• Calendar
  • Committees
  • Decisions
  • Library
  • Meetings
  • Outside bodies
  • Town and Community Councils
  • Search documents
  • Subscribe to updates
  • Your councillors
  • What's new
  • Agenda and draft minutes

    Standards Committee - Wednesday, 12th February, 2020 2.00 pm

    • Attendance details
    • Agenda frontsheet PDF 232 KB
    • Agenda reports pack
    • Report of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services PDF 524 KB
    • Printed draft minutes PDF 285 KB

    Venue: Committee Room A - County Hall, Llandrindod Wells, Powys. View directions

    Contact: Carol Johnson  01597 826206

    Items
    No. Item

    1.

    Apologies

    To receive apologies for absence.

    Minutes:

    There were no apologies for absence.

     

    2.

    Minutes pdf icon PDF 314 KB

    To authorise the Chair to sign the minutes of the previous meeting of the Committee held on 2 October, 2019 as a correct record.

    Minutes:

    The Chair was authorised to sign the minutes of the meeting held on 2 October, 2019 as a correct record.

     

    3.

    Declarations of interest

    To receive any declarations of interest from Members relating to items to be considered on the agenda.

    Minutes:

    No declarations were received.

     

    4.

    Report of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services pdf icon PDF 223 KB

    To receive the report of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services.

    Additional documents:

    • 2020-01-23 Standards Committee Independent Member cover report , item 4. pdf icon PDF 10 KB
    • 2020-01-23 Standards Committee Independent Members 2020 process Appendix 1 , item 4. pdf icon PDF 235 KB
    • CoC-casebook-April-June-2019 app 2 , item 4. pdf icon PDF 117 KB
    • Code-of-Conduct-Casebook-July-september-2019 , item 4. pdf icon PDF 156 KB
    • 2020-01-16 - Letter to MOs re Practice Direction - LM app 3 , item 4. pdf icon PDF 531 KB
    • There are a further 2 documents.View the full list of documents for item 4.

    Minutes:

    The Committee received the report of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services (copy filed with signed minutes).

     

    A.        General Standards Issues for County Councillors and Co-opted

    Members

     

    A1.      Code of Conduct Training

     

    The Committee noted that the mid-term mandatory Code of Conduct training had been scheduled for 5 June, 2020.

     

    A2.      Mandatory Training

     

    The Committee noted that all Members had completed the mandatory training as required at the previous meeting.  The Committee thanked the members for completing the training.   

     

    B.        Referral of Councillors to the Public Services Ombudsman

     

    B1.      County Council Referrals

     

    The current position regarding matters with the Ombudsman is detailed below:

     

    01/CC/2018    Adjudication Panel for Wales [APW] suspended for four months – 20/11/19 – 20/03/20.  The Committee received the APW report.

    12/CC/2018    Concluded no breach.  Review requested – No further action and case closed

     

    04/CC/2019    Ombudsman deciding whether or not to investigate

    05/CC/2019    Not investigating

    06/CC/2019    Ombudsman deciding whether or not to investigate

    07/CC/2019    Concluded not investigating

     

     

    C.           Dispensations

     

    C1.    Applications- County Councillors

    No applications for dispensation had been received from County Councillors.

     

    D.           LatePayment of Expenses

     

    The Committee noted there were no late claims for expenses. 

     

    E.           Independent lay Member on Standards Committee

     

    The Committee noted the appointments process.

     

    RESOLVED THAT

    Reason for decision

    the Appointments Panel would consist of:

    Independent Members – Stephan Hays and Claire Moore

    County Council representative – County Councillor Kath Roberts-Jones or County Councillor Iain McIntosh, depending on their availability.

    To enable the appointments process to continue.

     

    F.            Ombudsman’s Casebook

     

    The Ombudsman had published the April – June 2019 and July – September 2019 Code of Conduct Casebooks.

     

    G.           The North Wales Standards Committee Forum

     

    The Committee asked that the draft Local Government & Elections [Wales] Bill be considered.  The Committee was asked to forward any other items to the Chair by the end of the week, for consideration.

     

    H.           Draft Local Government and Elections (Wales) Bill

     

    The Committee noted the draft Bill and the implications for the Committee.  In response to questions the Head of Legal and Democratic Services advised that the provisional timetable was that the Bill would be passed in the autumn and become effective in April 2021. 

     

    The Committee considered that it could write an annual report, even before the Bill came into law.  Comment was made that not all councillors understood the role of the Standards Committee.  It was noted that the Committee’s agendas and minutes were available to all councillors but an annual report could provide a useful summary of its work.  It was suggested that a work programme could be developed for the Committee.

     

    It was noted that leaders of political groups may be required to take steps to promote and maintain high standards of conduct by members of their groups.  The Head of Legal and Democratic Services advised that the Committee would need to ensure that group leaders could access advice and training to understand any new duty.  In response to questions he advised that if issues regarding conduct were brought to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.