To submit
the report of the Monitoring Officer.
Additional documents:
Decision:
1.
Approve the Protocol on the Duties of Leaders of Political Groups and the
Standards Committee to be signed by the Chair of the Committee and the
Political Group Leaders.
2. Accept a further
report on the implementation of the Protocol to the Standards Committee meeting
in June.
Minutes:
Submitted – the report of the Monitoring Officer
inviting the committee to approve a draft Protocol on the Duties of Political
Group Leaders and the Standards Committee.
During the
discussion, the following matters were raised:-
·
It was suggested that
the second bullet point under the Protocol Actions should be strengthened, to
note ‘Expect group members to attend relevant development or training
opportunities...’ rather than
‘Encourage’ to do so, thereby placing a duty on the group
leaders to make that a priority. In
response, the Monitoring Officer noted that this had arisen in the discussions
with the Group Leaders, and that the statutory guidance was to suggest
‘encourage’. The action referred to working with the Monitoring Officer to
arrange that all Group members had attended Code of Conduct training at the
beginning of the term. It was not believed that the Group Leaders had powers to
enforce this, and it was suggested that a mindset of collaboration was a more
practical and constructive method of achieving this.
·
It was noted that it
could be more difficult for Independent Group leaders to maintain order as they
had no political party powers to support them.
In response, it was noted by the Monitoring Officer that this
was now a statutory requirement, but that it was a vehicle for working with
Leaders to promote good standards, conveying key messages and solving problems through discussion, and sooner, and
before they intensify.
·
Referring to the
recommendation to submit a further report on the operation of the Protocol at
the June meeting of the Standards Committee, it was noted that it would be
desirable to have confirmation that the three Group Leaders had signed the
Protocol by then. In response, the
Monitoring Officer noted that the intention was to approve the Protocol now, to
be signed by the Leaders.
·
It was noted that it
was difficult for the Standards Committee to monitor the compliance of Leaders
as only three committee members were councillors, and the Monitoring Officer
was asked to inform the committee in June if any problems had arisen. In
response, the Monitoring Officer noted that he did not anticipate that
situation, but if he came across a substantial problem, he was duty-bound to
report on it to the Standards Committee.
·
In response to a
concern expressed by a member regarding two matters relating to conduct that
had arisen recently, the Monitoring Officer explained that the protocol did not
replace the Ombudsman's complaints procedure and complaints under the local
resolution procedure, and where it was believed that a member had breached the
Code of Conduct, the usual channels would be followed.
RESOLVED
1.
To approve the Protocol on the Duties of Political
Leaders and the Standards Committee to be signed by the Chair of the Committee
and the Political Group Leaders.
2.
To receive a further report on the implementation of
the Protocol at the meeting of the Standards Committee in June.