the changes in the following
areas:
- Making Complaints
- Apparent Maladministration – Third party injustice
- Persons affected
- Maladministration without Injustice
- Reports, statements of reasons and publicity
- Partnership working
- Procurement
- Maladministration and service failures
- Standards Board/Standards Committee
Resolved
That the report be received, and the changes
noted.
62 Guidance for Members involved in the Malton
Development Strategy Steering Group or any other Local Development
Framework Member Working Party
The Council Solicitor submitted a report (previously
circulated) to enable the Committee to consider draft guidance
intended to be issued by the Monitoring Officer to District
Councillors.
A Guidance document for Members involved in the Malton
Development Strategy Steering Group or any other Local Development
Framework Member reference group was annexed to the report.
Members were reminded that it was essential that the decision
making process of the Council and its Committees in relation to the
development of planning policy through the Local Development
Framework was open, transparent and accountable and that good
public involvement was built into the decision making
process.
Members were of the opinion that the guidance document was
very useful and provided general guidance on issues which were
known to be of concern to Members. The guidance was discussed in
detail, and it was suggested that the guidance notes be circulated
to Councillors, relevant Officers and be added to the agenda for
the next Malton Strategy Steering Group.
Resolved
That the guidance prepared by the
Monitoring Officer be noted, and the Monitoring Officer be
authorised to circulate the guidance to all Members, and be
included on the agenda for the next meeting of the Malton Strategy
Steering Group.
63 Applications for a Dispensation
The Council Solicitor advised that he had received a further
application for dispensation from the following Members of Harome
Parish Council for a period of three years:
(i) Mr Trevor Andrews
(ii) Mr C G Pickard
(iii) Mr Edward Wardle
(iv) Mr Ian B Rooke
An application for dispensation was originally considered by
the Standards Committee meeting on 3 April 2008, in relation to
three Members of Harome Parish Council. Because of the illness of
one Member, an application had subsequently been submitted in
respect of four Members. It was considered expedient to consider
all the applications together.
More than fifty percent of the Members of the Parish Council
were involved directly or indirectly with the Harome Village Hall
Committee and therefore had a Personal and Prejudicial interest
whenever the agenda included an item relating to the Harome Village
Hall Committee Association.
The Standards Committee concluded that in all circumstances of
the code, it was appropriate to grant a dispensation to Parish
Council Members applying for the dispensation.
Resolved
1. That the Standards Committee considered
that it was appropriate to Grant a dispensation to the applicants
having regard to the fact the transaction of the business of the
Parish Council would, on each occasion on which the dispensation
would apply, be otherwise be impeded because the numbers of Members
of the Harome Parish Council that were prohibited from
participating on the business of the Council exceeded 50% of those
Members that are entitled to participate.
2. That the Standards Committee for the Ryedale District
hereby grants dispensation for a period of 3 years to Mr Trevor
Andrews, Mr C G Pickard, Mr Edward Wardle and Mr Ian B Rooke being
Members of the Harome Parish Council pursuant to the Relevant
Authorities (Standards Committee) (Dispensations) Regulations 2002
allowing them to Participate by speaking and voting at a meeting of
Harome Parish Council.
64 Training for Members of Standards
Committee
The Councillor Solicitor submitted a report previously
circulated in order to consider training arrangements for Members
of the Standards Committee.
Members were reminded that following the recent procedural
changes a need for further training for Members of the Standards
Committees had been identified.
The Standards Board for England had published a training
exercise comprising of twelve cases, it was considered that now
there was greater clarity on the assessment criteria for referring
written allegations for investigation, it was particularly timely
to arrange a training session.
Resolved
That a training session be included on the
agenda for the next Standards Committee meeting to be held on 17
July 2008.