Issue - meetings

To advise Members of the correspondence received from Standards for England enclosing guidance from the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) on the abolition of the Standards Board Regime.

The second report began with reference to a letter sent to Standards Committees Chairs by Dr Robert Chilton, Chairman of Standards for England following receipt of a letter from the Local Government Minister, Bob Neill MP.  The correspondence primarily concerned the repealing of the Standards regime but also outlined the subsequent transitions arrangements which would apply in respect of the complaints procedure.      

The Interim Borough Solicitor explained that complaints could be submitted to the authority up to the ‘appointed day’; a point approximately two months after the Bill had received Royal Assent.  At this time, any cases still with Standards for England would transfer to local Standards Committees, which would remain established until such time as the last complaint had been dealt with. 

Comment was made by Members that the Bill was somewhat contradictory in nature due to the imposition of a duty on Councils to maintain high standards of conduct amongst members and co-opted members.  This seemed to imply that a form of code would have to be adopted in order for allegations of misconduct to be determined.  The Committee also discussed -  

·        What might happen if Parish Councils chose to adopt a voluntary code but the authority did not and vice versa; 

·        Whether the current ‘relationship’ between the parishes and the Standards Committee would be retained or revised;

·        What the future role of Independent Committee members might be given that the establishment of a voluntary Standards Committee would place no requirement on Councils to include independent persons within its membership.           

The Interim Borough Solicitor indicated that it was too early in the process to identify all the possible connotations of the legislation and it was hoped that the passage of the Bill through parliament would provide the clarity required.     

The Chairman considered that, from comments made at the meeting, there was support amongst members for the adoption of a voluntary Code of Conduct; proposing that a report be submitted to full Council outlining the Committee’s views.  Having endorsed the proposal, the Committee cautioned that it would be preferable to obtain an agreement ‘in principle’ from the Leader of the Council prior to commencing work on drawing up a voluntary code and it was suggested that the matter be referred to the Committee’s Issues and Improvement Group for consideration.  

AGREED: That a meeting of the Issues and Improvement Group be held on Tuesday 22^nd February 2011 at 2pm.