Issue - meetings

To submit the report of the Monitoring Officer (to follow).

To accept the report and ask the Monitoring Officer and the Community Committee Member to prepare an action plan that reflects the contents of the report.

Submitted:-

·         A report by the Chair of the Standards Committee and the Community Committee Member following the completion of a piece of work to better understand the needs of community council clerks in relation to the ethical framework and specifically the functions of the Standards Committee.

·         Monitoring Officer’s observations on the report.

The Monitoring Officer summarised the conclusions of the report in the context of the Committee's statutory functions in relation to community councils, and the Community Council Member was then invited to comment on his findings.

The Community Committee Member noted:-

·         The work with a selection of town and community council clerks had highlighted that clerks sometimes had difficulty in contacting the County Council, and that the County Council should provide a specific helpline for them.

·         It would be beneficial if Welsh Government prepared a simple leaflet on the Code of Conduct for town and community council members, and that all members of all councils received a copy of it when signing to become a councillor.

·         Community council members were confused about their powers in relation to their relationship with the County Council.

During the discussion, the following matters were raised:-

·         The Chair and the Community Council Member were thanked for their significant work in preparing the report, and it was noted that the picture was unsurprising, as councils differed greatly.

·         A question was asked about the observation in the Executive Summary that the relationship with Cyngor Gwynedd was more complicated and needed attention.  In response, the Chair explained that the clerks knew that they should turn to the Monitoring Officer on matters relating to standards, but found it more difficult to know who to approach in the County Council regarding other issues.  Although this did not directly relate to standards, it was a matter that had arisen consistently during the discussions with clerks.

·         The Monitoring Officer was requested to present the suggestion of establishing a dedicated helpline for the clerks to the Chief Executive.  In response, the Monitoring Officer noted, although he would be happy to convey the request, that he was unclear about the business case behind it, and was of the view that it would be difficult to progress the idea, particularly in the Council's current difficult financial position.  He also noted that he did not believe that the report provided a balanced picture in relation to the County Council’s current working practices with town and community councils, and that it was likely that there were a number of different points of contact across the county in that respect.

·         In response to the observation that it would be beneficial for the Welsh Government to prepare a leaflet on the Code of Conduct for members, the Monitoring Officer noted that there were specific Code of Conduct guidelines for town and community councils on the Ombudsman's website. A member suggested, although he welcomed the idea of a leaflet, that it would be better to provide a training video on YouTube, and that each councillor would have to sign  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7