Issue - meetings

The report of the Borough Solicitor/Monitoring Officer seeks to inform and update Members on developments in respect of anticipated Legislation contained within the Localism Bill which will replace the current Code of Conduct and make related changes to the Standards regimes

The Committee considered the report of the Borough Solicitor and Monitoring Officer which sought to update members on the progress of the Localism Bill. 

Amongst other matters contained in the Bill were proposals to abolish the Standards regime; the Standards for England website indicating that it was likely that it (Standards for England) would cease to investigate complaints in late 2011 or early 2012 and be formally abolished during 2012.  Whilst local Councils would remain under a duty to promote and maintain high standards of conduct by Members and co-opted Members of the authority; the position relating to the Code of Conduct was the subject of ongoing parliamentary debate although the retention of Standards Committees remained voluntary at this time.   

Members had previously expressed the view that the Council should adopt a voluntary code and retain its Standards Committee but a formal recommendation had not yet been submitted to Council.  The Chairman confirmed that it would be considered good practice to have in place a Code of Conduct and support for the continuation of a local standards regime existed amongst Council Members.

A discussion ensued about the form a future Standards Committee could take, which included - 

      the role of independent members on the Committee;

      potential for combining the ethical governance role with the work of a compatible body i.e. Audit and Governance Committee;

      the involvement of the Cheshire Association of Local Councils in the process; and

      future powers. 

As the sanctions which could be imposed would remove the right to suspend, partially suspend or disqualify Councillors, there was concern that a future Committee would lack ‘teeth’ and could be viewed as an additional level of bureaucracy, a perception which would need to be addressed.   

To ensure that the Committee was able to consider the views of those affected by the changes, it was suggested that a short discussion paper be drafted by the Chairman and Vice Chairman setting out the arguments for and against the retention of a local Standards Committee and voluntary Code of Conduct.  Following consultation with the Monitoring Officer, the paper would be submitted to the political Group Leaders on the Council, with a request that comments on the matter be submitted to the Committee’s September meeting for consideration.

RESOLVED: That a) the report be noted; and b) the Chairman and the Vice Chairman be invited to draft a discussion paper for consideration by the Political Groups on Cheshire East Council on the future of the local standards regime, feedback to be submitted to the Committee for discussion at its meeting on 26 September 2011.