Agenda item
To submit
the report of the Monitoring Officer.
Decision:
(a)
To adopt
the following as the committee’s self-evaluation of its performance in 2021/22.
|
FUNCTION |
ASSESSMENT (1/2/3/4) |
Evidence |
Further action |
|
1. Promote and maintain high standards of conduct by members |
1. |
The Chair and Vice-chair had attended the North Wales Standards Forum to share experiences with other standards committees. Submit an annual report to the Full Council The Committee had received a report on the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021 |
Continue to attend and support |
|
2. Assist the members to adhere to the Code of Conduct |
3. |
The Monitoring Officer and his team provide advice and guidance at meetings, and on a one-to-one basis for members. |
Resume training stages when resources permit |
|
3. Advise the Council with regard to adopting or amending the Code of Conduct |
1. |
No occasion has arisen to amend the Code. |
|
|
4. Monitor the implementation of the Code of Conduct |
3 |
Receive regular reports of allegations against members Receive the annual reports of the Ombudsman and the Adjudication Panel for Wales. The Committee resolved to commence the work on the new duty imposed on Political Group Leaders regarding the conduct of their members. |
Continue to monitor and consider alternative methods of receiving information. Receive annual reports on the register of interests and hospitality. Following the Election, steps will be taken to work with Leaders to establish operational arrangements for the new provision. |
|
5. Advise, train or arrange for members to receive training on matters relating to the Code of Conduct |
3. |
Induction training was arranged for new members of Gwynedd Council in preparation for the elections. |
Need to look at providing new training. |
|
6. Granting dispensations to members |
1. |
No applications have been considered under the new procedure. |
|
|
7. Deal with reports of case tribunals and any reports from the Monitoring Officer on matters referred by the Ombudsman |
1. |
One case referred to the Committee by the Ombudsman was dealt with. |
|
|
8. Authorise the Monitoring Officer to pay allowances to persons assisting with an investigation |
No action required |
There were no occasions where such an allowance was due |
|
|
9. Exercise the above functions in relation to community councils |
3 |
The Monitoring Officer and his team provide advice and guidance to councillors, clerks and members. Adopt a training pilot on the Code of Conduct. A session has been included to pilot the content of the course. |
(b) Approve the
following work programme for 2022/23:-
11 July 2022
Annual Report
Allegations against Members
Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021
Register
of Gifts and Hospitality
Declaration
of Interests Register
The
Ombudsman’s Annual Report
Allegations
against Members
Adopting a
Protocol for Political Group Leaders
13
February 2023
Adjudication
Panel's Annual Report
Allegations
against Members
Self-assessment
and Work Programme
The
Committee’s Annual Report
(c)
To authorise the Chair and Community Committee Member, in consultation
with the Monitoring Officer, to press on with the work with a sample of
community and town council clerks to better understand their needs, ensuring an
appropriate ethical process for doing that, and convene a further meeting of
the Task and Finish Group - the Ethical Standards Framework at the beginning of
September to receive feedback from the discussions with the clerks.
Minutes:
Submitted – the report of the Monitoring Officer
inviting the committee to:-
·
undertake a
self-assessment of the work and outcomes of the committee during 2020/21; and
·
consider a draft work
programme for 2022/23.
When conducting the self-assessment, the following
points were noted:-
·
It would be beneficial
to number the functions in the table from now on.
·
It should be ensured
that the Committee's previous self-assessments are to hand in the future in
order to be able to compare, ensure consistency and measure progress.
·
Disappointment was
expressed that only 5 out of the 69 county councillors were present at the
recent training on the Code of Conduct.
In response, it was explained that every county councillor had received
general training on the Code as a part of the welcome days following the recent
elections, and that at least one other detailed session had been arranged. It was intended to hold a similar session
with the co-opted member of the Education and Economy Scrutiny Committee as
well.
·
It was suggested that
the proposed Political Groups Leaders Protocol was a way of getting a better
order of the situation by placing pressure and responsibility on the Leaders to
ensure that their members attend such training.
·
It was suggested, in
terms of being visible, that the members of the Standards Committee, or at
least the Chair/Vice-chair should be present at the start of the training
sessions.
·
It was suggested that
it was misleading to say that only 5 members had attended the recent training
on the Code as the training was being recorded and available on the Members'
Intranet for everyone to watch in their own time. It was noted that it would be beneficial to
know how many people had watched the recording and the Propriety and Elections
Manager agreed to make enquiries about that.
