MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE STANDARDS COMMITTEE HELD AT COUNTY HALL, NEWPORT, ISLE OF WIGHT ON MONDAY, 27 NOVEMBER 2006 COMMENCING AT 6.00 PM

Present :

Mr B Claxton (Chairman), Mr M J Cunningham, Mr R Day, Mr K Fagan, Mrs J Harding, Mr G Hibberd, Mr R Mew, Mrs E Oulton, Mr D Russell, Mr M Southwell

Apologies :

Cllrs Miss H L Humby, Mrs M J Miller,

Mrs S Dalby, Mr D L Watson

9. MINUTES

RESOLVED :

THAT the Minutes of the meeting held on 11 October 2006 be approved.

10. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

There were no declarations at this time.

11. REPORTS OF THE MONITORING OFFICER

(a) Partnering and Outside Bodies

Members were updated on the work the Panel had undertaken to date on the Ethical Audit of Partnering, Contracting and appointment to Outside Bodies.

The Good Practice Guide for Partnerships had been reviewed and a number of detailed amendments had been suggested. The most significant of which was to include a reference to how, once a partnership had ended, the responsibility for any liabilities (both current and future) would be divided. The final version of the guide was currently with the Directors Team for approval.

Work was ongoing on a questionnaire for elected Members appointed to Outside Bodies.

RESOLVED :

THAT the update report be noted.

(b) Consultation on the New Code of Conduct

The Chair updated Members on the position with the new code of conduct. Members were informed that the consultation document on the new code of conduct had not yet been received. The document had been anticipated for several months and was expected to be finalised and in operation by May 2007.

Members considered holding a special meeting on receipt of the document as the next scheduled meeting for January would be too late to enable Members to feed comments back to Government. It was agreed that when the document was received it would be circulated to Members and the Chair would decide whether to hold a special meeting to discuss it, depending on timescales. The Chair felt it was important to comment on the precise wording of the document and feed comments back to Government.

Members were informed that the five main areas of change anticipated in the document were around prejudicial interests, division of what is private and therefore not subject to the code, tightening up and definition around bullying, clarity on the disrepute issue, and deletion of the reference to other Members having to report another Member when they see a breach of the code.

The Chair commented that initial responses from colleagues suggested that the changes would be welcomed.

A training programme on the new code would be prepared for all Members, (which would include Town and Parish Council Members and Members of Management Committees) once the final version had been received.

RESOLVED :

i. THAT the consultation document on the new code of conduct be circulated to Members when received and, if necessary, a special meeting be convened.

ii. THAT a training programme be prepared for all Members once the new code of conduct was in place.

(c) Sandown Town Council

The Deputy Monitoring Officer updated Members on meetings he had attended with Sandown Town Council to work through the issues arising from the last meeting.

Progress had been made on the Committee’s recommendations which included a mediation session being set up, a new style of minutes being established, issues had been addressed regarding the timeliness of the accounts, training and development issues had been addressed, political issues had been discussed resulting in the Deputy Monitoring Officer agreeing to attend 6 of the Town Council’s meetings to work through the issues, training session on the code of conduct and general principles had been scheduled.

A formal report on the progress made since the recommendations had been agreed would be brought to the Committee in approximately six months.

RESOLVED :

THAT a formal report be brought to the Committee in due course.

12. THE ISLE OF WIGHT COUNCIL’S WHISTLE BLOWING POLICY

The Acting Head of Human Resources provided an update to Members in respect of the developments and changes that had been made to the Council’s confidential reporting code. The original policy had been in place since January 2000 and following the recommendation from the Audit Commission in 2005, the policy had been reviewed and would be re-launched shortly.

Full consultation had been undertaken through a corporate Human Resources Working Group which included representatives from all Directorates, Unison and Elected Members. Separate consultation had been undertaken with recognised trade unions for which full approval had been received.

Members were informed that the main areas of change concerned the title of the policy which was now considered to be a more familiar term to staff, a helpline had been introduced to help support employees in coming forward to raise concerns, and the general process had been made clearer in order to ensure staff use it where necessary. Members were asked to support the changes and were given an opportunity to comment and ask questions.

Members asked questions relating to whether the policy extended to contractors and were informed that the policy included contractors and all others who delivered services on the Council’s behalf.

Members were assured that if a Member of staff made a complaint, their personal record would not be affected and they would be protected if there were repercussions.

Members were concerned about how the policy worked with regard to complaints made against senior officers and were assured that if a Member of staff felt unable to go through the internal process of alerting management and/or the Monitoring Officer there was external support in place. The Monitoring Officer informed Members that there was a Public Interest and Disclosure Act in place and the law would protect staff if they had to seek external support.

Members were informed that new staff would be made aware of the policy in their induction packs and the policy would be built into management training. The policy would be re-launched so that all staff were aware of the process.

RESOLVED :

THAT the changes be supported.

13. FEEDBACK REPORT FROM FIFTH ANNUAL ASSEMBLY OF STANDARDS COMMITTEES HELD IN BIRMINGHAM ON 16 – 17 OCTOBER 2006

The Chairman updated Members on the Annual Assembly of Standard Committees he had attended in October. The Intention of the Assembly was to prepare Standards Committees for future change.

The Chair informed Members that information which had been circulated by the Standards Board for England at the Assembly had been amalgamated into a file and was available for Members to read.

The Chair, having attended a session on Town and Parish Councils, felt that the Island was well ahead in good governance concerning Town and Parish Councils.

RESOLVED :

THAT the report be noted.

14. WORKPLAN

The Monitoring Officer added two items to the Committee’s work plan. The first was the Code of Conduct and the second involved undertaking an Ethical Governance Audit following the adoption by Full Council of the Corporate Performance Assessment Improvement Plan. The Committee would commence work on this in January 2007.

The Chair informed Members that a final report by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance Accountants (CIPFA) on Ethical Governance would be received shortly and would be circulated to Members when it was available.

Members discussed the issue of training for Town and Parish Councillors and the role of the Standards Committee in this. It was agreed that a training programme would be discussed at the January meeting and then reviewed at a later meeting in 2007 to examine how the training programme had gone. The Chair encouraged Members to attend training sessions and offer support.

CHAIRMAN