MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE STANDARDS COMMITTEE – MEMBERS ATTENDANCE SUB COMMITTEE HELD AT COUNTY HALL, NEWPORT, ISLE OF WIGHT ON FRIDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2002 COMMENCING AT 10:00 AM

Present :

Mr B Claxton (Chairman), Mrs T M Butchers, Mrs J Harding

Also present: Mr A Mundy

1. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Mrs T Butchers declared a Personal interest in the item on Member Attendance Records (Minute No. 3) as she is a Member of the Isle of Wight Council.

2. MEMBERSHIP AND TERMS OF REFERENCE

RESOLVED :

THAT the Sub Committee noted that its membership is: Mr B Claxton, Mrs J Harding and Mrs T Butchers CC and that its terms of reference is to consider the request from the Council (regarding the publication of members attendance records) and to report back to the Standards Committee by the end of October 2002.

3. MEMBER ATTENDANCE RECORDS

(Mrs T Butchers declared a Personal interest in this item as she is a member of the Isle of Wight Council)

The Sub Committee considered the report prepared by the Strategic Director of Corporate and Environment Services that set out the background to the matter before the committee and that explained a number of points contained within the referral from the Remuneration Panel.

It was explained that the Remuneration Panel had heard, during its evidence gathering process, that there was some concern amongst members that there needed to be a process to ensure that the public were able to make valued judgments on their workload. Whilst this could be partially achieved by the publication of members attendance records it was accepted that this did not necessarily reflect all the work that members undertook. Additionally there may be occasions when members where unable to attend formal meetings for good reasons (away on other Council business or sickness).

The Strategic Director highlighted that the collation of the attendance data was already undertaken for the formal meetings of the Council. It would be difficult to extend this to the more informal meetings (particularly Task Groups and attendance at Outside Bodies) as by their very nature either the membership of these varied or they were administered by people outside of the Council.

The collation and dissemination of the “raw” data as currently collected would not give a true reflection of Members activities as reasons for absence from meetings were not recorded; additionally Members undertook a range of other activities (attendance at Surgeries etc) that were not recorded in anyway. To overcome these two issues the Sub Committee considered that there should be a range of categories for absence from meetings and that these should be recorded at the same time as members submit their apologies and that prior to the publication of any attendance figures Members should be given an opportunity to provide a brief explanation of other work that they have undertaken during the period in question.

The Sub Committee considered that an integral part of this process was some form of “Job Description” for members that would have to be prepared in conjunction with Members and that would set out what was expected and the sort of activities that Members could or do undertake.

RESOLVED :

(a) THAT the Sub Committee recommends, subject to (b) below, the following:

(i) the publication of the attendance records of Members.

(ii) the figures be published twice a year in June and December with 30 day prior cut off and that it be as wide as practicable.

(iii) prior to publication Members be given an opportunity to give their consent to the publication and to add no more than 100 words to explain what other activities they have undertaken during the period in question – any such explanation must not include any political content.

(iv) for each apology given Members be invited to give a “classification” for the apology (ie away on other Council Business, sickness, holidays)

(v) the figures be published twice a year in June and December and that this process starts early in 2003 once all the details have been agreed.

(b) THAT officers prepare for the next meeting (to be held before Christmas) details of the above scheme and a draft of a “Job Description” for members.

CHAIRMAN