The Committee considered a joint report by the Monitoring Officer and the Chairman of the Committee setting out proposed arrangements for implementing the provisions of the Localism Act in so far as they relate to the ethical standards regime.  It was noted that:-

All local authorities (including Parish Councils) would have to have a Code of Conduct, which accorded with the seven Nolan principles, but there would no longer be a national mandatory Code.

The report suggested that the new Code of Conduct should be based on the existing Code.

All local authorities would have to have a system in place to deal with allegations of Member misconduct, but there was no statutory requirement to have a Standards Committee.  However, local authorities would have to appoint an Independent Person whose views were to be sought, and taken into account, by the authority before making a decision on an allegation that it had decided to investigate.  A person against whom a complaint was made would also be able to seek the views of this Independent Person.  The Council would still be able to co-opt Independent Members onto the Standards Committee, but these Members would only be able to vote if the Committee was advisory in nature.

The Council had decided already that there should continue to be a Standards Committee comprising Borough, Parish and Independent Members.  The report suggested that ad hoc groups of Members chosen from the Standards Committee membership could be called (as now) to deal with allegations of misconduct.  The Standards Committee would meet once a year to elect a Chairman/Vice-Chairman and then on an ad hoc basis if called upon by the Council to undertake any specific duties.  The Committee and groups would be chaired by Co-opted Independent Members and the Committee would comprise 3 Independent Co-opted Members, 3 Parish Council representatives and 1 Borough Councillor from each political group.  It was considered that this would provide a pool of sufficient size to select the groups to deal with complaints.

With regard to complaints handling, the report suggested that as and when allegations of misconduct were received they should be considered by the Monitoring Officer, who would make a decision as to whether they should be considered, having consulted the Independent Person.  If it was decided that an allegation should be considered, a Panel of 3 Members would be called, which would consider the written representations of the complainant, the Councillor complained about and the Independent Person.  If the Panel concluded that there had been no breach, then that would be the end of the matter.  If the Panel believed that it needed to hear oral representations from the complainant, Councillor and Independent Person, it could arrange to do so, or if it concluded that a fuller investigation was needed, it could request the Monitoring Officer to carry this out.  If the Panel concluded that there had been a breach, it would make a recommendation to that effect to a Sub-Committee of the Standards Committee comprising 3 Borough Councillors (1 of whom would have sat on the Panel).  The reason for this approach was that only Councillors could vote on decisions but the consideration of the issues by an Independent/Parish representative on the advisory Panel was very valuable.

Parish Councils would also have to have a Code of Conduct and could adopt the Code adopted by the Borough Council.  However, they did not have to put in place arrangements for the investigation of allegations of misconduct, but they could do so either themselves or through another body such as the Borough Council.

The report suggested that if a Parish Council requested the Borough Council to consider allegations of misconduct, then the Panel would report its findings to the Parish Council which would then itself decide whether it agreed that there had been a breach and determine any action.

The Council would in due course have to make arrangements for discharging the other functions currently carried out by the Standards Committee.

It was not yet known when the part of the Localism Act covering Standards would come in to force.

During the ensuing discussion, reference was made by Members and Co-opted Members to the need to ensure that the new arrangements for dealing with allegations of misconduct would speed up the complaints process and bring about an early resolution, in the interests of all involved.  It was also suggested that, since it was not yet known when the provisions of the Act covering Standards would come into force, it would be sensible to extend the terms of office of the existing Independent Members and Parish Council representatives until the Annual Meeting of the Council in May 2013 or until such time that the new arrangements had been finalised.

RESOLVED:

1.  That unless and until a new model Code of Conduct is published, the Monitoring Officer be requested to draw up a Code of Conductbased on the existing Code for consideration at the next meeting of the Standards Committee on 15 February 2012, or earlier if needs be.

2.  That if any Members/Co-opted Members of the Council have suggestions for inclusions/exclusions in the new Code, they should let the Monitoring Officer know. 

3.  That the suggested membership of the Standards Committee, its Panel, and the Sub-Committee, and the suggested complaints handling process be agreed, and that the Monitoring Officer be requested to report back to the next meeting of the Committee with any further implications of the Localism Act and its regulations and the role of the Independent Person, together with details of costings (including a comparison of the costs of the current and proposed new arrangements) and the implications for Parish Councils.

4.  That the Monitoring Officer be requested to report to the next meeting of the Committee with further suggestions as to where each function of the Standards Committee could be discharged in the future.

5.  That it is acknowledged that these suggested arrangements might change in the light of guidance published pursuant to the Act.

6.  To RECOMMEND to the COUNCIL:  That the terms of office of the existing Independent Members and Parish Council representatives on the Standards Committee be extended until the Annual Meeting of the Council in May 2013 or until such time that the arrangements in relation to the new ethical standards regime have been finalised.