·
It was asked whether
the recording of the training was also available for the members of community
and town councils. In response, it was
explained that the recording was currently only available on the Gwynedd
Members' Intranet, but certainly the Council could arrange access for community
and town council members. It was noted
that it was important that the recording was available for all, and it was
suggested that it would be beneficial to also include the training on the
Standard Committee's website. The Propriety and Elections Manager noted that he
would look at the best way forward in terms of ensuring that the resource was
available.
·
With reference to the
function of monitoring the implementation of the Code of Conduct (4), the
Propriety and Elections Manager explained that the Ombudsman had brought the
Code of Conduct Case Book to an end, and now there was a need to go onto the
Ombudsman's website to look for information about cases. To that end, there was a need to look at the
best way of presenting information to the Committee in the future. Possibly, this could be combined with the
regular reports on allegations against members, with the aim of presenting
something more meaningful to the Committee.
·
In terms of the
function of exercising all functions in relation to community councils (9),
there was some disagreement amongst members about the assessment, with some in
favour of using category 3 on the grounds that steps needed to be taken, and
others were in favour of using category 4 on the grounds that the work was not
happening. Following a discussion,
consensus was obtained in favour of category 3, but to alter the steps further
to note that this had to be considered as a priority.
·
It was asked, since it
was now required for community and town councils to hold their meetings in a
hybrid format, would it be possible to record simple guidance to highlight the
main points of the Code of Conduct to present to members as an item at the
beginning of their meeting, and would be available for members to watch later
also. In response, the Propriety and Elections Manager noted that this could be
looked into.
·
Concern was expressed
that small councils could not afford to hold their meetings as hybrid meetings,
and it was noted that it was going to take time for this to be established,
despite it being mandated by the Government.
It was also noted that it was difficult for small councils to afford to pay
for a translation service at their meetings.
Then, consideration was given to Appendix 3 of the
report, the Monitoring Officer's response to the points set by the Task and
Finish Group - the Ethical Standards Framework, and how this fed into the
Committee's work programme. The
following observations were submitted:-
·
With reference to the
first action, namely the need to take an overview of the clerks, the Chair
noted that there was a need to ensure an appropriate ethical procedure in order
to do the work, which set out the exact purpose of the overview, who would be
doing the work and under what heading within the Standards Committee, how the
information would be used, how the data would be kept, how we will report the
conclusions and by when, and what will happen to the information. It was also noted that the clerks' written
consent would be needed for the overview to be undertaken.
·
It was noted that the
community council clerks were eager to maintain good standards, but their
resources were scarce. They were looking
for support and answers, and they could be a good agent for the Monitoring
Officer in order to raise the standards.
·
The Chair noted,
although the overview of the clerks had not commenced officially again, that an
informal conversation was held with a clerk, and a number of interesting
matters had arisen, e.g. the requirement under the Local Government and
Elections (Wales) Act 2021, for every community council to create a training
plan by 5 November this year. There would be a need to ensure how the training
provided by the Monitoring Officer would fit into that and add value, instead
of being something additional to what the community councils themselves are
trying to create. It was also noted that
the Task Group had discussed whether the clerks would wish to have a peer group. However, it was now understood, as a result
of the conversation with the clerk, that such a group already existed at a
national level, with a Gwynedd branch, but not all community councils had the
resources to pay the membership fee.
·
Concern was expressed
that the Government was placing more and more requirements on community
councils but they were not providing additional resources for them or advice on
how to carry out those duties, e.g. holding hybrid meetings, online banking,
translation, etc. It was also noted that
small councils did not have the money to play for a clerk, but the emphasis was
on more training / professional qualification for clerks, etc., made the
situation even more difficult. Also, it
must be borne in mind that community councillors were volunteers. In response, it was explained that one of the
outputs of the overview of clerks would be to highlight the practical
difficulties faced by community councils, and there was a need for the Government,
when placing additional requirements on councils, to realise that the support
for them needed to be restructured.
·
It was suggested that
clerks should possibly be employed by the county council, but the community and
town councils were using them so that a professional team was available. Resolving this was a matter for the
Government, but there was a duty on the Standards Committee to highlight that
this was a problem.
·
It was noted that it
would be beneficial to know how many empty seats there were on community
councils across Gwynedd. It was
suggested that a situation could be reached in the future where community
councils would have to be merged as they were too small to maintain their
services, and it was noted that this was again a matter for the Welsh
Government.
·
The Propriety and Elections
Manager asked whether the Committee wished to receive feedback from the
overview of clerks at their next meeting in November; but it was suggested that
this would be too late, since community councils needed to create a training
plan by 5 November. It was suggested
that it should be aimed to report back by the beginning of September, and
reconvene the Task and Finish Group to have a look at the feedback, and
possibly submit it to the Full Council in October.
