Agenda and draft minutes

To take any questions or statements from members of the Public.

No questions or statements were received from members of the public.

Members are asked to declare the existence and nature of any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests in respect of any item of business to be considered at the meeting.

No declarations of interest were made in relation to items of business to be discussed at the meeting.

The Committee is asked to confirm as a true record the Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held on 29 June 2023 (attached) and to authorise the Chair to sign them.

The Minutes of the Meeting of the Standards and Constitution Committee held on 29 June 2023 were agreed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

The Chair informed the Committee that Item 4 of the agenda (Update to the Council’s Constitution) was a large item and would be considered following the other items on the agenda.

This report considers the Councillor code of conduct, which has been reviewed by the Constitution Working group (CWG), and makes a recommendation for adoption.

The Committee received a report presenting the Councillor code of conduct, which has been reviewed by the Constitution Working group (CWG), with a recommendation for adoption.

The following matters were considered:

a)            Local Government Association (LGA) model code. The Vice-Chair informed the Committee that the proposed Code of Conduct had been produced by the LGA with input from numerous sources and had been adopted by many other councils. The Head of Legal and Monitoring Officer informed the Committee that he had contacted the LGA’s Head of Legal Services regarding the next scheduled review of the Code of Conduct and had been informed that this was likely to be undertaken in 2024.

b)            Code of Conduct Section 4, Dispensations (p236 of agenda pack). In response to a question from a member, the Head of Legal and Monitoring Officer clarified the role of the Monitoring Officer as a statutory officer in relation to standards matters. The Head of Legal and Monitoring Officer informed the Committee that the wording of the LGA Code adopted established best practice with regard to the consideration of dispensation requests.

Following consideration the Committee unanimously resolved to:

(1)      Recommend to Full Council that the Local Government Association Model Code of Conduct 2020 is adopted in its entirety.

The indemnity scheme has been reviewed by the Constitution Working Group (CWG) and this report sets out the recommended changes to wording.

The Committee received a report presenting an indemnity scheme that had been reviewed by the Constitution Working Group (CWG) for adoption.

Following consideration the Committee unanimously resolved to:

(1)       Consider the updated wording for the indemnity scheme as set out in Appendix 2 to the report; and

(2)       Recommend to Full Council that the revised indemnity scheme at Appendix 2 to the report, should be adopted as part of the council’s operating framework.

To provide an update on complaints made under the Code of Conduct for Members from 1/2/2022 to 27/11/2023.

To provide an update on complaints made under the Code of Conduct for Members from 1/2/2022 to 27/11/2023.

The following matters were considered:

a)             Update as of 5 December 2023. The Head of Legal and Monitoring Officer informed the Committee that subsequent to the publication of the agenda, no complaints about councillors had been received by the Council and that the report was correct as of 5 December.

b)             Definition of complaints. In response to a question from a member, the Head of Legal and Monitoring Officer informed the Committee that this report related to complaints made about the conduct of councillors, rather than complaints about council services which were recorded and reported through a separate process.

Following consideration the Committee unanimously resolved to:

(1)       Note there have been no complaints between 1 February 2022 to the 27 November 2023;

This report seeks to report back on the work that has taken place since August by the Monitoring Officer with the support of external Counsel in consultation with the Chair and Vice Chair of this Committee and CWG on updates to the Council’s Constitutional required to give effect to the changes adopted back in May 2023.

This Committee received a report detailing the work that had taken place on updates to the Council’s Constitution since August 2023 and set out proposals for recommendation to Full Council for adoption.

The Committee noted that an addendum to the report had been published as a supplement to the agenda in advance of the meeting.

The following matters were considered:

a)            Council Constitution. The Head of Legal and Monitoring Officer (Head of Legal) provided the Committee with a verbal introduction to his report. The Committee was informed that the Constitution is critical to success of the Council’s effective decision making, provides delegation of authority to officers and the ability to maintain good order at meetings. The work of the Committee and Working Group was of great importance in ensuring that the Constitution is maintained in good order to enable the effective running of the Council on a daily basis. The Head of Legal expressed his appreciation for the support of councillors and external legal counsel to enable the report to be brought to this meeting.

b)           Terms of reference of Policy Committees. In response to a question from a member, the Head of Legal informed the Committee that all Policy Committee terms of reference had been amended to clarify that the Committee was able to approve all policy matters within their terms of reference, unless there was a budget impact outside the budget approved for that committee. In circumstances where there was a budget impact outside the committee’s approved budget, the matter must be referred to the Strategy and Resources Committee for consideration unless otherwise permitted by Financial Regulations.

c)            Financial Regulations. In response to a question from the Vice Chair, the Head of Legal informed the Committee that the Terms of Reference of the Committees were read in conjunction with the Council’s Financial Regulations. The Financial Regulations set out that Committees had delegated authority to approve initiatives outside of the approved budget (up to a maximum of £50,000) if certain conditions were met as set out in the Regulations. These conditions included the agreement of the Chief Finance Officer.

d)           Amendment to Licensing and Planning Policy Committee Terms of Reference. The Committee noted that Term of Reference 4 of the Licensing and Planning Policy Committee as detailed on page 82 of the agenda had been included in error and would be deleted prior to consideration by Full Council.

e)            Amendment to Scheme of delegation. In response to a question from a member, the Head of Legal informed the Committee that the Council would be able to consider and approve an amendment to the Scheme of Delegation at its upcoming meeting despite having considered the Scheme at a meeting less than 6 months ago. The Council would not be considering a proposal which would be contrary to its previous decision.

f)             Process for future changes to the Constitution. In response to a question from a member, the Head of Legal informed the Committee that future  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.