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Agenda item

Review of Standards Arrangements

Purpose

To consider the adoption of procedure rules for the Standards Hearings Sub-Committee and a review of the Council's arrangements for dealing with complaints under the Code of Conduct.

 

Recommendation

That Council resolves to:

  1. Approve the updated arrangements for dealing with code of conduct complaints;
  2. Approve the procedure for the Standards Hearing Sub-Committee and to delegate authority to the Director of Governance & Development to make minor amendments to the procedure.

Minutes:

The purpose of the report was to consider the adoption of procedure rules for the Standards Hearings Sub-Committee and a review of the Council's arrangements for dealing with complaints under the Code of Conduct.

 

The Chair of the Audit and Governance Committee, Councillor Nigel Robbins, introduced the report and made the following points:

 

  • The Localism Act 2011 put responsibility on Member standards on to local authorities.
  • In 2023, the Gloucestershire-wide Code of Conduct was adopted by the Council.
  • The Audit and Governance Committee reviewed the procedures in July 2024 before they came to Full Council which also included the creation of the procedure of the Standards Sub-Committee.
  • The number of conduct cases from Town and Parish Councils was on the rise which was putting more burden on officers.
  • It was important to have strong procedures to deal with these matters.

 

Councillor Helene Mansilla then seconded the recommendations and made the following points:

 

  • Thanks were given to the officers for drafting the new processes to ensure the remain current and effective.
  • The requirement for complaints in writing and timelines for investigations would provide clarity for all parties.
  • It was crucial to keep procedures updated if a standards hearing should arise in the near future.
  • The new procedure rules document had been informed by external legal advice and would help to ensure that the highest level of standards was achieved.

 

It was noted by Council that the documents were timely given the number of complaints relating to Town and Parish Councillors.

 

It was asked whether the information could be shared with the public to ensure they were aware of the processes. The Director of Governance confirmed that this information would be available on the website.

 

There was a question regarding page 179 on stage 1 of the complaints process regarding complaints being ruled out if they were not about Members acting in their role as a Councillor. The Director of Governance noted that the public would see Councillors as being their role all the time, so it was often difficult to distinguish between when a Councillor was and was not acting in their capacity as a Councillor. It was highlighted that the Monitoring Officer consulted with the Independent Persons when assessing complaints and would sometimes progress complaints to the investigation stage if there was any doubt.

 

The Council noted that the Sub-Committee terms of reference required 3 Members to attend to be quorate, and had a membership of 3 Members all drawn from the Audit and Governance Committee. It was therefore suggested that the use of deputies should be required to make sure that all Audit and Governance Committee members could step into the position if required.

 

There was a query regarding whether complaints should be in a written form, how this would affect current complaints and how different councils were managed if they had adopted different code of conducts. The Director of Governance replied firstly by stating that the form was a preference because it required complainants to provide all of the required information including what resolution or they were seeking in making a complaint. A hard copy form could also be provided to those not able to access digital services. It was clarified that not all Councillors within the District were covered by the Gloucestershire-wide Code of Conduct which was agreed by Full Council in 2023. Town and Parish Councils were encouraged to adopt the Gloucestershire-wide Code of Conduct. In regard to current complaints, if they were received before the meeting, these would be assessed under the old complaint handling arrangements but any hearing would be under the proposed document.

 

It was highlighted that the District Council had a leadership role with Town and Parish Councils to ensure good behaviour was encouraged, and to help manage the high number of complaints.

 

Councillor Robbins was then invited to sum up:

 

  • It was highlighted that there needed to be a standard set of expectations for behaviour in public life.
  • The procedures did allow for reconciliation measures, which should be explored wherever possible before going to a formal hearing.
  • The Council may need to look at the threshold for the number of members of the Sub-Committee to ensure meetings could proceed.

 

As the meeting had been in session for 3 hours, a vote was taken as to whether the meeting should be extended for the final hour.

 

Supporting documents:

 

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