Standards Committee Minutes

MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE STANDARDS COMMITTEE HELD AT THE LEARNING CENTRE, HIGH STREET, NEWPORT, ISLE OF WIGHT ON FRIDAY 14 DECEMBER 2001 COMMENCING AT 2:00 PM

Present :

Mrs T Butchers, Mr B Claxton, Mr M Cunningham, Mr D Hansford, Mrs J Harding, Mr W Linnington, Mr R Mazillius, Mr D Russell, His Honour John Wroath

Apologies :

Prof. D Farnham and Mr R Philips

1. ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN

RESOLVED :

THAT His Honour John Wroath be elected Chairman of the Committee.

2. MINUTES

RESOLVED :

THAT the Minutes of the meeting held on 29 May 2001 be confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

3. MEMBERSHIP AND TERMS OF REFERENCE

The Committee considered its membership and terms of reference as set out in Paper B attached to the agenda for the meeting.

With regard to the membership it was agreed that lots would be drawn to determine which of the five Isle of Wight Councillors were to be full members and the order that the three deputies would be called if any of the original two members could not make a meeting.

It was also suggested that the terms of reference should be extended to ensure that the measures and monitoring systems detailed in paragraph number 7 of the paper were exercised within prescribed time scales.

RESOLVED :

(a) THAT the membership of the Committee be noted but that with regard to the Isle of Wight Councillors the membership be as follows:

Members: Mrs T Butchers

Mr A Coburn

Deputies: Mr M Cunningham

Mr R Mazillius

Vacant (Island First position)

(b) THAT the Terms of Reference of the Committee be noted and accepted with the additional paragraph:

8. To ensure that the measures and monitoring systems as set out in 7 above are fully and properly exercised within any prescribed timetable.

4. MODEL CODES OF CONDUCT

The Committee received the report of the Monitoring Officer on the new Model Codes of Conduct for the Isle of Wight Council and the Town and Parish Councils. With the aid of a presentation a number of changes between the existing code and the new code of conduct were explained as were the steps that the various Councils would have to take to adopt the code and then for each member of each Council to “sign-up” to the code within 2 months of its adoption.

It was noted that the national advice being received from a variety of agencies and organisations was that Councils should adopt the national model codes without any alterations. However this then left a number of local matters that the Isle of Wight Council had previously been operating outside the Code of Conduct. These were the current Gifts and Hospitality procedure (which was stricter than that included within the model Code of conduct), the Code of Practice for Councillors and Officers dealing with Planning Matters and the Protocol for Member/Officer relations. As these had all been operating for sometime within the Isle of Wight Council it was suggested that these should remain as local codes (outside the Model Code of Conduct) and that any alleged breaches of these local codes be considered by the Standards Committee rather than the Standards Board.

RESOLVED :

(a) THAT the Isle of Wight Council and Town and Parish Councils be recommended to adopt the relevant national Codes of Conduct as set out in the two relevant Statutory Instruments (nos: 2001/3575 and 3576)

(b) THAT the Isle of Wight Council be recommended to re-adopt the current versions of the following as local codes:

(a) The Procedure for Gifts and Hospitality;

(b) The Code of Practice for Councillors and Officers dealing with Planning Matters; and

(c) THAT any alleged breached of the Local Codes as set out in (b) above be referred to this Committee for consideration in accordance with item 5 of the Committee’s Terms of Reference and in accordance with the rules previously adopted by the Isle of Wight Council.

(d) THAT the proposed registers as set out in the Monitoring Officers report be noted.

5. TRAINING

The Committee considered the report of the Monitoring Officer and heard orally from the Council’s Training Manager on the training that had been provided to date and suggestions as to how training could be provided on the new Model Codes of conduct in the future.

The Committee considered how training should be provided and felt that this should be high profile training with as many of the independent members of the Standards Committee in attendance as was possible. It was felt that if possible the Isle of Wight Council training sessions should include an external speaker and two sessions should be held at different times to allow as many members as possible to attend. With regard to the training for the Parish and Town Councillors this could be conducted using existing resources and be held over 3/4 days at a variety of venues across the Island.

On the timing of the Training Sessions it was felt that ideally these should be held before the Codes of Conduct were adopted by the relevant Councils so that Members were aware of the details in the new Codes of Conduct.

RESOLVED :

(a) THAT training for the Isle of Wight Council members be undertaken with the aid of an external speaker on two separate days.

(b) THAT training for the Parish and Town Members be undertaken utilising existing resources over 3/4 separate days at different venues across the Isle of Wight.

(d) THAT all Councils be advised that the Standards Committee expects all members to attend the relevant training sessions.

(e) THAT ideally the training be held prior to the relevant Council adopting the new Codes of Conduct.

(f) THAT at the next meeting of the Committee there be a report back on the detail of the Members attending the training courses with the feedback from those attending so that any future or additional training requirements can be identified.

CHAIRMAN