Agenda item

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

            Upon invitation of the Chair, the Deputy Monitoring Officer introduced his report and drew Members’ attention to the two different types of matters contained within it – information matters and procedural matters. He explained some Members were yet to signify acceptance of the new Code of Conduct; he updated Members that the Local Government Association (LGA) had now issued guidance on the Model Code, which Arun had partly adopted, and he confirmed he would circulate this guidance after the meeting; a list of Members trained to sit on the Standards Committee had been attached to the agenda; Officers had been carrying out consultation on the new Code of Conduct Complaint Form, which was a separate item on the Agenda; he spoke about assembling Panels for the purpose of hearing complaints, and explained that in the process of setting these up a number of issues had arisen. One being that all Members that had volunteered to attend were from the same political party, and whilst this was not unusual in a majority Council, Members at Arun may have a different view, and he was interested to hear Member views on the matter.

The Chair invited questions from Members, and the following questions and points were raised:

·           Whether the Constitution would be updated following the previous Full Council Meeting

·           Could the whole Constitution to be downloaded in its entirety.

·           The implications for all Members yet to sign the Code and the process to ensure this happened.

·           Could more Councillors be trained to sit on the Standards Committee as currently there were not many Members available to Substitute.

            The questions were answered by the Deputy Monitoring Officer and the Head of Law and Governance.

            A discussion took place around whether the Hearings Panel should be politically balanced. Some Members expressed a view that they did not need to be politically balanced, as any Member of Standards Committee should be impartial, and it should not matter which political party they were a Member of. Other Members expressed a view that the Hearings Panels should be politically balanced wherever possible, as they should have the appearance of being fair.

            The Deputy Monitoring Officer then went on to draw Members’ attention to the Member/Officer Protocol, which he suggested should be reviewed, so Members could decide whether or not this needed to change. He explained some Officers had raised concerns about what they saw as being their relationship with Members. The Deputy Monitoring Officer suggested consultation took place with the Corporate Management Team and Human Resources about what they felt may need to change; followed by consultation with Members, as some Members had also raised concerns about how they are/are not working with Officers; then they could proceed to look at how other local authorities had dealt with any issues that may have arisen during the consultation process. It was asked that time be given in the Work Programme for this work to be carried out.

            Discussion was had around the Member/Officer Protocol. The subject of Member complaints about Officers was raised, in particular the process for this, and how it may need clarifying so there was a clear route for Members who wished to make a complaint about Officers.

The recommendation was then proposed by Councillor Tilbrook and seconded by Councillor Caffyn.

            Having provided feedback regarding the Member/Officer Protocol the Committee

RESOLVED

That the Monitoring Officer Report be noted.