Issue - meetings

On 5 August 2011, the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Standards Committee wrote to the political Group Leaders on Cheshire East Council enclosing a discussion paper on the future of local Standards Committees which sought elected Members views. 

The response of the Conservative Group is attached; responses from the Labour Group, Independents and Liberal Democrat Groups will be reported orally at the meeting.       

At the Committee’s meeting in July 2011, Members had discussed the future of the standards regime in light of proposals set out in the Localism Bill.  To gauge opinion from Councillors on whether there was support for retaining a voluntary Code of Conduct and/or a voluntary Standards Committee, the Chairman and Vice Chairman had written to the Group Leaders on the Council to obtain their views. 

The response received from the Conservative Group was appended to the agenda and in summary i) supported the retention of a voluntary Code of Conduct; ii) suggested that informal inquiries into complaints received be conducted by the political groups, with more serious complaints referred to a Sub-Committee of Audit and Governance Committee for determination; and iii) that the main point of contact remain the Monitoring Officer. 

The Leader of the Labour Group was in attendance at the meeting and was invited to verbally report her Group’s views.  Councillor Flude began by stating that any opinions expressed on the standards regime could be influenced by a Member’s personal experiences and she asked that this be borne in mind when considering representations.  Notwithstanding her comments, the Labour Group supported the retention of a voluntary Code of Conduct and voluntary Standards Committee provided that the new framework was efficient, rigorous and was fair and equitable to the Complainant and Subject Member.  Retention of Independent Members on the Standards Committee was also endorsed.   

Councillor Parsons reported that the Independent Group had not discussed the matter and he was therefore unable to speak on behalf of the Group.  

As Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Councillor Fletcher reported that there was an acceptance that some form of structure needed to be in place to deal with complaints.  Whilst the current system had its flaws, it would be unfortunate if it was lost completely. 

It was the opinion of some Members that the current complaints system was open to abuse by individuals who could make false and vexatious claims with impunity.  A voluntary Code of Conduct could only be supported therefore, if there was some form of redress available against such Complainants.                            

The Chairman sought to establish whether there was a consensus amongst Councillors for adopting a voluntary Code of Conduct but an agreement could not be reached.  Whilst some Members strongly opposed the continuation of the standards regime in any form, those in support conceded that any new framework had to be simpler, quicker and more cost effective than at present.  Given that the next item on the agenda looked to address this point, the Chairman invited the Monitoring Officer to present her report.