Meeting documents
Standards Committee
Tuesday, 22nd July 2003
Present
Councillors
Mrs F E F Anderson, IO Coates, WJ Davies, DM Elderton, D Hawkins, LC Jones
Co-opted members
Mr J P Haywood
Index to Minutes
- Minute 1 - APPOINTMENT OF CHAIR AND VICE-CHAIR
- Minute 2 - QUORUM
- Minute 3 - MINUTES
- Minute 4 - LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 2000: SECTION 66 REGULATIONS - LOCAL DETERMINATION OF COMPLAINTS
- Minute 5 - ANNUAL REPORT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT OMBUDSMAN
- Minute 6 - STANDARDS COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP
- Minute 7 - AUDIT REPORT - GIFTS AND HOSPITALITY
Minute 1 - APPOINTMENT OF CHAIR AND VICE-CHAIR
Minute Text :
The Borough Solicitor and Secretary requested nominations for the appointment of Chair and Vice-Chair for the current municipal year, and drew the attention of the Committee to the recommendation of the Council on 3 June 2003 (minute 70 (6) refers) that Councillor W J Davies be appointed Chair.
On a motion moved by Councillor Hawkins seconded by Councillor Jones (regarding the appointment of Chair), and on a further motion by Councillor Elderton seconded by Mr Haywood (regarding the appointment of Vice-Chair), it was -
Minute Decision :
Resolved -
(1) That Councillor W J Davies be appointed Chair for the current municipal year.
(2) That Councillor L C Jones be appointed Vice-Chair for the current municipal year.
Footnote :
(Councillor Davies in the Chair)
Minute 2 - QUORUM
Minute Text :
The Borough Solicitor and Secretary reminded the Committee that, with only one independent member, the meeting was technically inquorate; however, given the efforts undertaken to appoint further independent members (see minute 6 below) and as no substantive decisions were to be taken, she indicated that in her view it was appropriate for the meeting to take place.
Minute Decision :
Resolved - That the Borough Solicitor and Secretary's comments be noted and the meeting proceed in accordance with that advice.
Minute 3 - MINUTES
Minute Text :
The Borough Solicitor and Secretary submitted the minutes of the meeting held on 1 April 2003, which had been approved by the Council on 14 April 2003 without amendment.
Minute Decision :
Resolved - That the minutes be received.
Minute 4 - LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 2000: SECTION 66 REGULATIONS - LOCAL DETERMINATION OF COMPLAINTS
Minute Text :
The Borough Solicitor and Secretary reported upon the current position in relation to the local investigation and determination of misconduct allegations. All complaints would be submitted for investigation initially to the Standards Board for England, which could choose either to investigate the matter by way of an Ethical Standards Officer (ESO), take no further action or refer the matter back to the Authority for investigation by the Monitoring Officer and report to the Standards Committee. In addition, the ESO, on completion of his or her investigation, could choose to send the matter back to the Authority for local sanction by the Standards Committee. In order to partially facilitate those arrangements, regulations had been made under section 66 of the Local Government Act 2000, and the Borough Solicitor and Secretary submitted and outlined guidance produced by the Standards Board to complement the first part of the regulations, which had been published to coincide with the Standards Board Conference on 11 June 2003, and which related to local sanctions being applied by the local Standards Committee. Where a matter was referred back after investigation by the ESO, the purpose of the Standards Committee hearing would be to decide whether or not a member had failed to follow the Code of Conduct and, if so, to decide whether or not any penalties should be applied and what form they should take.
The Borough Solicitor and Secretary outlined the guidance from the Standards Board which set out the process to be followed by the Standards Committee. It contained model procedures for dealing with local determinations, and anticipated that, by and large, hearings would take place in public unless exempt or confidential information was likely to be disclosed. As part of the pre-hearing process, and prior to the agenda being published, the Borough Solicitor and Secretary proposed, onbasis of individual cases, to discuss with the Chair whether the hearing should be held in public or in private. In any event, the decision of the Standards Committee, and the reasons for it, would be made public and any member subject to a determination could apply in writing to the President of the Adjudication Panel to appeal against a finding with which they disagreed.
The local investigation of matters by the Monitoring Officer could not be undertaken until specific provision included in the Local Government Bill currently before Parliament became law, since the regulations would need to be made under that Act. The Government expected that this would be around October, and it was not possible to proceed any further in relation to local investigations at the present time. It was anticipated that the Act would give Standards Committees the power to appoint sub-committees, and in accordance with the guidance, the Borough Solicitor and Secretary recommended that once that power became available, a sub-committee of four members should be appointed in the political ratio 1:1:1, with an independent Chair.
