To agree the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 11 January 2017, as a correct record

Resolved: That the minutes of the Standards Committee held on 11 January 2017 be agreed and signed as a correct record.

Any interests not already registered

There were no additional declarations of interest.

The Monitoring Officer presented his report on the Role of the Standards Committee, which set out the Terms of Reference described in Part 3 of the Council’s Constitution.

The Chairman invited comments on the report and Members expressed a wish to review the arrangements for dealing with Code of Conduct Complaints.  To this end it was suggested by the Chairman that a sub-committee be formed composed of Cllrs. Morris and McGregor and also in his absence Cllr. McGarvey, the Chairman to discuss this with him at a later date.

The Chairman asked whether the Monitoring Officer would be able to report on this to the Standards Committee meeting of January 2018.  Members agreed that the sub-committee should meet to review the arrangements in time to be put on the next agenda before the January 2018 meeting. 

The Monitoring Officer reminded the Committee that changes to the arrangements for dealing with Code of Conduct complaints could only be made by Full Council following consideration by the Governance Committee.

The Committee considered the frequency of its meetings and agreed that one, or two, per year was sufficient.  Cllr. Bosley asked whether it was easy to add a new meeting to the calendar.  The Monitoring Officer advised that the calendar of committee meetings was set by Annual Council which would decide how often the Committee would meet but that new meetings could be arranged.

Members expressed a wish for information on complaints dealt with during the year and the Chairman asked whether it would be possible for the Monitoring Officer to provide him with a periodical report on complaints considered.  The Monitoring Officer agreed that this would be possible.

The Committee thanked the Independent Persons for attending the meeting and noted that the next meeting would receive the Monitoring Officer’s Annual Report.

Public Sector Equality Duty

Members noted that consideration had been given to impacts under the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Resolved:  That the Monitoring Officer’s report on the role of the Standards Committee be noted and that it be recommended that the comments made by Members at the meeting be considered.