Agenda, decisions and minutes

*To elect a Chair for this committee. 

To elect Mr Hywel Eifion Jones as chair of this Committee.

RESOLVED to elect Mr Hywel Eifion Jones as chair of this Committee.

*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 Chair and Vice-Chair.”

To elect Mr Aled Jones as vice-chair of this Committee.

RESOLVED to elect Mr Aled Jones as vice-chair of this Committee.

To receive any apologies for absence.

An apology was received from Mr Mark Jones.

The Chair asked what the current situation was in terms of the vacant seat on the committee.  In response, the Monitoring Officer explained that they had advertised many times for an applicant, and there was an intention to review the situation.  He also noted that he appealed to the members to present the names of any individuals that might have an interest in the role.

To receive any declaration of personal interest.

The Chair questioned if he should declare an interest on Item 10 as he was a member of the Adjudication Panel for Wales.  In response, the Monitoring Officer noted that there was no interest in this case, as it was the annual report before the committee, and since the Panel was another public body in any case.

To note any items that are a matter of urgency in the view of the Chair for consideration.

None to note.

The Chair shall propose that the minutes of the previous meeting of this committee held on 21^st November, 2022 be signed as a true record.

The Chair signed the minutes of the previous committee meeting held on 21 November, 2022, as a true record.

To submit the report of the Propriety and Elections Manager.

To approve the Action Plan, which includes the three following elements of support that can be offered to community council members and clerks on matters related to the Code of Conduct:-

1. Advice on specific matters - Continue to contact the Monitoring Officer or the Deputy Monitoring Officer. 

2. Cyngor Gwynedd Website - Standards Committee page to include information and guidelines along with links to other useful websites.

3.Training - Hold a virtual training session in the form of a 'webinar'.

Submitted – the report of the Propriety and Elections Manager inviting the committee to approve the action plan to meet the matters raised in the Report of the Chair and the Community Committee Member following their consultation with a selection of clerks regarding the ethical framework.

The Chair thanked the former Chair, and the Community Committee Member for all the work that was happening in the background.

The Community Committee Member was invited to present his observations on the action plan.  He noted:-

·         That he welcomed the report, and that there was an understanding of the duties of the County Council and the Standards Committee, and that the duty of the committee was to look after, and try and raise the standards of the community councils.

·         That he agreed with the recommendations in the report, but wished to add that a letter was being sent to all the town and community councils noting the decision of the committee so the clerks and chairs were aware that it was possible for them to contact the Council's Legal Department for advice on specific matters.

·         That the virtual training session in a 'webinar' style would protect us if people claimed that the hadn't had the opportunity to attend training. Bearing this in mind, it was very important that this training was offered.

·         That the other matters raised were administrative issues for the County Council to consider and were totally separate to the work of the Standards Committee.

In response to the Community Committee Member’s observations, the Monitoring Officer noted:-

·         That the clerks had previously contacted the Legal Department for advice on specific matters.

·         He had passed the report for the attention of the Corporate Services so that there was an  awareness of the matters raised regarding how the Council generally responds to enquiries.

During the ensuing discussion, the following matters were raised:-

·         It was suggested, once the virtual training session was available on the Council website, that Unllais Cymru could ask every town and community council to include it as an item in their next annual meetings, so everyone could see this. It was also suggested that around 20 minutes of training would be sufficient.  In response, the Monitoring Officer noted that the training would be around an hour long, and would portray the main points in terms of the Code of Conduct.  He also noted, once the training was on the website, that it would be possible for councils to use it, whether this was before, or during the meeting of the Council when everyone was together.

·         It was suggested that there would be no need for the town and community councils to include the training annually and that maybe once following every election would be sufficient, unless new members join the council.  In terms of getting the message across to the chairs and clerks, it was suggested that this was included in the letter that would be sent out, at the request of the Community Committee Member, noting the decision of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To submit the report of the Monitoring Officer.

To note and accept the contents of the report and await a further report on the results of discussions regarding harmonising the threshold for registering gifts and hospitality between authorities on a national level. 

Submitted – the report of the Monitoring Officer highlighting discussions regarding harmonising the threshold for registering gifts and hospitality between authorities on a national level, and he the committee's observations on the content of the report were invited.

During the discussion, the following matters were raised:-

·         It was suggested that it could be timely to re-consider the previous decision to not try and publish the Gifts and Hospitality Register on the Council Website.  In response, the Monitoring Officer noted that this could be considered, and whatever the result of the discussions regarding harmonising the threshold nationally, it was believed that this was an opportunity as part of the work programme of this committee to review and update the policy.

·         It was suggested that the threshold of £25 for registering gifts continues to be reasonable, and it was noted that councillors were way more likely to receive messages of thanks anyway. The Monitoring Officer agreed with the observation noting that experience suggests, on the basis of declaring, that not much matters such as this raise anyway.  He suggested that it was suitable that they were part of the discussion to see if it would be possible to harmonise the threshold, bringing a recommendation back to this committee, and consult with the Chair s the discussion develops.  He explained that it was not a requirement to harmonise between authorities, but if it was possible to do this, it would be in accordance to an extent with the Richard Penn report from the perspective of having a more consistent system across Wales.

RESOLVED to note and accept the contents of the report and await a further report on the results of discussions regarding harmonising the threshold for registering gifts and hospitality between authorities on a national level. 

To submit the report of the Vice-chair of the Standards Committee.

To note the information.

The report of the Chair of the Standards Committee was presented on the matters raised in the first meeting of the Standards Committee National Forum on 27 January, 2023.

