Agenda and minutes

To consider the minutes of the previous meeting held on 11 July 2011.

Resolved:-   That the minutes of the meeting held on 11 July 2011 be approved as a correct record.

To receive Declarations of Interest from Members on items included in this agenda

There were none.

Consideration was given to a detailed report setting out the fundamental changes made by the Localism Act 2011 to the system of regulating the standards of conduct expected from elected and co-opted members.

The report described the changes and made recommendations relating to the actions now required by the Council to consider the appointment of a new constituted Standards Committee and to adopt a new Code of Conduct to comply with the relevant provisions of the Act.

It was indicated that the Council remained under a statutory duty to promote and maintain high standards of conduct for its elected and co-opted members and that it was for the Council to decide what procedures it wished to put in place to ensure that this duty was met including what to include in a new code of conduct.

The report also dealt with the appointment and role of independent members, the Register of Members’ Interests, single member decisions, sensitive interests and the grant of dispensations.

Resolved:-     (a)        That the Borough Council establish a joint Standards Committee comprising 8 elected members of the Council and 3 Parish Councillors and that the Committee be not appointed proportionally.

                        (b)        That in addition, the Leader of the Council be requested to nominate to the Standards Committee only one member who is a member of the Executive.

                        (c)        That the Parish Councils through the Staffordshire Parish Councils Association be invited to nominate a maximum of 3 Parish Councillors to be co-opted as non?voting members of the Committee.

                        (d)        That the Monitoring Officer be requested to prepare and present a draft Code of Conduct to Council for adoption.

The draft Code should:

(i)         equate to Paragraphs 3 to 7 of the current Code of Conduct applied to Member conduct in the capacity of an elected or co-opted Member of the Council or its Committees and Sub-Committees; and

(ii)        require registration and disclosure of interests which would today constitute personal and/or prejudicial interests, but only require withdrawal as required by the Act in relation to Disclosure Pecuniary Interests (DPIs)

                        (e)        That, when the DPI regulations are published, the Monitoring Officer, after consultation with the Chair of Standards Committee and the Leader of the Council, will add to that draft Code provisions which he considers to be appropriate for the registration and disclosure of interest other than DPIs.

                        (f)         That the Monitoring Officer be instructed to prepare and submit to Council for approval “arrangements” as follows:

(i)         That the Monitoring Officer be appointed as the Proper Officer to receive complaints of failure to comply with the Code of Conduct.

(ii)        That the Monitoring Officer be given delegated power, after consultation with the Independent Person, to determine whether a complaint merits formal investigation and to arrange such investigation.  He should be instructed to seek resolution of complaints without formal investigation wherever practicable, and be given discretion to refer decisions on investigation to the Standards Committee where he feels it is inappropriate for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.