Agenda item
Report of the Head of Legal and Monitoring Officer
To receive the report of the Head of Legal and Monitoring Officer.
Minutes:
The Committee received the report of the Head of Legal and Monitoring Officer (copy filed with signed minutes).
A. General Standards Issues for County Councillors and Co-opted
Members
No update was required.
B. Members attendance
The Committee noted that the Chair and Vice Chair had considered and were satisfied with the response from the one member, who previously had not provided a response regarding their attendance level for the period May 2022 – May 2023. The Committee noted that the member’s attendance since May 2023 had been 100%.
County Councillor L Rijnenberg joined the meeting.
C. Referral of Councillors to the Ombudsman Wales
C1. County Councillor Referrals
The Committee thanked officers for providing the information regarding referrals to the Ombudsman Wales in a different format. The current position regarding matters with the Ombudsman is detailed below. It was noted that the date when the Ombudsman Wales had made its decision in respect of 02/CC/20 should read 17/02/22. The Deputy Monitoring Officer advised that in respect of 04/CC/21 the report should state that the APW had imposed an 18 month disqualification to former County Councillor Karen Laurie-Parry. The table below contains these corrections.
The abbreviations used in the headings are as follows:
MO – Monitoring Officer
OW – Ombudsman Wales
Stds – Standards Community Sub-Committee
APW - Adjudication Panel for Wales
|
Ref |
Date OW notified MO of complaint |
Date OW advised investigating or not investigating |
Date OW’s decision |
Date considered by Stds |
Date considered by APW |
|
02/CC/20 |
14/09/20 |
19/11/20 investigating |
17/02/22 referred to Stds |
15/07/22, 27/01/23 and 26/06/23 former Councillor T Van-Rees censured |
N/A |
|
04/CC/21 |
|
21/07/21 investigating |
22/02/23 Referred to APW |
|
Former Councillor Karen Laurie-Parry Hearing 06/07/23 – imposed 18 month disqualification |
|
03/CC/22 |
|
17/04/23 investigating |
|
|
|
|
05/CC/22 |
|
28/06/22 investigating |
|
|
|
|
01/CC/23 |
|
18/07/23 not investigating |
|
|
|
D. Dispensations
D1. Applications- CountyCouncillors
No applications for dispensation have been received from County Councillors.
E. Appointments to the Standards Community Sub-Committee
The Committee noted the one nomination for the vacancy for the Radnorshire area.
|
RESOLVED that: |
Reason for decision |
|
1. Town Councillor Stephen Deeks-D’Silva, be appointed to the Standards Community Sub-Committee to represent the Town and Community Councils in Radnorshire.
2. the term of office of the Town and Community Councillor be for the maximum term permitted by the existing regulations or by any amending regulations (currently a maximum of five years) or until they cease to be a Councillor or resign whichever shall first occur. |
To constitute the Standards Community Sub-Committee. |
F. Ombudsman Wales – Our Findings
The Committee noted the Ombudsman Wales - Our Findings. The Committee noted that at a recent meeting of all Welsh Monitoring Officers, the Ombudsman’s office was asked to consider re-instating the “ Casebook”, which was considered to be more helpful.
G. Adjudication Panel for Wales
The Committee noted the two cases highlighted. The Deputy Monitoring Officer highlighted that in respect of the Councillor from Ceredgion Ombudsman Wales had requested the APW to temporarily suspend a Member during its investigation stage of safeguarding allegations. In respect of the former Powys Councillor K Laurie-Parry a significant suspension of 18 months had been imposed by the APW.
H. National Forum for Standards Committees
The Committee received the minutes of the Forum meeting held on 30 June 2023, which the Chair had attended.
I. Statutory and Non-Statutory Guidance for Principal Councils in Wales – supporting provisions within the Local Government Act 2000, the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011 and the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021
The Committee noted the Welsh Government guidance. The Committee noted that the Monitoring Officers in Wales are working together to revise the standard form used last year by group leaders to report compliance with the new duties.
J. Meeting dates
Meetings in 2024 would take place on the following dates at 2pm:
7 February
12 June
30 October
Supporting documents:
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2023-10-25 MO report Standards Committee - CP, item 4.
PDF 146 KB -
Appendix 1 - 20230630 National Standards Committee Forum notes, item 4.
PDF 248 KB
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Appendix 2 - Statutory and non-statutory guidance for principal councils in wales - Part 2 sections 4 - 7, item 4.
PDF 280 KB