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MAIDSTONE BOROUGH COUNCIL

STANDARDS COMMITTEE

REPORT OF HEAD OF LEGAL SERVICES AND MONITORING OFFICER

8 JUNE 2012

Code of conduct complaints – 1 september 2011 – 31 may 2012

1.           The Standards Committee has received ten complaints of misconduct, during this time, eight relating to Parish Councils and two relating to the Borough Council (involving 19 Councillors - 16 Parish Councillors and 3 Borough Councillors).  Two of these were referred for investigation, five were referred to the Monitoring Officer for further action and no further action was taken in three of the cases.  There has been only one review of a no further action decision and this resulted in a reference to me to advise the Parish Council that its Clerk should receive training in minute taking.  During this time scale there has been one hearing into two complaints about five Parish Councillors, four were found not to have breached the Code, and one was found to have been in breach, for which he was censured.

There has been no discernible trend relating to the complaints of misconduct which has led to the need to train Councillors in any particular aspect of the Code.  However, there have been certain areas in which administration of Parish Councils could be improved, and in those circumstances, the Clerks have been advised accordingly that action is recommended to be taken.

Recommended

It is recommended that the Committee notes this report.