Agenda, decisions and minutes
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APOLOGIES To receive any apologies for
absence. Minutes: None to
note. |
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DECLARATION OF PERSONAL INTEREST To receive any declarations of personal interest. Minutes: None to
note. |
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URGENT ITEMS To note any items
that are a matter of urgency in the view of the Chair for consideration. Minutes: No
urgent matters were raised. |
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The Chair shall propose that the minutes of the previous meeting of this
committee held on 19th February, 2024 be signed as a true record. Minutes: The Chair signed the minutes of the previous committee meeting held on
19 February 2024 as a true record. |
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SELF-ASSESSMENT AND WORK PROGRAMME To submit
the report of the Monitoring Officer. Decision: (a) To adopt the following as the Standards Committee's self-evaluation of
its performance in 2023/24.
(b) Agree to move ... view the full decision text for item 5. Minutes: Submitted – the report of the Monitoring Officer inviting the committee to:- · undertake a self-assessment of the work and outputs of
the committee during 2023/24; and:- ·
consider
the draft work programme for 2024/25. The following points were highlighted:- ·
It was believed that
more work was needed on matters relating to the Code of Conduct noting that the
further training in question had not been arranged yet and the work had
slipped. It was noted that two detailed, half-day courses had been held at the
beginning of the year for the Code of Conduct. Dissatisfaction was expressed
that approximately a third of the Members had not attended this mandatory
course which meant that around 20 Members needed to complete it. Further
sessions would be held but it was acknowledged that work was to be done to
increase the numbers that had completed this training. ·
It was acknowledged
there had been significant progress in the work of monitoring the compliance of
the Group Leaders but it was highlighted that there
was a need to move from the induction period to the performance period. It was
reiterated that a great deal of work had been done last year to establish the
duty but there was now a need to move to a more operational system as the
initial arrangements were in place. ·
It was noted in
relation to the work on Community Councils, that a pilot and course had been
run however, the training programme had not been created due to the workload.
The desire to complete the work was expressed but it was noted that it was
currently in competition with other resources and priorities. When conducting the
self-assessment, the following points were noted:- ·
It was asked what could
be done to ensure that all Members completed the training. It was suggested
there was room to promote it further through the Group Leaders although it was
acknowledged that Group Leaders could not force the Members to complete the
training. Further suggestions were offered such as offering a course that was
slightly different or that took less time. · It was expressed that further work was to be done with
the Group Leaders but it appeared that the Leaders
were working well with the Monitoring Officer and the work done so far had been
good. It was noted there was a structure in place and there had been good
progress in the work over the last year. ·
In terms of the
Community Councils, it was acknowledged that more work was needed but the
comments about scarce resources were accepted. It was noted that although the
training programme had not been created, that the Legal Service provided advice
and support to the Community Councils throughout the year. While discussing the Work Programme for 2024/25 it was noted there was a need to hold a meeting with the Political Group Leaders during the year. The Committee was reminded that last year's meeting had been held after one of the Standard Committee's meetings. The possibility of holding ... view the full minutes text for item 5. |
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THE STANDARDS COMMITTEE'S ANNUAL REPORT 2023-24 To submit
the report of the Propriety and Elections Manager. Additional documents: Decision: Minutes: The Propriety and Elections
Manager noted that the Chair and the Monitoring Officer's forewords would
follow and the information on the Group Leaders' Duty would be incorporated in
the report. Committee members were
invited to check the section on Committee member details in the report and
asked to contact the officers if anything needed to be amended. It was reported
that the annual report would be submitted to the Full Council in July. Gratitude was expressed for the work of preparing the
annual report and it was asked whether there were any comments on the report.
It was suggested that the section reporting on cases that had been before the
Standards Committee should be made anonymous. Attention was drawn to a part of
the report which covered the Ombudsman's decisions reiterating that this
section was anonymous and did not name Town/Community Councils. It was believed
that the section of the report covering the work of the Standards Committee
during 2023-24 should also be anonymous and refer to the person as Cyngor
Gwynedd Councillor rather than naming the individual. In response, it was noted that it was possible to
change the report and make it anonymous as the name of the Member had already
been noted during the public hearing. It was agreed that this should be done,
especially given that the individual had already been penalised. An enquiry was
made regarding matters involving Declaring an Interest during Full Council
meetings. It was noted that Members were not usually advised to declare an
interest when submitting the Annual Report item as it was a factual report. Nevertheless,
it was noted if there was a discussion on a specific complaint the Member would
be required to withdraw from the meeting at that time, but such a discussion
was not anticipated. It was noted there was no reason not to name
individuals under Other Complaints in the report as this was consistent with
the complaints element and that the matter related to obtaining permission to
participate in a Committee discussion despite there
being a prejudicial interest. It was added that these items were already
public, and that the situation differed to cases that had been before the
Committee. It was reiterated that it was the duty of the
Standards Committee to assess and monitor the work of Political Group Leaders.
It was agreed with the assessment that had been included that there had been a
positive start to this work. It was believed that it would assist the Standards
Committee to have this duty in place. Reference was made to the English version of the
report on page 31, case number 202303259 and 202303399 which referred to a Member as "his" and then "her". It was
noted that this would be corrected in the English version. RESOLVED to approve the Annual Report ... view the full minutes text for item 6. |
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ALLEGATIONS AGAINST MEMBERS To submit
the report of the Propriety and Elections Manager. Additional documents: Decision: To note
the information. Minutes: Submitted
– the report of the Propriety and Elections Manager which presented information
to the Committee about the Ombudsman's decisions on formal complaints against
members. It was reported that this was a summary of the complaints that had
been closed to provide the Committee with a snapshot of the type of things that
went to the Ombudsman and the decisions when assessing the complaints. The members expressed their thanks for
the report recognising the work taking place in the background. RESOLVED to note the information |