Agenda item

To consider a report by the Deputy Monitoring Officer (copy enclosed) which enabled the Committee to have sight and contribute to the Chair’s Annual Report, in advance of the item being presented to the full Council.

A copy of a report by the Monitoring Officer (MO) had been circulated with the papers for the meeting.

The report enabled the Committee to peruse and contribute to the Chair’s Annual Report prior to its presentation to full Council.  The MO had been particularly keen to take into consideration the Chair and the Committee’s views on the content, and set out the proposed details in section 4.

It had been agreed that the Chair’s Annual Report should be presented on the work of the Committee, and its findings and observations, to all Council Members as part of the Committee’s drive to increase standards of ethical behaviour and compliance with the Members Code of Conduct.  This was the first Annual Report of the Chair to Full Council which covered January to December, 2014.  The report would inform Members of trends, issues in respect of compliance with the Members Code of Conduct generally across the County and the work of the Committee in driving up standards of behaviour at County, Town, City and Community levels.  Details of the constitution and powers of the Committee had been included in the report, particular reference being made to the appointment process and role of Independent Members. 

Prior to 2014 the Committee had been instrumental in amending the Council’s Code of Conduct to make training on the Code a mandatory obligation; the introduction of a Self-Regulatory Protocol, ensuring that County wide training to the County and ‘Code’ roadshow events was delivered by the MO and his deputy at Town, City and Community level, providing training to Chairs of Town, City and Community Councils and publicity material to assist Clerks in the communities. 

During the past year the Committee had been scheduled to meet five times and had met on 4 occasions due to the October meeting being cancelled.  A table included in the report provided a summary of the items under discussion.  The three standing business items included on the agenda for each meeting included:-

(i)              Reports from Standards Members in respect of their attendance and observations at Committee and Council meetings whether at County or Community level.

(ii)             Overview of Complaints lodged against Members with the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales.

(iii)            Forward Work Programme.  This was a new initiative to enable the Committee to adopt the same strategic approach as other Committees and to target its resources into priority areas.

Councillor W.L. Cowie questioned whether the Annual Report would detail Members reports of visits to CTCC meetings.  The MO explained that, subject to approval, the report could note that routine visits to CTCC were undertaken by Members of the Committee, and if as a result of the MO or DMO had been requested to take any action this might be reported dependant of the severity of the issue raised.  Councillor D.E. Jones suggested that general statistics relating to the number of visits undertaken, and their subsequent outcome, might be included in the report outlining the general health and framework of the CTCC’s.  Councillor Jones felt that negative reporting could creating a difficult atmosphere and be detrimental to encouraging nominations for voluntary positions on CTCC’s.

The Chair questioned the reference to the Crown Prosecutors Services in Paragraph 4.2.  The MO provided details of his powers of investigation, and made reference to the statistics available in relation to the number of cases not pursued.  The Committee agreed that the availability of the backup power be included in the report.

During the ensuing discussion the following amendments to the Draft Annual Report were agreed:-

·                 Paragraph 4.1 – “The Chair of the Standards Committee” be amended to read “the Committee’s report”.

·                 Paragraph 4.3 be amended to read “Prior to 2014 the Committee has been instrumental in the Council amending its Code of Conduct to make training on the Code a mandatory obligation for County Councillors”

·                 The Report to make reference to the Nolan Principals and include the seven principles of public life.

·                 Include a note that the attendance of the Chair at the North Wales Standards Forum, which comprises the Chairs of all six Standards Committees in North Wales, and details be provided of the Forum’s remit.

·                 It was agreed that reference to the positive and negative feedback from the community be reflected in the Annual Report.

The Committee agreed that a draft copy of the Chair’s Annual Report be presented to the March, 2015 meeting for perusal prior to its submission to Council.

RESOLVED –that, subject to the above amendments, the Standards Committee:-

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

(b)            requests that a draft copy of the report be presented to the March, 2015 meeting for perusal prior to its submission to Council.