Standards Committee Minutes

1. MINUTES

RESOLVED :

THAT, the Minutes of the meeting held on 8 February 2005 be confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

2. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

There were no declarations of interest at this stage.

3. ETHICAL AUDIT PHASE III

The Monitoring Officer presented his report on the Ethical Audit Phase III to the Committee. The report set out the findings of this stage of the Audit which involved the undertaking of interviews with a range of stakeholders to discuss the interim conclusion of the first two stages of the Audit. A number of key issues arose from the interviews (set out in Appendix 1 of the report). The Committee were informed that the Audit was now complete and that the actions proposed in the Phase III Audit had been extracted into a draft Action Plan (Appendix 3). The Monitoring Officer conveyed to the Committee that the undertaking of the Audit, and acting upon its findings are essential elements to scoring well in the Corporate Performance Assessment process, where the Council can expect to be assessed on the extent to which it demonstrably delivers high standards of ethics and probity.

The Monitoring Officer updated the Committee on the following tasks outstanding:

(i) To publish the final report bringing together the three phases, the Executive Summary and a combined Action Plan.

(ii) To present the Audit and Action Plan to the Full Council, along with a suitably worded motion to be proposed by the Chairman of the Standards Committee.

(iii) To deliver those parts of the Action Plan which fall to the Standards Committee to take responsibility for as part of a 12 month rolling work programme for the Standards Committee.

(iv) To agree monitoring mechanisms through Officers to ensure that the Standards Committee has confidence that the Action Plan will be delivered.

The Audit resulted in a large number of recommendations as set out in the report.

The Committee supported the report and the recommendations therein.

Following the debate a number of questions were asked by other members present and members of the public and answers were provided by the Chairman. With regard to the publication of Members Attendance Figures the Chairman gave an assurance that this process would be reviewed as soon as time commitments on the Committee allowed.

RESOLVED :

THAT the Standards Committee:

(i) Adopt the report of Phase III at the Ethical Audit.

(ii) Adopt the Action Plan to implement the recommendations of the Phase III report.

(iii) Adopt the Executive Summary of the three phases of the Audit.

(iv) Delegate to the Head of Legal and Democratic Services the task of publishing the final report in consultation with the Chairman of the Standards Committee and collating the Action Plans from each Phase.

(v) Through the Chairman of the Standards Committee, recommend the following motion to Full Council:

“This Council welcomes and receives the Ethical Audit produced by the Standards Committee and recognises that:

· Delivery of high standards of ethics and probity is one of the key elements of the programme to modernise Local Government; and

· Impeccable standards of personal conduct, open decision making and accountability for performance, are essential to win and keep the trust of Island communities.

This Council therefore resolves:

(vi) To support the Standards Committee in delivering the actions proposed as a result of the Ethical Audit.

(vii) To invite the Chair of the Standards Committee to bring agenda items to future Full Council meetings wherever he or his successors believe it would be beneficial to do so.

(viii) To debate at a future meeting how this Council can assist Town and Parish Councils in delivering visibly high standards of ethics and probity as part of their own community leadership.”

4. REGIONAL INDEPENDENT MEMBERS FORUM – RECEIPT OF MINUTES

The Chairman referred members of the Committee to the minutes of the Independent Members’ Network of Standards Committees meeting in Crawley on Monday 18 April 2005. The Chairman reminded members of the Committee that he would take an active role in this year’s annual assembly of Standards Committees.

Although the experience of some Standards Committees across the Country had not necessarily been that good (as reflected in the minutes of the meeting) the Chairman stressed that this was not the case on the Island where the Committee was well regarded and very active.

RESOLVED :

THAT the Committee note the minutes of the Independent Members’ Forum held on 18 April 2005.

5. WORK PROGRAMME FOR THE COMING YEAR

The Committee considered its Work Programme for the coming year.

RESOLVED :

THAT the Work Programme for the coming year be as follows :

Meeting	Agenda Item
To be Confirmed	· Determination of Complaint
Wednesday 14 September 2005 Full Council	· Ethical Audit/Debate
Tuesday 11 October 005	· Ethics and Probity in Town and Parish Councils · Standards Board National Conference · The Role of the Monitoring Officer · Role of Standards Committee Members
Tuesday 24 January 2006	· Members Attendance figures · Confidential Reporting Code · Revisions to Members Code
Tuesday 2 May 2006	· Members access to Information · Annual Report
Wednesday 24 May 2006 Annual Council	· Receipt of Annual Report
September 2006	· Guidelines on Members criticism of authority and officers · Ethical Audit- one year on.
Standing items	· Report on Standards Board activity including guidance; statistics; analysis; case reports. · The Committee’s Work Programme
Other meetings as necessary	· Training for new and returning members (not necessarily formal meeting of the Committee). · Allegations referred by the Standards Board for England and Wales for local determination. · Requests for dispensations. · Urgent ethical and probity issues as they arise.

CHAIRMAN

PAPER A

Mrs E D Cousins, Mr R G Mazillius

Meeting

Agenda Item