Meeting documents
Standards Committee
Tuesday, 8th May 2007
Present
Chair
D Hawkins
Councillors
A Bridson, WJ Davies, SR Mountney, SL Rowlands
Deputy
PTC Reisdorf (for Cllr Jean Quinn)
Co-opted members
Mr J P Haywood, Mr KD Jones
Apologies
Mrs L M Rodgers
Index to Minutes
- Minute 28 - DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
- Minute 29 - MINUTES
- Minute 30 - NEW CODE OF CONDUCT FOR MEMBERS OF WIRRAL COUNCIL
- Minute 31 - UNREASONABLY PERSISTENT COMPLAINANTS AND UNREASONABLE BEHAVIOUR BY COMPLAINANTS
- Minute 32 - STANDARDS BOARD FOR ENGLAND - ROADSHOWS 2007
Minute 28 - DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Minute Text :
The members of the Committee were invited to consider whether they had a personal or prejudicial interest in connection with any of the items on the agenda and, if so, to declare it and state the nature of such interest. No declarations were made.
Minute 29 - MINUTES
Minute Text :
The Committee was advised that the minutes of the previous meeting, held on 13 February 2007, had been submitted to the Council on 16 April.
No matters were raised arising from those minutes.
Minute Decision :
Resolved - That the minutes be received.
Minute 30 - NEW CODE OF CONDUCT FOR MEMBERS OF WIRRAL COUNCIL
Minute Text :
The Head of Legal and Member Services submitted and reported upon the Model Code of Conduct for Local Authority Members and recommended that it be adopted by the Council in place of the existing Code of Conduct; that the Council adopt the preamble incorporating the ten general principles governing the conduct of members; and that the consequential changes to the Council’s existing codes and protocols, required as result of the adoption of the Code, be incorporated into the Constitution.
He explained that the timing of the publication of the Model Code was intended to allow local authorities to adopt it at their annual general meetings. He also referred to the advice from the Standards Board for England that local authorities should adopt the Code in its model form, without amendment. That would give certainty to members and the public as to what standards were expected and ensure consistency and avoid confusion for any member that sat on more than one authority. It would also minimise the legal risk of an authority adopting a provision that might be unenforceable. He added that it was the intention to allocate time at the members' training session on 12 June to draw attention to the differences in the new Code.
The members of the Committee generally felt that the new model was an improvement on the current Code.
Minute Decision :
RECOMMENDED -
(1) That the Council adopt the Model Code of Conduct issued by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government as set out in the Local Authorities (Model Code of Conduct) Order 2007, together with a preamble incorporating the ten general principles governing the conduct of members, in place of the existing Code.
(2) That the consequential amendments to the Council’s existing Codes and Protocols needed as a result of the adoption of the Code be implemented in the review of the Constitution.
Minute 31 - UNREASONABLY PERSISTENT COMPLAINANTS AND UNREASONABLE BEHAVIOUR BY COMPLAINANTS
Minute Text :
Further to minute 27 (13 February 2007) the Head of Legal Services submitted draft policies on unreasonably persistent complainants and unreasonable complainant behaviour and sought the agreement to forward the documents to the Cabinet and the Council for formal approval. The policies had been drawn up in consultation with the party spokespersons and in the light of guidance issued by the Local Government Ombudsman with the aim of helping local authorities to formulate such policies. It was the intention to include the policies in the Constitution (Section Five - Codes and Protocols).
In response to Mr Haywood's query as to whether there would be a right of appeal, the Head of Legal and Member Services advised that a complainant would still have recourse to the Ombudsman. By applying a formally adopted code of practice the Authority could show the Ombudsman that a complaint was being dealt with in a transparent manner. With regard to the corporate complaints procedure, which was currently under review, he stated that it would be appropriate to include reference to the new policies in that procedure provided that it did not imply any pre-judgement by the Authority.
Minute Decision :
RECOMMENDED -
(1) That the draft policies on unreasonably persistent complainants and unreasonable complainant behaviour be accepted as far as this Committee is concerned, subject to the addition of the word 'may' before 'discontinue any investigation ....' in the penultimate paragraph of the latter policy.
(2) That the policies, with that amendment, be forwarded to the Cabinet and the Council for formal approval.
Minute 32 - STANDARDS BOARD FOR ENGLAND - ROADSHOWS 2007
Minute Text :
The Head of Legal and Member Services reported that the Council had been offered four places at the Standards Board Roadshow to be held in Liverpool on the afternoon of Wednesday, 6 June. Those places had been accepted (at no cost), and the Committee was asked to appoint representatives to attend.
Minute Decision :
Resolved - That, pending the re-appointment of committee memberships at the Annual Meeting of the Council, the Head of Legal and Member Services, two elected members and an independent member be authorised to attend.
(Minutes Published: 16 May 2007)