Issue - meetings

To consider the report of the Monitoring Officer (copy enclosed).

The Council considered the report of the Monitoring Officer seeking Members agreement of a formal response on behalf of the Council to the Government consultation on member standards and conduct. A draft consultation response was attached at Appendix A to the report.

The Monitoring Officer explained that the consultation sought views on the introduction of a mandatory minimum code of conduct for local authorities in England, and measures to strengthen the standards and conduct regime in England to ensure consistency of approach amongst Councils investigating serious breaches of Member codes of conduct, including the introduction of the power of suspension. Following discussions with Group Leaders, a consultation response on behalf of the Council had been drafted. It was noted that any individual could also respond to the consultation using the link provided within the report.

The Chairperson put the recommendation as set out in the report and this was duly seconded.

In response to questions and queries from Members, the Monitoring Officer provided the following information:

·                In respect of question 12 where a breach was found the investigation results would be published but would remain private if no breach was found. It was agreed that further clarity would be added to the response to question 12.

·                It was not felt that a response was appropriate to questions 14 and 15 as these related more to an individual rather than a group.

·                It was agreed that the response to question 17 would be updated to clarify that the Council did put measures in place to support staff and Members. Members were reminded that the Council’s Employee Assistance Programme was available to Members as well as staff and was available 24/7, 365 days a year.

·                In respect of question 25, Members were advised that there was no clear guidance, but the Officer would add further clarification.

The Chairperson moved the recommendations which were duly agreed. The Monitoring Officer advised that she would add a few points of clarification to the questions raised.

RESOLVED that subject to further clarification by the Monitoring Officer, the Council endorsed the draft consultation response to the Governments’ consultation on member standards and conduct.