Standards Committee

Minutes of the meeting held on 25 June 2007

Present:

• The Right Worshipful The Lord Mayor Councillor Glynn Evans - In the Chair
• Councillor Carroll.
• Mrs E. Carmichael and Mr J. A. Snadden - independent members

Also Present:

• Mr C. O'Donovan Ringway Parish Council
  
  ST/07/12 Minutes

Decision

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 5 March 2007.

ST/07/13 Revised Model Code of Conduct for Members

The City Solicitor submitted a report on the revised model code of conduct for local authority members which came into force on 3 May 2007 and proposals for the Council to adopt the Revised Code in place of the existing code of conduct for members at the meeting of the City Council to be held on 11th July 2007.
The Committee noted that arrangements would be made for all members of the Council to sign a declaration to abide by the terms of the new code once it had been adopted by the Council. Council members would also need to renew their registrations of interests to include the new requirement to declare gifts above £25 which the new Code classified as a prejudicial interest for a period of three years.

Decision

1. To note the provisions of the Revised Code and that the City Solicitor has invited all members and co-opted members to attend one of the briefing sessions on the Revised Code.

2. To recommend that Council:
(i) adopts the Revised Code set out in the report in place of the Existing Code;

(ii) include the ten general principles governing the conduct of members set out in
the report as a preamble to the Revised Code;

(iii) instructs the City Solicitor to:

(a) provide all members and co-opted members with a copy of the Revised Code and a written declaration undertaking to observe its provisions following adoption in place of the Existing Code;
(b) notify all members and co-opted members of the requirement to renew their registrations of interests;

(c) notify the Standards Board for England when the Council has adopted the Revised Code and provide them with a copy of it; and

(d) publish a notice in a local newspaper stating that the Council has adopted the Revised Code detailing where copies are available for public inspection and ensure copies are available for inspection.

(iv) to delegate to the City Solicitor authority to make any consequential amendments to the Constitution following adoption of the Revised Code.

3. To recommend that the City Solicitor develops a protocol setting out the
Council's reasonable requirements that members must comply with before making any confidential disclosure.

ST/07/14 Standards Board for England Local Filter and Monitoring and Audit Pilots

The City Solicitor submitted a report on the arrangements for the Standards Boards local filter and monitoring and audit pilots in which the City Council had been requested to participate.
Members thought that this would be a useful way of identifying procedural issues in advance of full implementation in April 2008. Concerns were expressed that the membership of the Committee may need to be increased to enable sufficient numbers of panels to be constituted in order to deal with complaints within the recommended period of ten days and the City Solicitor indicated that this would be taken up as part of a range of constitutional issues that will need to be dealt with before next April.

Decision

To note the report.

ST/07/15 Standards Board Roadshow 2007 - feedback

Members reported back on the issues raised at the Roadshows attended in Liverpool and Leeds during June.

ST/07/16 Registers of (a) Interest and (b)Gifts and Hospitality

The Register of Interests and the Register of Gifts and Hospitality were submitted for
inspection.