Agenda and minutes

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any personal and/or prejudicial interests in any item on the agenda

No declarations of interest were made at the meeting. 

In accordance with Procedure Rules Nos.11 and 35 a total period of 10 minutes is allocated for members of the public to address the Committee on any matter relevant to the work of the Committee.

Individual members of the public may speak for up to 5 minutes but the Chairman will decide how the period of time allocated for public speaking will be apportioned where there are a number of speakers.

Members of the public should provide 3 clear working days notice, in writing, if they wish to ask a question at the meeting, in order for an informed answer to be given. It is not required to give notice of the intention to make use of public speaking provision, however, as a matter of courtesy, a period of 24 hours notice is encouraged.

In accordance with Procedure Rules Nos. 11 and 35, a total period of 10 minutes was allocated for members of the public to address the Committee on any matter relevant to its work, or to ask a question. 

There were no members of the public present on this occasion and the Committee proceeded to its next item of business.      

To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 27 September 2010.  

Subject to the inclusion of Mr R Pomlett in the list of apologies received -

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 27 September 2010 be approved as a correct record. 

The report provides details of the content and impact of prospective legislation.  Members are invited to note the report and to consider the Committee’s current view on future provisions for Cheshire East Borough Council under the emerging legislation, and how this might be taken forward.

On 25 May 2010, the Coalition Government had announced its intention to abolish the Standards regime, in line with the Localism Bill.  The report of the Interim Borough Solicitor outlined for Members the applicable sections of the Bill and the potential impact on Cheshire East Borough Council and its Standards Committee. 

The Bill had received its second reading in the House of Commons and was due to move on to Committee stage, with Royal Assent (the passing of the Bill into law) not expected until later in the year.  The Deputy Monitoring Officer briefly summarised the changes which would be introduced should the Bill be enacted.   

As the subsequent report on the agenda also discussed the implications of the Bill, the Chairman proposed that the report be presented to the Committee before opening the matter for debate.   

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.                              

The Chief Officer of the Cheshire Association of Local Councils (Chalc) had accepted an invitation to attend the Committee’s next meeting on Monday 28 March 2011.  One of the topics to be covered was the preliminary work Chalc was undertaking with Cheshire West and Chester Council in respect of a voluntary Code of Conduct for the Cheshire Parishes.  To enable information to be prepared for the meeting, Members were invited to submit any questions for the Chief Officer to the Vice Chairman for collation.