Issue - meetings

To review the operation of the duty and to confirm reporting arrangements going forward

Submitted - a report by the Monitoring Officer detailing the two main duties that the act imposed on Leaders of Political Groups and the standards of conduct of Group Members. It was noted that the intention of presenting this report was to provide the Committee with the opportunity to formally meet with group leaders to have a discussion surrounding the protocol and its implementation. In addition, an opportunity was given to set out how the committee would proceed with the implementation of this duty.

The Monitoring Officer noted that the objective of the protocol was to respond to a statutory duty that the group leaders had in relation to promoting good conduct among members. It was explained that this involved collaboration between the Standards Committee and the Leaders, which would be a positive step to support members' conduct and resolve issues early.

It was mentioned that some members had not attended the core training courses, such as the code of conduct course and the well-being course. This point was acknowledged, and it was noted that item 5 of the Criteria required the Group Leaders to support attendance at training events. The Monitoring Officer was asked to allow the group Leaders to have a list of the members who had not attended the training courses, and it was hoped that the Leaders could encourage those who had not. In response, the Monitoring Officer stated that this was an intention and to reinforce the point, it was explained that a full course had been conducted on the code in December of last year. It was noted that a recording of the course was available for members to view.

DECISION

To review the implementation of the duty and confirm reporting arrangements when moving forward.