Agenda item

Recommendation I:             Standards Committee

(14 June 2012)

(i)                 Further to item 9 on the Summons, Councillor Paul Osborn rose and moved tabled cross party amendments to the recommendations contained at Recommendation I of the Standards Committee meeting held on 14 June 2012.

(ii)               Councillor Graham Henson rose to second the cross party amendments.

(iii)             Upon a vote the Recommendations, as amended, were agreed.

RESOLVED:  That

(1)               the Code of Conduct for Councillors as contained in appendix II to these minutes be agreed;

(2)               the Procedure for dealing with complaints as contained in appendix III to these minutes be agreed;

(3)               the arrangements for the appointment of Independent Persons and dealing with dispensations be agreed;

(4)               the current Independent Members be appointed as Independent Persons;

(5)               the Independent Persons be remunerated on the same basis as Independent Members;

(6)               a new Standards Committee, with terms of reference contained at appendix IV to these minutes, be established comprising five elected Members of the Council, appointed proportionally and the Independent Persons as informal advisers to the Committee;

(7)               the Leader of the Council be requested to nominate to the Standards Committee only one Member who is a member of the Executive, excluding the Leader of the Council;

(8)               a Hearing Review Sub-Committee and Assessment Sub-Committee be established to be sub-committees of the Standards Committee, with terms of reference contained at Appendix V to these minutes;

(9)               the Assessment and Hearing Working Groups be set up as informal working groups;

(10)          Council delegate authority to the Hearing Sub-Committee to take decisions in respect of a Member who is found in hearing to have failed to comply with the Code of Conduct as listed in this report;

(11)          the Monitoring Officer be appointed as the Proper Officer to receive complaints of failure to comply with the Code of Conduct;

(12)          the Monitoring Officer prepare and maintain a new register of members’ interests (once regulations are received) to comply with the requirements of the Act and of the Council’s Code of Conduct, once adopted, and ensure that it is available for inspection as required by the Act;

(13)          the Monitoring Officer ensure that all members are informed of their duty to register interests;

(14)          the Code of Conduct includes a provision that members update their Register of Interests within 28 days of a change occurring;

(15)          the Monitoring Officer be instructed upon receipt of the regulations on members’ interests to recommend to Council a Standing Order which equates to the current Code of Conduct requirement that a member must withdraw from the meeting room, including from the public gallery, during the whole of consideration of any item of business in which he/she has a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest, except where he/she is permitted to remain as a result of the grant of a dispensation;

(16)          the relevant delegations to the Monitoring Officer detailed in the Tabled Documents be agreed;

(17)          the Council delegates to the Standards Committee the power to authorise dispensations.