Issue - meetings

To receive a verbal report from the Vice-Chair of the Standards Committee of the issues discussed at the meeting of the North Wales Standards Committee held on 17th July 2012.

Mr Geraint Roberts had attended the North Wales Standards Forum at Bodlondeb in Conwy on 17th July, and circulated an update of the topics discussed, including member training, the disclosure of criminal convictions of members and public access to forums. DCC had been commended for its approach in making standards training mandatory for all members, and other Councils were encouraged to do the same. The MO advised that at the latest Access Wales meeting of all 22 Monitoring Officers in Wales the suggestion of mandatory training had been positively received. A suggestion had also stemmed from the Access Wales meeting that Chairs of Standards Committees across Wales could write to non-attending members to advise of the importance of attending training events.

Mr Roberts confirmed that the North Wales Standards Forum would only be inviting Chairs of Scrutiny Committees to future meetings, with votes to be allocated as one per local authority. Monitoring Officers would be asked to provide agendas for the Forum in future, and the MO confirmed that Monitoring Officers from North Wales local authorities would be meeting on 17th September and that the formulation of agendas would be discussed. The Chair of the Committee thanked Mr Roberts for attending the meeting of the North Wales Standards Forum in his place, and also for taking the time to write a very helpful summary.

RESOLVED – that the discussions which took place at the last meeting of the North Wales Standards Committee be noted.