Agenda item

To consider a report by the Monitoring Officer (copy enclosed) on the meeting of the North Wales Standards Committees Forum on 26^th November, 2014.

A copy of a report by the Monitoring Officer (MO) (copy enclosed) which reported the discussion at the North Wales Standards Committees Forum (NWSCF) on the 26^th November 2014, which had been attended by the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales (PSOW).

The primary business of the meeting had been to meet the new Public Services Ombudsman for Wales (PSOW), Mr Nick Bennett, and to seek his views on current issues facing Standards Committees (SC) in Wales.  The NWSCF had posed 13 written questions in order to structure the discussion with the PSOW.     A copy of the questions put to the PSOW, together with a note of his responses, had been set out in Appendix 1 to report.

The MO summarised the report and explained that the PSOW had been keen to meet with representatives of SCs and listen to their views and concerns about current issues.  He was very supportive of the work of the NWSCF and the support that the SCs in North Wales provided to each other through the Forum.  The MO provided a detailed summary of the proceedings of the meeting.

The PSOW set the work of his office into the context of diminishing public resources and the need for the work of his office to maintain public confidence in the democratic process while prioritising the scarce resources at his disposal.  He had stressed the dim view taken of vexatious complaints and the need for investigations conducted by his office to be proportionate with the public interest in the matter under investigation.            The PSOW had been keen to support the local resolution of complaints in respect of the Code of Conduct which would increase the speed at which complaints were dealt with.

Confirmation was provided of the PSOW’s intention to issue revised guidance to Local Authorities in light of a recent judgement and to simplify the guidance provided to Members, particularly in respect of the declaration of interests.  A public interest test would also be introduced and this was the subject of a separate report to the SC.

The Forum considered an item on the provision of Code of Conduct training to CTCCs, and they had been informed of the Isle of Anglesey County Council approach to provide tailored training to the clerks to CTCCs to enable them to be the first line of advice in respect of Code of Conduct issues.  The approach had resulted in a development of the relationship between clerks and the MO and following the training several clerks had taken the opportunity to contact the MO to discuss issues concerning their Councils.  A discussion had ensued on the merit of other Authorities taking a similar approach to the provision of training to CTCCs.

The following responses were provided to questions from Councillor W.L. Cowie:-

-                  The Chair agreed to seek the views of the NWSCF regarding the attendance of County Councillors at NWSCF meetings.

-                  The MO agreed to provide clarification regarding the attendance of Members of the Standards Committee at meetings of CTCC meetings, during consideration of Part II business items.  Confirmation was provided that Members of the Standards Committee would be entitled to attend any meetings of the County Council CTCC, during consideration of Part II business items.

The MO responded to questions from Councillor D.E. Jones and explained that Community Council meetings, local Council meetings, were public meetings and could be attended by any member of the public.  Councillor Jones also highlighted comments relating to the availability of sufficient resources for clerks of Town and Community Councils to operate a local resolution protocol. 

Following further discussion, it was:-

RESOLVED –that the Standards Committee:-

(a)            receives and notes the contents of the report, and

(b)            the Monitoring Officer to provide clarification regarding the attendance of Members of the Standards Committee at meetings of CTCC meetings, during consideration of Part II business items.

  (G. Williams to Action)