Issue - meetings

The report seeks to provide the latest position in respect of the Localism Bill and to further the debate on what type of procedures Members may wish to see in the future following changes to the Standards regime.       

The Chairman invited the Monitoring Officer and Borough Solicitor to update the Committee on the latest position in respect of the Localism Bill.

It was reported that the Bill had recently received Royal Assent; the Localism Act 2011 coming into force on 15 November 2011.  The provisions of the Act in respect of standards had shifted from the Government’s original proposals although its intention to abolish Standards for England remained.  The Monitoring Officer drew Members’ attention to paragraph 10.1.3 of the report which succinctly summarised the changes to be imposed i.e.

      All authorities would be required to have a mandatory, rather than voluntary Code of Conduct

      The Code must be consistent with the principles set out in Section 28 (1) of the Localism Act 2011: Selflessness, Integrity, Objectivity, Accountability, Openness, Honesty and Leadership

      Members would be required to register and disclose pecuniary and non- pecuniary interests

      A system to deal with allegations that Members have breached the Code of Conduct would need to be established but there was no obligation to retain a Standards Committee for this purpose  

      At least one Independent Person had to be appointed through a transparent process of advertisement and interview to enable the authority to seek the Independent Person's views before reaching a decision about an allegation, which it must have regard to.  A person against whom a complaint was made would also be entitled to seek the views of the Independent Person.

      Principal Councils would deal with allegations of breach in relation to Parish Councillors

The requirement to adopt a Code of Conduct in accordance with Section 28(1) applied to both Parish Councils and Principal Authorities.  This would allow Councils to continue operating under the current Model Code if desired or, adopt an alternative Code provided it complied with the Act.  From a practical point of view, the Monitoring Officer considered that the complaints process would be easier to administer if Parish Councils adopted the same Code and Cheshire East would be working with ChALC on this matter. 

A Member sought clarification as to the role of the Independent Person and whether the Act prohibited more than one individual being appointed.  The Monitoring Officer stated that there was insufficient detail in the Act concerning this condition although there was nothing to suggest that only a single appointment could be made.  

To encourage open debate on the future of standards, Members had previously agreed that a meeting of the Issues and Ideas Working Group should be held and a provisional date of 25 October 2011 had been proposed.  Due to the number of amendments made to the Bill during its passage through parliament, the decision was taken in October to postpone the meeting until such time as a clear position emerged.          

The Chairman considered that there was still value in the Working Group discussing the implications of the Act and, as the Committee’s January meeting was likely to focus on future arrangements, he proposed that the formal meeting be cancelled and the Issues and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21