held at Ryedale House, Malton on Thursday 30 July 2008
Present
Councillor Mrs De Wend Fenton
Mr I Hamilton - Independent Member (in the Chair)
Mrs G De Barr - Parish Representative
Mr C Langley - Independent Member
Mr P Lerew - Parish Representative
Mr H Spencer - Parish Representative
In Attendance
Mrs A Adnitt and A Winship.
Minutes
147. Apologies for Absence
Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Aslett,Cottam, Cussons, Maud and Mrs Baker.
148. Minutes
The minutes of a last meeting of the Standards Committee heldon 19 June 2008 were presented. It was noted that at the meeting ofCouncil held on 10 July 2008 it was:
Resolved
a) That, with the exception of Minuteno.58 (The Role and Make Up of Standards Committees), the minutesof a meeting of the Standards Committee held on the 19 June 2008 bereceived.
b) That the following recommendations ofthe the Standards Committee Minute No. 58 (The Role and make up ofStandards Committees) in relation to changes in the Council’sConstitution be approved:
(i) That advice on the appointment ofIndependent Members be added to the Committee’s Role and Function,and that accordingly the terms of reference of the StandardsCommittee be amended.
(ii) That Article 8.02 of the Constitutionbe amended to require that both the Chairman and Vice Chairman ofthe Standards Committee be Independent Members of the StandardsCommittee.
Resolved
That the minutes of a meeting of theStandards Committee held on 3 April 2008 be approved and signed bythe Chairman as a correct record.
149. Urgent Business
The Chairman declared that there were no items of urgentbusiness to be dealt with as a matter of urgency by virtue ofSection (100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.
150. Declarations of Interest
No declarations of interest were received.
151. Standards Board for England Bulletin39
The Council Solicitor submitted a report (previouslycirculated) the purpose of which was to inform Members of theCommittee of the latest Standards Board Bulletin 39.
A copy of the Bulletin published on the 27 June and 4 July2008 was appended to the report.
The Council Solicitor reported that the following items wereworthy of note:
- Details of the new online local reporting system to theStandards Board for England.
- A personal account of local assessment from a DistrictCouncil
- Information about the new Chair of the Standards Board forEngland
The Council Solicitor advised that the first online return hadbeen submitted to the Standards Board for England, this would bedone on a quarterly basis.
Resolved
That the report be noted.
152. Protocol for Disclosure of Confidential or ExemptInformation by Members
The Council Solicitor submitted a report (previouslycirculated) in order to consider a draft Protocol for disclosure ofconfidential or exempt information by Members.
Members were reminded that Paragraph 4(a) of the revised Codeof Conduct for Members prohibited the disclosure by Councillors ofconfidential information, or information believed to be of aconfidential nature, except in any of the followingcircumstances:
- The Member had the consent of the person authorised to giveit.
- The Member was required by law to do so.
- The disclosure was made to a third party for the purposes ofobtaining professional advice (for example, a lawyer or otherprofessional adviser) provided that person agreed
- The disclosure was in the public interest. This was onlyjustified in limited circumstances, when all the following fourrequirements were met:
i. The disclosure must be reasonable
ii. The disclosure must be in the publicinterest
iii. The disclosure must be made in goodfaith
iv. The disclosure must be made incompliance with any reasonable requirements of the authority.
In order to decide whether the disclosure was reasonable andin the public interest, the Member may need to conduct a balancingexercise weighing up the public interest in maintainingconfidentiality against any countervailing public interestfavouring disclosure. This would require a careful focus on howconfidential the information was, on any potentially harmfulconsequences of its disclosure, and on any factors which mayjustify its disclosure despite these potential consequences.
In some situations, it was extremeley unlikely that adisclosure could be justified in the public interest. Theseincluded where the disclosure amounted to a criminal offence, orwhere the information disclosed was protected by legal professionalprivilege. Further guidance regarding the disclosure ofconfidential information was set out in a Standards Board forEngland Factsheet appended to the report.
In accordance with the fourth requirement, “The disclosuremust be made in compliance with any reasonable requirements of theauthority” , that before making any disclosure a Member must, inaddition to considering the first three requirements, comply withthe authority’s policies or protocols on matters such as whistleblowing or Member/Officer relationships and confidentialinformation, the Standards Board recommend that authorities ensurethey have such policies in place to cover the possibility of aMember considering a release of information, and that they takesteps to ensure that all Councillors are familiar with theprovisions.
It was recommended that this would be best dealt with byincorporating the draft protocol which was appended to the reportinto the access to Information Procedure Rules in the Council’sConstitution.
The protocol was discussed in detail, and it was generallyfelt that the protocol would provide Members with some robustguidance, which would help minimise the risk to the authority ofconfidential and exempt information being released inappropriately.Members were of the opinion that prior to a recommendation beingmade to Council, it would be beneficial to refer the draft Protocolto all District Councillors for comment.
Mrs De Barr advised that the draft protocol would also be auseful tool for Parish Councillors.
Resolved
(a) That the draft protocol document becirculated to all Councillors for comment.
(b) That the Monitoring Officer consultwith the Yorkshire Local Councils Association regarding advice toParish Councils.
(c) That following the Consultation perioda report be brought back to the Standards Committee meeting on the18th September 2008.