Venue: Virtual Meeting - Zoom
Contact: Eirian Roberts 01286 679018
No. | Item |
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ELECTION OF CHAIR *To elect a Chair
for this committee. Decision: To elect Dr Einir Young as Chair of this
Committee. Minutes: RESOLVED to elect Dr Einir Young as chair of
this committee. |
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ELECTION OF VICE-CHAIR *To elect a
Vice-chair for this committee. *N.B. – The relevant regulations state:- “Only an independent member of the Standards Committee may be the
Chairman and Vice-Chairman.” Decision: To elect Mr Hywel Eifion Jones as
Vice-chair of this Committee. Minutes: RESOLVED
to elect Mr Hywel Eifion
Jones as vice-chair of this committee. |
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APOLOGIES To receive any
apologies for absence. Minutes: Apologies had been
received from Mr Richard Parry Hughes (Community Council Member) and Dave
Wareing (Independent Member). |
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DECLARATION OF PERSONAL INTEREST To receive any
declaration of personal interest. Minutes: No declarations of personal interest were received. |
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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 22nd February, 2021 be signed as a true record. Minutes: The Chair signed the minutes of the previous
committee meeting held on 22 February 2021 as a true record. Matter arising from the minutes Item 5 – Self Assessment
and Work Programme The Monitoring Officer noted that it had not
been possible to present an overview of the training arrangements for this
meeting, but it was intended to report on this at the
next meeting. It was
also intended to reinstate the element of the training plan for
community councils, when circumstances allowed. |
|
THE STANDARDS COMMITTEE'S ANNUAL REPORT 2020/21 PDF 182 KB To submit the
report of the Senior Solicitor (Corporate). Additional documents: Decision: To approve the annual report to be submitted to the full Council on 8 July, subject to
adding an introduction and foreword by the Chair and Monitoring Officer. Minutes: Submitted – the report of the Senior
Solicitor (Corporate) enclosing a draft of the committee's annual report for
2020/21. The committee's observations and
approval of the document were invited. Members were asked to
contact the Senior Solicitor (Corporate) if there were any updates to their
biographies. The Monitoring Officer noted that the Local
Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021 placed the annual report of the
Standards Committee on a statutory basis from next year onwards. It was suggested
that a reference should be included in the annual report to a matter raised in
the full Council on numerous occasions regarding the public interest test. In response, the Monitoring Officer explained
that the Government was undertaking initial work on a review of the ethical
framework in its entirety, and that it was likely that a discussion about the
public interest test would arise as part of this. He did not wish to raise hopes
as there were so many factors that could influence this. However, there may be an opportunity to
contribute to this in order to highlight how the arrangements worked for
community councils when the threshold was set on a county council level, and he
agreed to draft a wording to that effect as part of the foreword to the annual
report. Referring to the
proposal under the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021 to place a
statutory duty on the Leaders of Political Groups in relation to members'
standards of conduct, it was suggested that the training provided to Leaders
could assist in relation to the matter that had been raised on a number of
occasions in the Council, as Leaders could explain to their members what
problems faced the Standards Committee, the type of work dealt with by the
committee, etc. RESOLVED to
approve the annual report to be submitted to the full
Council on 8 July, subject to adding an introduction and foreword by the Chair
and Monitoring Officer. |
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LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND ELECTIONS (WALES) ACT 2021 - CHANGES TO THE ETHICAL FRAMEWORK PDF 251 KB To submit the
report of the Monitoring Officer. Additional documents: Decision: DECISION (1) Subject to the publication of guidance by
Welsh Government, steps should be taken to provide
training for Political Group Leaders on the requirements and how they can be
met. (2) The Standards Committee should establish a
Protocol for implementing, cooperating and monitoring implementation of the
duty by December 2021 and do so in co-operation with Leaders and Deputy Leaders
of the current Political Groups. (3) These matters should be
incorporated into the Committee's Work Programme. (4) Invite the Monitoring Officer to continue
with the work, and arrange a workshop at a particular point in order to nurture
the relationship between Leaders of Political Groups and members of this
Committee. Minutes: Submitted - the
report of the Monitoring Officer detailing the changes to the ethical framework
as part of the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021, with specific
reference to the statutory duty on Leaders of Political Groups in relation to
the standards of conduct of their members. It was suggested that it would be beneficial to arrange a
workshop to include the Leaders of Political Groups and members of this
committee in order to nurture a positive relationship between them. DECISION (1) Subject
to the publication of guidance by Welsh Government, steps should
be taken to provide training for Political Group Leaders on the
requirements and how they can be met. (2) The
Standards Committee should establish a Protocol for implementing, co-operating
and monitoring implementation of the duty by December 2021, and do so in
co-operation with Leaders and Deputy Leaders of the current Political Groups. (3) These
matters should be incorporated into the Committee's
Work Programme. (4) Invite
the Monitoring Officer to continue with the work, and arrange a workshop at a
particular point in order to nurture the relationship between Leaders of
Political Groups and members of this Committee. |
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THE OMBUDSMAN'S CODE OF CONDUCT CASEBOOK PDF 209 KB To submit the
report of the Senior Solicitor (Corporate). Additional documents: Decision: To accept the
report. Minutes: Submitted – the
report of the Senior Solicitor (Corporate) enclosing a copy of the Ombudsman's
latest quarterly Casebook. It was noted that it would be interesting to know the outcomes
of the cases that were referred to the Standards Committee or to the
Adjudication Panel for Wales. It would
also be interesting to know whether there was a cumulative impact, e.g. whether
the same complaints were submitted by the same person,
or from the same area each time, were there any common themes, etc? It was noted that
it appeared that the outcome of a number of cases that were referred to a
Standards Committee or to the Adjudication Panel for Wales were made public in
the press, and it was suggested that it would be
beneficial for the committee to be informed of them. It was also suggested,
given that the Casebook was a public document, that it would be beneficial if
more detailed reports of the cases were available to members of standards
committees. In response, the Monitoring
Officer noted that the Adjudication Panel had published guidance on how to deal
with cases, and that it was available to the Standards Committee. He also explained that the outcome of cases
that were referred to the Standards Committee and the
Adjudication Panel were published on the websites of the relevant bodies. However, there was no central list of the
outcomes of cases, apart from through the Ombudsman, and it would be difficult
to achieve without approaching each individual council to ask for the outcome. RESOLVED to accept the report. |
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ALLEGATIONS AGAINST MEMBERS PDF 262 KB To submit the
report of the Senior Solicitor (Corporate). Decision: To note the information and the intention
to arrange a special meeting to deal with the outcome of an investigation which
has been referred to the Standards Committee by the Public
Services Ombudsman for Wales. Minutes: Submitted - the report of the Senior Solicitor (Corporate) presenting
information about the Ombudsman's decisions on formal complaints against
members. RESOLVED to note the
information and the intention to arrange a special meeting to deal with the
outcome of an investigation that has been referred to
the Standards Committee by the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales |