Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Arun Civic Centre, Maltravers Road, Littlehampton, BN17 5LF. View directions

Contact: Helen Burt 

Items
No. Item

791.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillors Bicknell and Daniells

 

792.

Declarations of Interest

Members and Officers are invited to make any declarations of pecuniary, personal and/or prejudicial interests that they may have in relation to items on this agenda, and are reminded that they should re-declare their interest before consideration of the item or as soon as the interest becomes apparent.

 

Members and Officers should make their declaration by stating:

 

a)            the item that they the interest in

b)            whether it is a pecuniary, personal and/or prejudicial interest

c)            the nature of the interest

 

Minutes:

There were no Declarations of Interest made.

 

793.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 145 KB

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 16 December 2021 (attached)

Minutes:

          The Minutes of the meeting held on 16 December 2021 were approved by the Committee. These would be signed at the end of the meeting.

 

794.

Public Question Time

To receive questions from the public (for a period of up to 15 minutes)

 

Minutes:

The Chair confirmed that no questions had been submitted for this meeting.

 

795.

Monitoring Officer Report pdf icon PDF 248 KB

This report asks Standards Committee to note the report of the Monitoring Officer and to give directions as set out in the report.

[30 Minutes]

Additional documents:

Minutes:

          Upon invitation of the Chair, the Interim Group Head of Law and Governance introduced the report. He updated Committee on matters that had arisen since the report had been prepared. This included issues regarding Declarations of Interest from Members that were Members of more than one Council, which needed to be included in their declarations. He also explained that the Monitoring Officer (MO) would normally be supported by two deputies, however Arun currently had one as there was one vacancy, and the remaining Deputy Monitoring Officer would be leaving soon, so a recruitment process would need to begin. He went onto explain various areas in the MO report. He asked Members to consider what they felt should be included in the induction package for new Members, which he wanted to be on the Work Programme for the following Standards meeting.

 

          Member then took part in a discussion where the following points were raised:

·       It was felt that Code of Conduct training for new Members should be mandatory, and this should be enforced.

·       It was suggested that two deputies be recruited at the same time.

·       Clarification was sought regarding whether the recording of the training provided by external trainers was able to be shared with all Arun District Councillors. The MO confirmed that this was the case, but it could not be shared with Parish Councillors due to copyright issues, however for future external training sessions agreement to share with Parish Councillors would be required from the Trainer.

·       More Members should receive training on regulatory committees so that a pool of substitutes would be available.

 

A discussion then took place around the Monitoring Officer’s decision not to add the narrative from Bognor Regis Town Council’s Code of Conduct into the Arun Code of Conduct. The Committee wanted to explore the reasons for this further including why the MO felt the narrative was defective. They also wanted to be consulted on the proposed briefing paper and how this would look. Members wanted this to be included as a separate agenda item at the next meeting of the Standards Committee. The MO explained that an explanation of the Code should not form part of the Code but should be a standalone document capable of quick revision. It was the role of the MO to provide advice to Members on the Code, not the role of Members to provide advice to themselves.

 

Councillor Edwards then proposed the recommendation with the addition of ‘including Monitoring the Operation of the Code’. This was seconded by Councillor Haywood.

 

The Committee

 

          RESOLVED

 

That the Monitoring Officer Report be noted and the proposed items for the future workplan, including Monitoring the Operation of the Code, be supported.

 

796.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 116 KB

The Committee is required to note the Work Programme for 2021/22.

[5 Minutes]

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

          The Committee noted the Work Programme, with the addition of Monitoring the Operation of the Code, as agreed in the previous Item.

797.

Register of Assessments of Complaints Against Councillors pdf icon PDF 198 KB

This report updates the Committee on the complaints against Councillors received since the last report.  The Committee is responsible for maintaining high standards of conduct by Members of the District and Town and Parish Councils, for monitoring operation of the Code of Conduct, and for considering the outcome of investigations in the event of breaches of the Code.

[5 Minutes]

Minutes:

          Upon invitation of the Chair, the Interim Group Head of Law and Governance introduced the report.

 

          There were no questions from Members.

 

          The recommendation was Proposed by Councillor Gregory and Seconded by Councillor Caffyn.

 

 

          The Committee

 

RESOLVED

 

That the Register of Complaints against Councillors and progress of any outstanding complaints be noted.

 

798.

Exempt Information

The Committee is asked to consider passing the following resolution: -

 

That under Section 100a (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and accredited representatives of newspapers be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act by virtue of the paragraph specified against the item.

 

Minutes:

          The Committee

 

RESOLVED

 

That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and accredited representatives of newspapers be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they may involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act by virtue of the paragraph specified against the items.

799.

Register of Assessments of Complaints Against Councillors

This report updates the Committee on the complaints against Councillors received over the past two years.

[15 Minutes]

Minutes:

          The recommendation was Proposed by Councillor Gregory and Seconded by Councillor Caffyn.

 

          Following a discussion, the Committee

 

RESOLVED

 

                     That the Register of Complaints against Councillors be noted.