Venue: the Aquarius Room, St. Ivo Leisure Centre, Westwood Road, St. Ives, PE27 6WU
Contact: Ms C Deller, Democratic Services Manager, Tel No 01480 388007/e-mail: Christine.Deller@huntsdc.gov.uk
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To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting on 3rd December 2009. Minutes: The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 3rd December 2009 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman. |
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MEMBERS' INTERESTS To receive from Members, declarations as to personal and/or prejudicial interests and the nature of those interests in relation to any Agenda Items - Please See Notes 1 and 2 below. Minutes: No declarations were received. |
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REPORTS OF SUB-COMMITTEES (a) Referrals (Assessment) Sub-Committee
Meetings held on 12th January, 2nd February and 2nd March 2010.
(b) Standards (Consideration and Hearing) Sub-Committee
(c) Review Sub-Committee
The Chairmen of the Sub-Committees to report on the business considered since the last meeting. Minutes: (Councillor G S E Thorpe declared a personal and prejudicial interest in the following item by virtue of his involvement with one of the cases referred to by the Chairman of the Referrals (Assessment) Sub-Committee.)
In terms of the Assessment Sub-Committee, Mr Lynch reported that this had met on three occasions since December 2009 and that in two cases, the Sub-Committee had recommended that no further action be taken. In the third case, the Sub-Committee requested the Councillor involved to apologise to the Town Council concerned otherwise the complaint would have been referred for investigation. An apology was subsequently submitted by the Councillor.
Members were informed that the Review Sub-Committee had not been required to meet but that the Consideration and Hearing Sub-Committee would need to be convened shortly to consider reports on the outcome of three investigations by the Investigating Officer. |
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UPDATE ON CASE NO. 15 The Committee will recall that the Referrals (Assessment) Sub-Committee considered a complaint which had alleged a breach of paragraph 6 (c) of the Code of Conduct relating to the Local Authority Code of Publicity. The complaint exposed a significant issue with regard to the level of awareness of the Council in question of the content of the Code of Publicity. The Sub-Committee requested the Monitoring Officer to ensure that the Code was drawn to the attention of all town and parish Councils in Huntingdonshire on the eve of elections in any year irrespective of whether an election is scheduled in a parish or not.
In accordance with this instruction, the Director of Central Services has reminded Town and Parish Councils of the requirements of the Code of Publicity via e-mail on 1st February 2010. The Monitoring Officer has also incorporated a section on the Code of Publicity in his training presentation to Town and Parish Councils. Minutes: The Committee was reminded that Case No. 15 had exposed an issue with regard to the level of awareness of the Local Authority Code of Publicity. The Monitoring Officer confirmed that, in accordance with the instructions of the Referrals (Assessment) Sub-Committee, all town and parish councils in Huntingdonshire now had been reminded of the requirements of the Code. This advice would be repeated in advance of the elections every year irrespective of whether elections were scheduled in a parish or otherwise. The Monitoring Officer also confirmed that he had incorporated a section on the Code of Publicity in his training presentation to town and parish councils. |
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UPDATE ON CODE REVISION Members will be aware that the Department of Communities and Local Government is responsible for dealing with revisions to the Members' Code of Conduct and for introducing a new national code for officers. Despite earlier indications that a revised code of conduct would be published before May, the Department has now announced that a new code of conduct for Members will not be laid during this Parliamentary Session. The Department has advised Standards for England that as the Government would be concentrating on financial instruments there would not be sufficient Parliamentary time available for the Code. In practice this means that a new code will not now be made until after a General Election. Minutes: Members were informed that the Department of Communities and Local Government had announced that a new Code of Conduct for Members would not be laid during the current parliamentary session due to insufficient time. The Monitoring Officer confirmed that, in practice, this meant that a new Code now would not be made until after the General Election.
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LOG OF CODE OF CONDUCT ENQUIRIES To note the Code of Conduct enquiries recorded by the Head of Law, Property and Governance and Monitoring Officer since the meeting held in December. Minutes: The Committee received and noted the Code of Conduct enquiries which had been recorded by the Head of Law, Property and Governance and the Monitoring Officer since the last meeting in December 2009 (an extract of the log is appended in the Minute Book).
The Monitoring Officer also confirmed that he would be preparing a series of "frequently asked questions" which would be made available on the "Standards and Conduct" pages of the District Council's website. |
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BIAS, PRE-DETERMINATION AND THE CODE At the 2009 Annual Assembly, ‘Standards for England’ presented a session called "understanding pre-determination and bias". This examined the relationship between bias, pre-determination and the Code of Conduct. The session proved to be hugely successful in providing information that all Standards Committees and Monitoring Officers should be aware of particularly as it drew upon recent and relevant case law in this area. Accordingly, enclosed is a short article which attempts to draw out some of the key messages from the session to ease understanding of the relationship between pre-determination and the Code. Minutes: The Committee noted the content of an article (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) which examined the relationship between bias, pre-disposition, pre-determination and the Code of Conduct drawing upon recent and relevant case law in the area and requested that a copy of the advice be circulated to all Members. |
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REQUEST FOR DISPENSATION - ST. IVES TOWN COUNCIL To consider a report by the Head of Law, Property and Governance. Minutes: A report by the Head of Law, Property and Governance and Monitoring Officer was submitted (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) regarding the consequences of advice offered by the Monitoring Officer in a response to an enquiry about potential interests held by Members serving on St. Ives Town Council. It had become apparent that Members of that Council required dispensation to enable them to continue to consider matters likely to effect a community interest company set up to manage the corn exchange in St. Ives.
Having considered the Town Council's request and being satisfied that approval of the application in the circumstances described was required to prevent the business of that authority from being impeded, it was
RESOLVED that dispensation be granted to 15 Members of St. Ives Town Council to enable them to speak and vote on the subject for the period ending 30th April 2012 after which time an application for the newly elected Councillors would need to be submitted.
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To consider a report by the Head of Law, Property and Governance. Minutes: By way of a report by the Head of Law, Property and Governance and Monitoring Officer (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book), the Committee was invited to decide whether to produce an annual report.
The Committee noted that it was the intention of "Standards for England" to collect annual information returns from Monitoring Officers for 2010. Last year's return had indicated that 59% of authorities had produced an annual report. As it appeared that SFE were encouraging all authorities to produce such a report, the Committee requested that this task also be undertaken annually by the Monitoring Officer and that the inaugural report be prepared for the July meeting. The report would assist in responding to the requirements of the Audit Commission and the completion of the Use of Resources Assessment.
Whilst welcoming the initiative, the Committee requested that the report be produced in the most cost-effective way, that it should emphasise the role of the Committee in training councillors on the Code of Conduct and that it be promoted via the District Council's website and District Wide, the Council's in-house magazine. |
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INFORMATION/DISCUSSION - CODE OF CONDUCT ADVICE AND RECENT TRIBUNAL DETERMINATIONS The following are enclosed for discussion and learning purposes –
Quick Guide: Freemasons and the Code of Conduct;
Case Summaries from Blackpool Borough and Daventry District Councils. Minutes: For training purposes, the Committee noted the content of a guide on the position of Freemasons and the Code of Conduct and details of cases recently published by SFE following complaints considered by Blackpool Borough and Daventry District Councils (copies of the guide and case summaries are appended in the Minute Book). |
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DATE OF NEXT MEETING To note that the next meeting of the Committee will be held at 4pm on Thursday 8th July 2010 in the Civic Suite, Pathfinder House, Huntingdon. Minutes: It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee would be held at 4pm on Thursday 8th July 2010. |