Issue - meetings

This is a regular report to the Committee by the Monitoring Officer to give the Committee an overview of the work of the Monitoring Officer that falls within the scope of the functions for which the Committee is responsible.

[15 minutes]

Upon the invitation of the Chair, the Monitoring Officer introduced the report to Committee. He highlighted paragraph 4.2 ‘Maintaining the Constitution’, explaining that the Constitution Working Party had met and considered changes to the Constitution. Changes to the Constitution had subsequently been approved by Full Council on 13 March 2024. The Constitution would be updated in the week following the Committee meeting. Paragraph 4.8 was also highlighted. The changes to the Local Assessment Procedure, as considered at the meeting of Standards Committee on 18 January 2024, were approved at Full Council on 13 March 2024. The amended version of the Procedure had now been published and was now in use. The recruitment of Independent Persons was ongoing.

          The Monitoring Officer updated Committee that there had been an incident in the Chamber at Planning Committee the previous week. He assured Members that this was being taken very seriously and had been reported to the police. The Council had issued a press statement regarding this. The Monitoring Officer stated that anyone being made to feel unsafe in the Chamber would not be tolerated. This matter was an ongoing police investigation, and was also being reviewed internally by the Corporate Management Team, who were looking at arrangements in the Chamber in terms of safety. Any improvements would be quickly implemented, and Members would be communicated with regarding any changes. He had appreciated feedback that had been received from Members, and was grateful to those Members that had come forward in terms of observing the incident.

One Member thanked the Monitoring Officer for the coordination of information and response, and also for the update to Committee.

There were no questions from Members.

The Committee noted the report.