Issue - meetings

The Senior Legal Adviser, Corporate Governance, introduced his report providing an update on complaints under the Members’ Code of Conduct previously reported as under consideration and received during the period 1 September 2021 to 28 February 2022.  It was noted that:

·  Since the last report to the Committee in September 2021, four existing Borough Councillor complaints had been concluded.  In each case, no breach was established.

·  Following feedback at the September 2021 meeting, the report included details of the reasons why the complaints had failed the preliminary tests against which they were assessed.

·  Since the September 2021 meeting, five new complaints had been received, all of which related to Parish Councillors.  The complaints were being considered by the Monitoring Officer in consultation with the Independent Person and the outcome in each case would be reported to the September 2022 meeting of the Committee.

During the discussion, Members indicated that, in addition to the explanations provided in relation to each complaint, it would be useful to have a table with a running total of complaints covering a period of twelve months to enable trends to be identified.  It was also suggested that it would be useful to receive, at an early stage, a short summary of each complaint received against Parish Councillors.

In response to questions about when Members might be able to see the latest draft of the revised Kent Model Code of Conduct to enable them to comment in a constructive way, the Team Leader, Contentious and Corporate Governance, said that he was a member of the Kent Secretaries Group which was acting as a task and finish panel with respect to the new Kent Model Code.  The Model Code had not been released yet because changing the Code entailed changing the guidance and potentially the complaints handling process.  He would be able to provide a further update after the next meeting of the Kent Secretaries on 28 March 2022 as to when the document would be available.

In response to further comments, the Chairman indicated that it would be helpful to see the draft revised Kent Model Code at the next meeting of the Committee or to receive an update.

The Team Leader, Contentious and Corporate Governance, undertook to attend the next meeting of the Committee in person to provide an update on the new Kent Model Code.

At the conclusion of the discussion on this item, it was suggested that the opportunity be taken to review the section of the Constitution relating to the arrangements for dealing with complaints of alleged breaches of the Members’ Code of Conduct with a view to streamlining it and making it more accessible in future.

RESOLVED:  That subject to the points raised in the discussion, the report be noted.

Note:  Following the introduction by the Senior Legal Adviser, Corporate Governance, Councillor Garten said that he was one of the Members referred to in the report.  He then left the meeting whilst Members discussed the report.