MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE STANDARDS COMMITTEE HELD AT COUNTY HALL, NEWPORT, ISLE OF WIGHT ON TUESDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2002 COMMENCING AT 9.00 AM

Present :

Mrs T M Butchers, Mr B Claxton, Mr M J Cunningham, Prof. D Farnham, Mr D Russell, Mrs J Scott,

Also present: Mr V Morey, Mr R Mew

9. ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN FOR THE MEETING

RESOLVED :

THAT Mr B Claxton be elected Chairman of the Committee for the meeting.

10. MINUTES

RESOLVED :

THAT the Minutes of the meeting held on 11 June 2002 be confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

11. TO CONSIDER A REQUEST FOR A DISPENSATION WHERE A MEMBER HAS AN INTEREST

(During the consideration of this matter Mr M Cunningham declared a personal interest as the member concerned as a member of the same political group.)

The Monitoring Officer reported that despite an initial request from a Member for the Committee to be convened to consider a request for a dispensation no such request had (as required by the law) been submitted in writing.

The Committee then considered how its arrangements could be altered so as to ensure that written requests for dispensations were submitted in time to be considered by the Committee. It was felt that there should be a period of at least 2 working days to enable members of the Committee to read any papers and this therefore meant that any written requests would have to be with the Monitoring Officer at least 3 working days before the meeting. It was additionally suggested that any applicants should be invited to attend the meeting to, if necessary clarify any issues which the Committee may have on the application.

RESOLVED :

(a) THAT the Standards Committee will only consider applications for dispensation if they have been submitted in writing to the Monitoring Officer by at least noon on the third working day before the meeting.

(b) THAT the applicant for a dispensation be invited to attend the meeting which will consider the application.

CHAIRMAN