·
The Propriety and
Elections Manager noted that the purpose of the exercise was to go and speak
with some clerks to understand their requirements, whilst accepting that
matters would arise that would be beyond / outside the Standards Committee's
terms of reference. In response, the Chair noted that standards should be
something that overlapped everything that councils did.
·
In terms of the
Committee's work programme, the Chair noted that there was a need to correct
the year on top of the page to 2022/23 and bring forward the item on the
Adoption of Political Group Leader Protocol, as the protocol needed to be
developed as soon as possible. In
response, the Propriety and Elections Manager explained that the work of
developing the protocol would commence as soon as possible, and that the item
to the November meeting would be the end, and not the start, of that
process.
·
The Chair explained
that it was intended to ask the clerks about matters including mandatory
training, a mandatory professional qualification, the impractical pressure from
the direction of the Welsh Government, questions about Unllais
Cymru, gaps in practical knowledge and the need for definitive advice about
what needs to be done and how to achieve that, what exactly the job description
of a clerk entails and whether the job descriptions are consistent between one
council and the other. It was also noted
that it was understood that there were things that clerks had to do, and that
there were optional matters, and there was a wish to see how this was different
from place to place. Also, it was
intended to ask the clerks about resources for translation and holding hybrid
meetings as being unable to hold hybrid meetings would disrupt the ability to
share training.
·
With reference to the
Monitoring Officer's comment that discussions with the community council would
be a means, not only to develop services, but also to create a live link to the
community and town councils, and that there would be a need to provide a
resource, the Chair noted that the resource (i.e. her and the Community
Committee Member) was the bare minimum, but that the support resource related
to what would happen to the information, where it would be kept, etc. instead
of having to need a lot of other support.
·
It was asked whether a
date had been determined for a discussion with the Leaders of the Political
Groups as it was important that the conversation happened soon. The Propriety and Elections Manager noted
that he was given to understand that the Monitoring Officer was addressing this
and he agreed to pass on the message.
RESOLVED
(a)
To adopt the following as the committee’s
self-evaluation of its performance in 2021/22.
|
FUNCTION |
ASSESSMENT (1/2/3/4) |
Evidence |
Further
action |
|
1.
Promote and maintain high standards of conduct by members |
1. |
The Chair and Vice-chair had attended the North
Wales Standards Forum to share experiences with other standards committees. Present the annual report to the Full Council The Committee had received a report on the
Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021 |
Continue to attend and support |
|
2.
Assist the members to adhere to the Code of Conduct |
3. |
The Monitoring Officer and his team provide
advice and guidance at meetings, and on a one-to-one basis for members. |
Resume training stages when resources permit |
|
3. Advise
the Council with regard to adopting or amending the Code of Conduct |
1. |
No occasion has arisen to amend the Code. |
|
|
4.
Monitor the implementation of the Code of Conduct |
3 |
Receive regular reports of allegations
against members Receive the annual reports of the Ombudsman
and the Adjudication Panel for Wales. The Committee resolved to commence the work
on the new duty imposed on Political Group Leaders regarding the conduct of
their members. |
Continue to monitor and consider alternative
methods of receiving information. Receive annual reports on the register of
interests and hospitality. Following the Election, steps will be taken
to work with Group Leaders to establish operational arrangements for the new
provision. |
|
5.
Advise, train or arrange for members to receive training on matters
relating to the Code of Conduct |
3. |
Induction training was arranged for new
members of Gwynedd Council in preparation for the elections. |
Need to look at providing new training. |
|
6.
Granting dispensations to members |
1. |
No applications had been considered under the
new procedure. |
|
|
7.
Deal with reports of case tribunals and any reports from the
Monitoring Officer on matters referred by the Ombudsman |
1. |
One case referred to the Committee by the
Ombudsman was dealt with. |
|
|
8.
Authorise the Monitoring Officer to pay allowances to persons
assisting with an investigation |
No action required |
No occasion to pay such an allowance had arisen |
|
|
9.
Exercise the above functions in relation to community councils |
3 |
The Monitoring Officer and his team provide
advice and guidance to councils, clerks and members. Adopt a training pilot on the Code of
Conduct. A session has been included
to pilot the content of the course. |
(b) Approve the following work programme for 2022/23:-
11 July 2022
Annual Report
Allegations against
Members
Local Government and
Elections (Wales) Act 2021
21 November 2022
Register of Gifts
and Hospitality
Declaration of
Interests Register
The Ombudsman’s
Annual Report
Allegations against
Members
Adopting a Protocol
for Political Group Leaders
13 February 2023
Adjudication Panel's
Annual Report
Allegations against
Members
Self-assessment and Work
Programme
The Committee’s
Annual Report
Supporting documents:
PDF 245 KB