Discussions had taken place between the Monitoring Officers on Merseyside concerning potential conflicts of interest where the Monitoring Officer might be both investigating a matter and advising the Standards Committee. The Monitoring Officers had agreed to put to their individual Standards Committees the suggestion that, in relation to local investigation of complaints, this should be carried out by the Council’s own Monitoring Officer (i.e. in Wirral’s case by the Borough Solicitor and Secretary) but when the matter came to the Standards Committees there should be reciprocal arrangements between the Merseyside Authorities so that another Monitoring Officer would advise the Committee in the event of a conflict.
The Monitoring Officers on Merseyside had proposed also to hold joint training sessions with members of all the district Standards Committees and those of the Fire and Police Authorities, when detailed consideration would be given to the guidance and members would have an opportunity to deal with a theoretical complaint to test the procedures.
In response to comments from members, the Borough Solicitor and Secretary indicated that a formal procedure would be drawn up for the approval of members, to ensure a standard approach with regard to proceedings in the local determination of complaints. She commented also that although one of the options open to the Standards Committee was the suspension of a member, it could not take away that member's allowance (thogh the Independent Remuneration Panel could make such a recommendation to the Council).
On a motion moved by Councillor Davies and seconded by Councillor Jones, it was -
Minute Decision :
A. RECOMMENDED
(1) That the Council adopts the procedures as contained in the Standards Board guidance in relation to local determination of complaints under section 66 of the Local Government Act 2000.
(2) That joint training be arranged with the Merseyside Districts in relation to the procedure for dealing with determinations.
B. Resolved -
(3) That the thanks of the Standards Committee be accorded to the Borough Solicitor and Secretary for her report and presentation.
Minute 5 - ANNUAL REPORT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT OMBUDSMAN
Minute Text :
The Borough Solicitor and Secretary reported that earlier in the year the Local Government Ombudsman had written to the Council with regard to the proposed introduction of a new annual letter with summary performance information in 2004, and that an annual letter this year was to be issued only to a limited number of authorities as part of a pilot scheme. The Borough Solicitor and Secretary had contacted the Local Ombudsman requesting that Wirral be included with those pilot authorities which would receive performance information relating to their complaints, and the Ombudsman had agreed to that request. Accordingly, the Ombudsman's annual letter for the year ended 31 March 2003 was submitted for consideration.
The letter provided statistical data relating to complaints received during the last three years, together with details of decisions made during each year, and the Council's average response times to enquiries. Overall, the number of complaints against the Council had decreased by 24% and, in particular, housing benefit complaints had dropped significantly. However, education complaints had risen somewhat and a further analysis would be presented to the next meeting of the Committee, although it was believed that these related largely to unsuccessful appeals concerning parental preference in selecting secondary schools and that these had not increased the number of maladministration findings against the Authority. Of particular concern was the time that the Council was taking to respond to initial enquiries, and measures had now been put in place to ensure that response times would be reduced over the current year.
The Ombudsman had submitted a questionnaire for Authorities to provide comments and feedback to improve the presentation and content of future letters, and whether they should in future be published openly. The Borough Solicitor and Secretary recommended that annual reports in the present format should be welcomed, that they should be published openly and that they should include comparative data for neighbouring and comparator authorities.
Minute Decision :
RECOMMENDED -
(1) That the report be noted.
(2) That a response be forwarded to the Local Government Ombudsman, in line with the comments of the Borough Solicitor and Secretary set out in the report now submitted.
(3) That the report be referred to relevant Select Committees for consideration with a request that all Council departments adhere to the procedures for ensuring that Ombudsman enquiries receive prompt attention.
Minute 6 - STANDARDS COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP
Minute Text :
Further to minute 10 (1/4/03), the Borough Solicitor and Secretary set out the current position in relation to the appointment of independent members. Advertisements had been placed in the local press, and applications had been encouraged from organisations involved in the Local Strategic Partnership and those on the Council’s mailing list. Three independent members were required, and applications had been requested by the end of September. Mr Haywood had indicated that he would wish to continue, and so far one other application had been received. In order to seek further candidates from a wider field, the Borough Solicitor and Secretary encouraged members to bring the vacancies to public notice.
Minute Decision :
Resolved - That the report be noted.
Minute 7 - AUDIT REPORT - GIFTS AND HOSPITALITY
Minute Text :
The Borough Solicitor and Secretary reported that an audit report had recently been completed with regard to gifts and hospitality to members and officers.
Minute Decision :
Resolved - That the report be presented to the next meeting of the Committee.
(Minutes Published: 20 August 2003)