The Chair noted that he welcomed establishing the new Forum and that it would develop over time to be an important medium to adopt best practice across Wales. He then highlighted some matters raised, namely:-

·         That a 12-week consultation would be starting shortly on the recommendations in the Penn report, and the hope was that every standards committee would have the opportunity to consider those and provide feedback.

·         In terms of the new responsibility on the political group leaders regarding the behaviour of their members, that Flintshire County Council Monitoring Officer had prepared an example template that the leaders could use to complete the annual report that would feed into the annual report of the Standards Committee, and asked for the opinion of the Monitoring Officer on the template.  In response, the Monitoring Officer noted that he supported the idea of a template and was happy to look at the document, but as we were in the first year of this new responsibility, it was possible that there would be a need to divert from any template and build the report from learning from this year’s experience.

·         It was questioned if it would be possible to adapt the template by June when the Standards Committee receive an update on the implementation of the Protocol Responsibility for Political Group Leaders and the Standards Committee. In response, the Monitoring Officer noted that the implementation of the responsibility would be part of the committee's annual report, and it was proposed to hold discussions with the leaders in the next weeks and months to see how the work was developing.  As it would be mandatory for the leaders to report to the Standards Committee, the next task would be to get the form of the report ready for the annual report, and that in a way that supports the protocol and the principles in it, and also allowed to Standards Committee to evaluate the work.

RESOLVED to note the information.

To submit the report of the Monitoring Officer.

To note the report.

Submitted – the report of the Monitoring Officer appending a copy of the 2021-22 Annual Report of the Adjudication Panel for Wales for the attention of the Committee.

The Monitoring Officer highlighted some matters in the report:-

·         The reference of the President of the Panel in the introduction of the report to the expectation that matters would improve as a result of presenting the new responsibility on political group leaders on standards in public life.

·         The extraordinary case on page 33 of the pack (Caerphilly County Borough Council) that highlights that the risk areas for local authorities were much more technical and commercial these days with much more public money being sourced through the councils.

·         The case on page 37 of the pack (Wrexham Council) that was an example of a standards committee refusing the decision of the Tribunal on an appeal against their decision, and using their right to adhere to their original decision regarding the case.

RESOLVED to note the report.

To submit the report of the Propriety and Elections Manager.

To note the report.

Submitted – the report of the Propriety and Elections Manager appending a copy of the Ombudsman's Annual Report 2021-22.

The Propriety and Elections Manager highlighted some matters in the report:-

·         The message on page 79 of the pack that fewer complaints had been received in 2021-22 than in 2020-21, but that the number in 2020-21 had been unusually high, and that the trend was generally on the rise.

·         That a higher number of complaints were received about town and community councillors,  but that there were much more town and community councillors than county councillors. The level of support available for town and community councillors could also vary, and therefore it cannot be concluded that the behaviour was worse in these councils.

·         That around half of the complaints related to promoting equality and respect, with the complaints regarding respect more low-level matters and the equality complaints, where there was an element of differentiation, were more serious matters.  Therefore, it was possible that this highlighted where there were problems, and where to focus attention.

·         That an increase was seen in the number of referrals from the Ombudsman to the standards committees and the Adjudication Panel for Wales, and it was strongly believed that the way of overturning this trend was by providing Code of Conduct training for councillors.

·         That there were quite significant obligations in terms of a local solution, and that the emphasis in terms of what we could do would fall on the training.

RESOLVED to note the report.

To submit the report of the Propriety and Elections Manager.

To note the information.

Submitted – the report of the Propriety and Elections Manager presenting information about the Ombudsman's decisions on formal complaints against members.

RESOLVED to note the information.

The Chair shall propose that the press and public be excluded from the meeting during the discussion on the following item due to the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 18C, Part 4, Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. This paragraph should apply because it concerns the deliberations of the Standards Committee in reaching a finding on a matter referred to it by the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales.

It is believed that the information should not be disclosed so that the councillor is not prejudiced by any possible publicity of the case before any hearing. Consequently the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

RESOLVED to exclude the press and public from the meeting during the discussion on the following item due to the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 18C, Part 4, Appendix 12A, The Local Government Act 1972. This paragraph applied because it concerned the deliberations of the Standards Committee in reaching a decision on a matter referred to it by the Public Standards Ombudsman for Wales. It was believed that the information should not be disclosed so that the councillor was not prejudiced by any possible publicity of the case before any hearing. Consequently, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

The Monitoring Officer noted that he was removing himself from this matter as he had been part of the discussions with the members linked to the case.  Therefore, he withdrew from the meeting during the discussion on the item.

To submit the report of the Propriety and Elections Manager (separate copy for committee members only).

1.    To invite the person who is the subject of the investigation to submit observations, either orally or in writing, in relation to the conclusions of the investigation and any allegation that he / she has failed to comply with the relevant authority's code of conduct.

2.    To convene a special meeting of the Standards Committee to consider and decide on the matter.

3.    To invite the Ombudsman to the hearing to present the report and/or explain any matters within it.

4.    That officers, in consultation with the Chairman, will arrange a date (and two in reserve) for conducting the hearing.

Submitted – the report of the Propriety and Elections Manager inviting the committee to consider the Ombudsman’s report regarding an investigation into a complaint against a councillor, and reaching a decision in accordance with the requirements of the relevant regulations.

RESOLVED

1.         To invite the person who is the subject of the investigation to submit observations, either orally or in writing, in relation to the conclusions of the investigation and any allegation that he / she has failed to comply with the relevant authority's code of conduct.

2.         To convene a special meeting of the Standards Committee to consider and decide on the matter.

3.         To invite the Ombudsman to the hearing to present the report and/or explain any matters in it.

4.         That officers, in consultation with the Chairman, would arrange a date (and two in reserve) for conducting the hearing.